Southern Illinois University
26-18-1, 15-10
Illinois State University
22-26, 12-12
Salukis send seniors out with a pair of wins on Senior Day
05/07/2022 | 6:49:00 | Softball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University Salukis outscored the Illinois State Redbirds 21-6 to sweep their pivotal Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader on Senior Day at Charlotte West Stadium. The Salukis run-ruled the Redbirds, 13-3 in five innings in the opener and followed with an 8-3 victory in the nightcap.
With the two wins Saturday, Southern clinches the third-seed in next week's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. In doing so, SIU avoids having to potentially play twice on Thursday. The fifth and sixth seeded teams have to play the winners of Wednesday's play-in games on Thursday before returning, should they be victorious, to face the third and fourth seeds later that day.
"We just wanted to insure that we only had to play one game a day," interim head coach Jen Sewell said about her team locking up the third seed. "Its meant for us and we feel good in that setting. We would like to get out to a good start in that first game and roll from there."
Southern's offense fired on all cylinders on Saturday. The Salukis pounded out 17 hits, which included six home runs, and drew 15 total walks (11 BB // 4 HBP). Meanwhile, Southern's 13 runs in its game one win tied its season-high. All nine Salukis who started reached base at least twice in the doubleheader.
"We were seeing the ball so big today that we could see the ball right out of the hand and knew weather it was going to be in the zone or not, which kept our swings and misses down," Sewell said. "It was a walk or a very hard hit ball, so I liked that about the way we played today."
The Salukis were led offensively by their seniors- Jenny Jansen, Ashley Wood, Sidney Sikes and Danyelle Eilers. The quartet combined to hit .467 (7-for-15) with three home runs, six total walks and nine RBI.
"This is the culmination of five years of hard work," Jansen said. "It takes a lot to be a student-athlete and I think everybody looks forward to their Senior Day. It was perfect. The weather was perfect, getting two wins was great and we hit six home runs today which was amazing. It was a great day."
Jansen went 5-for-7 on the day with a home run and three RBI. Wood, meanwhile, was 2-for-4 with a home run in each game to go along with three hit by pitches and five RBI.
"Ashley had been hitting a ton of ground balls and she felt like at Evansville she hit every player on the field in the glove," Sewell said. "She was getting to the point where she thought the universe was against her. You could tell her swings were good today and that she will feel good about them going into next week."
Sikes reached base via a walk in each of SIU's two wins while Eilers drove in a run with a bases loaded walk in Southern's 8-3 win in game two.
"The seniors really showed out and it is really special that it happened on Senior Day since it is their day," Rylie Hamilton said.
Hamilton also played a significant role in SIU taking both from Illinois State. The sophomore third baseman made several highlight-worthy snags defensively but was somehow even better at the dish. The Cabot, Ark. native went 4-for-6 on the day and hit a home run in each of SIU's wins. She tallied a total of seven RBI, which included a career-best five RBI in Southern's run-rule win in game one.
"We started out really hot today," Hamilton said. "Everyone felt good and we knew we were going to win. We had that confidence behind us and it showed for multiple people."
In game one, Southern struck for four runs in the bottom of the first courtesy of Jansen's three-run home run and a RBI-single from Aubree DePron. The Salukis tacked on eight runs the following inning after Hamilton hit a three-run home run and drove in two more later in the frame with a two-run single. DePron (RBI-single), Eilers (RBI-walk) and Caylor (RBI-walk) also drove in runs during an inning in which SIU's first eight hitters reached base safely and the Salukis sent a total of 12 batter to the plate.
SIU starting pitcher Sarah Harness cruised from there to pick up her 17th win of the season. Harness allowed two earned runs on six hits and issued just one walk.
In game two, Southern again plated four runs in the bottom of the first. A pair of two-run home runs from Jansen and Hamilton staked SIU to a lead it never surrendered. Illinois State chipped away as it used a solo home run in the top of the fourth to get to within one, 4-3 but SIU's offensive firepower was too much for the Redbirds. A four-run fifth, highlighted by a two-run home run by Wood and a two-run shot from Elizabeth Warwick was more than enough for SIU's starting pitcher Madi Eberle.
Eberle improved to 8-8 in the circle after she went the distance and allowed just three earned runs on seven hits.
The Salukis are back in action on Thursday, May 12 when they play in the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Eberle, Madi (8-8)
L: Fox, Amanda (11-11)
Batting:
HR: Kennedy, Dayna 1 ; Calabrese, Michele 1
RBI: Kennedy, Dayna 1 ; Calabrese, Michele 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Kennedy, Dayna 1 ; Moffett, Rebecca 1 ; Calabrese, Michele 1
SB: Moffett, Rebecca 1 ; Gardner, Reili 1
Batting:
HR: Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Wood, Ashley 1 ; Hamilton, Rylie 1 ; Warwick, Elizabeth 1
RBI: Jansen, Jenny 2 ; Wood, Ashley 2 ; Hamilton, Rylie 2 ; Warwick, Elizabeth 2
SH: DePron, Aubree 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Austin, Emma 1 ; Jansen, Jenny 1 ; Eilers, Danyelle 1 ; Wood, Ashley 2 ; Hamilton, Rylie 2 ; Warwick, Elizabeth 1
HBP: Wood, Ashley 1
