Southern Illinois University
Ball State University
Salukis rally to down Cardinals on day one of Coach B Classic
03/04/2022 | 6:12:00 | Softball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — After falling behind 7-1 after three and a half innings, the Southern Illinois University softball team plated 11 runs in the final three and a third innings for a comeback 12-7 win over the Ball State Cardinals on day one of the Coach B Classic.
Down to their final nine outs and trailing by five (7-2), Southern exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the fifth and added two more in the bottom of the sixth for good measure.
"When you get down like that it feels like all the punches are being thrown at you and you can't make them stop," interim head coach Jen Sewell said. "Once we got that stopped we finally were able to start throwing punches back."
Southern took advantage of Ball State's pitching by committee approach, as the Salukis got to the Cardinals' bullpen to plate the game's final eight runs.
Ball State's Angelina Russo and Deborah Jones combined to throw four innings and allowed two runs on three hits with two walks before turning the ball over to Maria Taylor to begin the fifth. The Salukis pounced on Taylor, as she walked three, surrendered a pair of hits and gave up a total of five runs without recording an out. Her replacement, Emma Eubank, gave up four runs on four hits and four walks.
In total, the Salukis tallied six of their nine hits and seven of their nine total walks in the game's final two innings.
"We knew they were going to pitch by committee," Sewell said. "Thats the way they choose to do it. When they switch pitchers like that, sometimes teams will get out of doing what they want to do, which is work the count. So we started to take first pitch strikes, which seems odd down six runs. But then you start to work back to what we do, which is stress on-base percentage. We also knew that Ball State's 2,3,4 pitchers didn't throw a lot of strikes so that played right into how we want to play offensively."
Southern sent a total of 12 hitters to the plate in a wild bottom of the fifth and sent the inning's first eight hitters to the plate without recording an out.
Jenny Jansen led off the fifth with a walk and Rylie Hamilton moved her to second with a single. After Tori Schullian walked, Elisabeth Huckleberry plated the inning's first run with a RBI-single. Aubree DePron then drew a bases loaded walk and Sidney Sikes followed with a RBI-single to cut SIU's deficit to two, 7-5. Another bases loaded walk, this time to Bailey Caylor, made it a one-run game and Ashley Wood cleared the bases with a double to the gap in left. After Ball State recorded the first two outs of the frame, Hamilton roped her second single of the inning to plate the final run of the frame.
After Harness retired the side in the sixth, Southern took advantage of a wild pitch and a Ball State error to plate the game's final two runs.
All nine Salukis that started the game reached base at least once in the win. Rylie Hamilton went 3-for-5 with a two RBI while Elisabeth Huckleberry went 2-for-3 with a RBI to lead the way.
The Salukis will play two games tomorrow. Southern takes on No. 17 Northwestern at 12:15 p.m. before tangling with Northern Kentucky (2:30 p.m.) in the nightcap.
