Softball falls to Utah, 11-9, in thrilling NCAA Tournament opener

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Southern Illinois put a scare into No. 15-ranked Utah in the opening game of the Utah Regional of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, before the Utes (38-13) prevailed, 11-9, at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.

Trailing early, 6-0, the Salukis (36-19) batted around in the third inning to score five runs and cut the deficit to 6-5. Tori Schullian opened the frame for SIU with a single, and her base hit was followed by five-straight singles. Anna Carder completed the scoring for Southern by driving home two runs with a single to left center.

After falling behind, 9-5, SIU rallied once again in the top of the sixth with four runs. An error, a walk and a two-RBI single by Elizabeth Warwick plated two runs to make it 9-7. Rylie Hamilton then delivered a two-run double off the wall in right field to tie it, 9-9.

"I could tell this team played inspired softball, once we got out of that first inning I thought we settled in really nicely with our nerves," said head coach Jen Sewell following the game. "One of the best games I think we've played competitively all year but I expected that from this team."

Elizabeth Warwick, Jackie Lis, Rylie Hamilton, and Tori Schullian each tallied two hits a piece while Warwick and Hamilton each drove in three runs to lead the Salukis offense that totaled 11 hits.

Utah's Karlie Davison drove home two runs in the bottom of the sixth, giving her five RBIs on the day and making the final margin, 11-9.

"You watch a team run through the Pac-12 Tournament, you know they can handle it," said Sewell in the post-game presser. "They've put up some big runs and I think especially when you're answering UCLA quite a bit, we watched a lot of that film and the way they handle the bat is impressive as ever."

Madi Eberle pitched a complete game for the Salukis and settled into a groove midway through the game, retiring seven of eight hitters during one stretch.

"I thought she had a pretty good game, it was one of those things where I think if we we could've gotten a few more defensive outs and kind of shut some innings down, they could've scored one or two on us and that was going to be okay but that five-spot in the first inning probably set us back quite a bit."

With 20 combined runs, the Salukis game with the Utes goes down as Southern Illinois' highest-scoring NCAA Tournament game since 1971 in the 12-13 loss to Nebraska in the WCWS.

In a double-elimination tournament, Southern Illinois will play Baylor on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the loser's bracket. Utah advanced to play Ole Miss in the winner's bracket.

FOLLOW THE SALUKIS

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on Twitter at @SIU_Softball, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SalukiSoftball and on Instagram at @SIU_Softball. Fans can also download the "Salukis" Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store

Calendar

Upcoming Events