Southern Illinois University
5-2
North Dakota St.
3-5
Salukis Battle Back but Come Up Just Short Against the Bison
02/17/2023 | 4:17:00 | Softball
Southern got in a hole early as NDSU quickly got on the board in the first inning. With Eberle in the circle, the Bison managed to score two earned and one unearned run behind three hits and a Saluki error. SIU was able to get out of the inning after a nice played made by Eberle on a ball hit up the middle right back to her that she was able to field cleanly and get the runner at first leaving two Bison stranded on the bases.Â
"We just got off to such a slow start defensively today. We really put Madi Eberle in a bad spot and I had to get her out of there," explained head coach Jen Sewell after the game. "We don't make excuses here and we know we need to clean it up. We can't win ball games with just hitting or just pitching or just defense. There has to be at least two out of three of these working to have a chance."
After a shaky first inning for SIU, Eberle and the Saluki defense settled down as she gave up just two hits and no runs over the next two innings, keeping Southern in the game at 3-0 as the offense struggled to get going.Â
Elliott Stinson would replace Eberle in the top of the fourth inning and made fairly quick work of the Bison early behind some help from her defense. With a runner on first, first baseman Jenna Christeson caught a line drive and beat the runner to the bag to turn the unassisted double play. However, the Bison were able to bring another run across in the fifth after a wild pitch, extending their lead to 4-0.
"I continue to ask our pitchers to bring down their pitch counts," said Coach Sewell. "But they are learning when to pick and when to go at. That's a tough lesson in a schedule that has zero holes right now. Command is important, but pitching with intention is even more important right now."
The Salukis wouldn't go down easy as they would bring the game within a run in the fifth inning. Rylie Hamilton notched her 10th RBI of the season on the sac fly that would score the Salukis first run before Anna Carder roped a single into left field to score two more runs to make the score 4-3 heading to the sixth.Â
"NDSU as always is a great club and they will be a postseason team. I liked our comeback but there isn't any reason for a comeback if we don't hand the runs away early," explained Sewell. "We fought though. I'll give us that. We had it within 1 run. We don't have to play perfect right now. But we need to learn the lesson or we are just going to keep getting the same lesson. Right now the lesson is - adjust - adjust to how we are being thrown to the plate and adjust pitches to get them in the zone or reasonably near the zone when we are on the mound. We can't do some of the same things over and over again expecting a different result."Â
North Dakota State continued to work counts in the seventh inning and did not make anything easy on the Saluki defense as the Bison would extend its lead 5-3 in the top of the seventh inning. Southern outhit the Bison with seven to NDSU's six but an error and eight walks proved to be the determining factor in the contest.Â
Southern will get going early again on Friday morning with another 10 a.m. start. The Salukis will play their fourth and final game of the PV Challenge against Sacramento State, being streamed on FloSoftball.Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lyle (1-2)
L: Eberle, Madi (3-1)
S: Vargas (1)
Batting:
2B: Goetschius 1
RBI: Goetschius 2 ; Aguilar 1 ; Rudd 1
SH: Woldruff 1 ; Padgett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Buringa 1 ; Goetschius 1 ; Aguilar 1 ; Dean 1 ; Leadstrom 1
SB: Padgett 1 ; Claus 1
HBP: Buringa 1 ; Aguilar 1 ; Woldruff 1 ; Padgett 1
Batting:
RBI: Hamilton, Rylie 1 ; Carder, Anna 2
SH: Lee, Erin 1
SF: Hamilton, Rylie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Warwick, Elizabeth 1 ; Lis, Jackie 1 ; Austin, Emma 1
