Southern Illinois University
22-17-1, 11-9
Indiana State University
21-23, 8-12
Salukis take series finale from Sycamores, 6-3
04/24/2022 | 3:23:00 | Softball
Southern wins its fourth MVC series this season after it scored six runs in the first two innings of Sunday's rubber match.
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team scored six runs in the first two innings, which included a five-run second inning, to defeat the Indiana State Sycamores, 6-3 and win its fourth Missouri Valley Conference series of the season.
"We always talk as a team about how we need to be winning about 75-percent of our games, so taking two of three is an important part of that," interim head coach Jen Sewell said. "Especially when we play at home, we've got to win on Sundays so that we leave the ballpark feeling good about the week ahead. We have a tough week ahead with Missouri State coming to town so we wanted to be sure to leave today feeling good about ourselves."
After Indiana State struck for two runs in the top of the first, SIU countered with a run in the bottom-half of the frame before using a RBI-groundout and a grand slam from Jenny Jansen to put up a five-spot in the bottom of the second.
Jansen was the hero at the plate for the Salukis on Sunday. Jansen tied her career-high with five RBI aided by her towering grand slam that capped off SIU's five-run second inning.
"When I hit that ball I skied it and I thought I flew out to left," Jansen said of her second-inning grand slam. "The wind helped me out and blew the ball out. I 100-percent thought I flew out so when I saw it get out of the park I was pumped."
The Warrenton, Mo. native extended her reached base safely streak to 30 games with her second inning blast, which was the 33rd of her Saluki career.
"What is great about Jenny Jansen is that she is nothing but a leader," Sewell said. "Everything she does is about SIU so of course she was the one to get the chance to do that. She's so bought in to everything we do here, from our culture to our leadership style to our offensive philosophy to how we play defense. She does everything the Saluki softball way."
Sarah Harness, who entered the game with two outs in the top of the first, was once again dominant in relief to improve to 14-9 in the circle this season. She threw six and one-third innings and allowed just one earned run on five hits to go along with three strikeouts and no walks.
"Sarah is an incredible closer," Sewell said. "She loves to come into a game and is very good at it. She's thrown a lot of innings and we don't want to overwork her but we also knew we had a chance to close out the series and needed her out there to do that."
Harness had Indiana State's number all weekend. The Bowling Green, Mo. native went 2-0 with a 0.91 ERA in 15.1 innings of work. She surrendered 14 hits, of which just three went for extra bases, and gave up just two earned runs.
After Indiana State used a walk and a home run to take an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Southern answered back with a run in the bottom of the inning on a RBI-groundout by Jansen that scored Emma Austin from second.
Harness worked around a walk and a single to get out of the top of the second unscathed and SIU's bats gave her more than enough run support to work with in the bottom half of the frame. The Salukis used a pair of walks and an error to load the bases for Austin, who tied the game with a RBI-groundout. After Aubree DePron singled to re-load the bases, Jansen cleared them with her seventh home run of the season.
The Sycamores used a pair of two-out hits in the top of the fifth to get a run back but that was all they could get off Harness. Southern's ace retired seven of the next eight batters that she faced to seal the win.
The Salukis are back in action on Wednesday, April 27 when they host Missouri State. First pitch of Wednesday's game is set for Noon.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Harness, Sarah (14-9)
L: Benko, Lexi (10-12)
Batting:
2B: Peterson, Bella 1 ; Tokarek, Annie 1
HR: Guercio, Amanda 1
RBI: Peterson, Bella 1 ; Guercio, Amanda 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Patton, Olivia 1 ; Peterson, Bella 1 ; Guercio, Amanda 1
CS: Tokarek, Annie 1
HBP: Shade, Kennedy 1
Batting:
HR: Jansen, Jenny 1
RBI: Austin, Emma 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 5
Base Running:
RUNS: Austin, Emma 2 ; DePron, Aubree 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Warwick, Elizabeth 1 ; Caylor, Bailey 1
SB: Austin, Emma 1
