Saluki softball heads to Chattanooga for Frost Classic

The Southern Illinois University softball team heads to Chattanooga, Tenn. for the Frost Classic, hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The Salukis will play four games during the two-day event, beginning against 2021 NCAA Tournament participant Eastern Kentucky on Friday, Feb. 25 at 12:30 p.m. The Salukis will then take on the hosts, Chattanooga at 3 p.m. The following day, the Salukis and the Northern Illinois Huskies are slated for a 12:30 p.m. start before Southern closes out the weekend against Butler at 3 p.m.

Scouting the Opposition

Eastern Kentucky

Eastern Kentucky won the OVC Tournament title a year ago for the first time since 2004 to advance to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Colonels are one of five teams that advanced to the 2021 NCAA Tournament on SIU's schedule this year.
The Colonels, who made the move from the OVC to the ASUN this season, have gotten off to a rough start at 1-9. EKU has been outscored 65-11 during that stretch and currently rank third-to-last (No. 272 out of 275) in team batting average (.150).
Eastern Kentucky's record is deceiving in that seven of its nine losses have come against Power 5 opponents.
The Colonels were picked to finish fifth in the ASUN Preseason Poll.
Preseason All-ASUN Sammi Miller leads the Colonels in on-base (.433) and slugging percentage (.391).

All-time vs. Eastern Kentucky

Friday's matchup will mark just the second-ever meeting between the Colonels and Salukis.
Eastern Kentucky won the previous matchup: 8-6 on March 6, 2008 as part of the Malihini Kipa Aloha in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Southern is 11-9 all-time against current ASUN schools.
SIU rallied to defeat current ASUN foe Central Arkansas, 9-6 on Feb. 19, 2022.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Chattanooga comes into its home tournament winners of three of its last four. The Mocs are 5-5 on the season.
Reigning Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week Brooke Parrott has received a decision in all five of the Mocs wins this season.
Parrott is 3-1 with a .71 ERA in 29.1 innings of work with a pair of saves. She threw a perfect game against Radford earlier this season.
The Mocs were tabbed to finish third in the Southern Conference.

All-time vs. UTC

Friday's matchup will mark just the second-ever meeting between the Mocs and Salukis.
SIU won the previous matchup: a 6-3 win on Feb. 8, 2013 to open play at the Doc Richardson Invitational in Clement, Fla.
Southern last faced and defeated a SoCon school in 2021, when it knocked off Samford, 3-0 on March 14, 2021 at the UAB Tournament.

Northern Illinois

The Huskies went 1-3 at the FAU Tournament last weekend to open its 2022 campaign. NIU's lone win was a run-rule 14-3 win over Indiana.
Northern Illinois is averaging 4.75 runs per game and has a team ERA of 4.38.
NIU was picked to finish eighth in the annual Mid-American Conference Preseason Poll.
Katie Keller led the NCAA with 23 doubles a year ago.

All-time vs. Northern Illinois

• Saturday's game between the Salukis and the Huskies will be the 33rd meeting all-time.

• Southern leads the all-time series, 19-13.

• SIU has won six of the last seven meetings between the two schools.

• Southern Illinois won the most recent matchup- 11-1 in five innings on March 6, 2020.

Butler

The Bulldogs have won three of their last four and are 7-4 on the season.

Butler was picked fifth in the Big East Preseason Poll.

Four of Butler's seven wins have come via a shutout.

The Bulldogs have a 1.50 Team ERA and are scoring 3.82 runs per game.

All-time vs. the Bulldogs

Southern is 6-2 all-time against Butler and is 6-1 against the Bulldogs under head coach Kerri Blaylock.
The Salukis and the Bulldogs last tangled on March 10, 2019- a 16-0 run-rule win for SIU over Butler that saw Brianna Jones need just 57 pitches to record the program's 32nd no-hitter of all-time.
Jansen went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI in the win over the Bulldogs while Ashley Wood was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

200 Career Hits

With her seven hits at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic, Jenny Jansen became the sixth player in program history, and first since Haley Gorman in 2012, to join the 200-career hit club.
Jansen is one of only 19 active NCAA DI players to reach the 200 career hit plateau. Jansen is joined by Macy Johnson (Drake) as the only current players in the Valley with 200 career base knocks.
Jansen needs two hits to crack the top-five all-time and 24 hits this season to break Jen Feldmeier's school record of 223 career hits, set in 1999.

Jen Feldmeier - 223
Becky Lis - 221
Alicia Gara - 215
Colleen Holloway - 207
Haley Gorman - 201
Jenny Jansen - 200

Jansen named Player of the Week

Jenny Jansen earned the first MVC Player of the Week honors of her career this past week.
The 2022 Preseason All-MVC selection slashed .500/.500/.533 in four games and tallied two runs scored and five RBI.
The graduate student from Warrenton, Mo. reached base at least twice in three of SIU's four games, which included a career-high tying four hits in Southern's victory over Central Arkansas.
Jansen's four base hits are tied for the most by a player in a NCAA DI game this season.
Jansen's performance against the Bears was made all the more impressive given she earned the win in the circle in relief, despite having not pitched in an official game previously during her collegiate career.
Jansen threw 1.2 innings and allowed two hits and struck out three to pick up her first career win.
She now needs just eight RBI to break Shaye Harre's school record of 155.

Eberle's no-no

Madi Eberle tossed the 33rd no-hitter in program history in SIU's 8-0 run-rule win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 13.
14 of SIU's 33 all-time no-hitters have come in five inning wins.
Eberle needed just 58 pitches to blank the Mastadons. She struck out four and walked two.
Eberle is one of eight players nationally to have tossed a no-hitter so far this season. 7 of the 8 no-hitters thus far this season are of the five inning variety.

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Madi Eberle

Jenny Jansen

Ashley Wood

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