Saluki softball opens conference play at Missouri State

The Southern Illinois University softball team heads to Springfield, Mo. on Wednesday to open Missouri Valley Conference play against the Missouri State Bears. First pitch of game one of the doubleheader begins at Noon. The Salukis come into Wednesday's doubleheader having won three of its last four games, which includes back-to-back wins over SIUE. The Bears, meanwhile, have lost two of their last three, which includes a run-rule loss at the hands of No. 10 Arkansas.

All-time vs. the Bears

The Bears lead the all-time series, 55-54 dating back to 1976.
Missouri State won both games at Carbondale a year ago- the third game of the series was cancelled.
The Bears have won three-straight, and six of the last seven, in the series.
Southern's last win in Springfield, Mo. came during the 2016 season. The Salukis took two of three from the Bears on April 9-10, 2016.

Conference Openers

• The Salukis have won five of their last six conference openers, and eight of their last 11, dating back to 2010 after it defeated Drake, 10-2 in six innings on March 20, 2021.

Coming up on a record

Jenny Jansen comes into Wednesday's doubleheader against Missouri State just three RBI shy of breaking Shaye Harre's school record of 155 career RBI.
The Warrenton, Mo. native has at least one RBI in eight games this season and leads the Valley with 16 RBI.
Jansen will need a herculean effort to break the conference record for career RBI. She's currently 39 RBIs shy of Illinois State's Jordan de los Reyes MVC record of 191.

200 Career Hits and counting

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 35 active NCAA DI players to reach the 200 career hit plateau.
Jansen is joined by Macy Johnson (Drake), Daphne Plummer (Missouri St) and Bella Peterson (Indiana St.) as the only current players in the Valley with 200 career base knocks.
Jansen currently ranks fourth in school history with her three hits last week and needs 15 more to break Jen Feldmeier's school record of 223 career hits, set in 1999.

Jen Feldmeier - 223
Becky Lis - 221
Alicia Gara - 215
Jenny Jansen - 209

30 Bombs

Jenny Jansen crushed her 30th career home run in SIU's win over SIUE on March 13.
Jansen became just the seventh player in program history to reach the 30 career home run milestone.
Her next home run will tie her with Katelyn Massa for fifth in school history. Katie Jordan holds the school record for most career home runs with 39.

She also pitches

Jenny Jansen made her first career start in the circle in the win over SIUE on March 14 and threw the first complete game of her career to improve to 2-0 in the circle.
Jansen threw all seven innings and allowed four runs on 11 hits with four walks. The Warrenton, Mo. native hadn't pitched in a game prior to this season since high school and even then, she never threw the entire game.

Woody's Roundup

Ashley Wood has been an on-base machine for the Salukis, both during her entire career and also during the 2022 season.
Wood currently ranks second in the MVC in on-base percentage (to MSU's Alex Boze) with a .521 OBP.
Wood has reached base safely in all 18 games this season- the longest reached base streak of her career.
Wood's .412 lifetime on-base percentage currently ranks her 11th in school history and is currently one of 15 players in school history with a .400 or better career on-base percentage.

Breakout season underway

Aubree DePron is in the midst of a breakout season at the plate.
She's already set or tied career-highs for hits in a season (17), doubles (1), home runs (1), RBI (8), walks (5) and stolen bases (7).
The Blanchard, Okla. native was 1-for-3 with a walk in SIU's 9-4 win over SIUE on Monday, which extended her current hit streak to six games.
The junior outfielder is 9-for-21 with eight RBI during that stretch. For context, DePron entered the 2022 season with five career RBI.

Hits in bunches

Rylie Hamilton leads the Salukis with eight multi-hit games, which includes a pair of three-hit games. Hamilton has multi-hit games in two of her last three games.
Hamilton also has an 11-game reached base streak - the longest of her career.
Hamilton currently ranks second in the MVC in batting average (.415).

On a tear

Elisabeth Huckleberry has tied her career-best for hits in a game, three, in two of her last three games.
During that stretch, she is hitting .700 (7-for-10) with a home run and 5 RBI.
She has more hits in her last three games (7) then she had in her previous 14 games (6).
Huckleberry has reached base safely at least once in 14 of the 17 games she has played in this season.

Three or more

The Salukis are 10-1 this season when scoring at least three runs.
Conversely, SIU is 0-7 when scoring two runs or fewer.

When the bats are rolling…

Southern has tallied double-digit hits in back-to-back games coming into conference play, and has done so in five games this season.
The Salukis are 8-1 this season when out-hitting their opponent.

Top-2 in the Big 3 offensive categories

SIU ranks either first or second in the Valley in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Southern leads the conference in batting average (.294) and on-base percentage (.402) and is second in slugging (.418).
The Salukis are one of 30 teams nationally with a .400 or better on-base percentage.

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Players Mentioned

Aubree DePron

Rylie Hamilton

Elisabeth Huckleberry

Jenny Jansen

Katelyn Massa

Ashley Wood

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