Southern Illinois University
44-10
Cal
37-19
Recap | Softball stays alive with 3-2 win over Cal at NCAA Regional
05/18/2024 | 7:11:00 | Softball
Saluki advance to Regional finals on Sunday
BATON ROUGE, La. — The Southern Illinois softball team stayed alive at the NCAA Regionals with a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Cal in an elimination game on Saturday night.
The Salukis (44-11) beat the Bears (37-19) for the second time in two days and have won multiple games at an NCAA Regional for the first time since capturing three victories in their 2004 NCAA Tournament appearance.
SIU will play No. 9 LSU, which is unbeaten in the regional, on Sunday at 3 p.m. LSU needs just one win to advance to the Super Regionals, while the Salukis will need to beat the Tigers twice.
Cal took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but SIU chipped away at the lead on an RBI single by Anna Carder that plated Bailey Caylor, to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second.
The Salukis scored twice in the fourth inning, taking advantage of a throwing error by Cal's Tatum Anzaldo at third, that allowed Carder to score a two-out, unearned run. Jackie Lis then crushed a double to the gap in right center field to score Elizabeth Warwick and give Southern a 3-2 lead.
Madi Eberle pitched 4.1 innings, allowing just four hits and two runs to claim the victory. Maddia Groff picked up the save by closing out the final 2.2 innings. The two pitchers combined to retire 13 of the last 14 Cal batters to end the game.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Eberle, Madi (12-6)
L: Randi Roelling (13-8)
S: Groff, Maddia (3)
Batting:
RBI: Tianna Bell 1 ; Acacia Anders 1
SH: Holly Medina 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lagi Quiroga 1 ; Tatum Anzaldo 1
SB: Tatum Anzaldo 1 ; Mika Lee 1
Batting:
2B: Lis, Jackie 1
RBI: Lis, Jackie 1 ; Carder, Anna 1
SH: Lee, Erin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Warwick, Elizabeth 1 ; Caylor, Bailey 1 ; Carder, Anna 1
