Southern Illinois Splits Saturday Doubleheader with Belmont; Takes Game Two Behind Strong Pitching

Saturday, March 28

Carbondale, IL

2 PM

Southern Illinois University

17-12, 6-3

Belmont

23-8, 10-2

Belmont

Southern Ill.

Southern Illinois Splits Saturday Doubleheader with Belmont; Takes Game Two Behind Strong Pitching

03/28/2026 | 9:33:00 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dominic Hoscher, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University softball team (18-12 overall, 7-3 MVC) split its Saturday doubleheader against Belmont, falling in game one, 7-0, before winning, 5-1, in game two.

Outfielder Maleah Blomenkamp led the way offensively with four hits across the two games. Of the four hits, one was a double and one was a triple. SIU's lone homer came off the bat of Sydney Potter in the fifth inning of the second game, her 14th of the season.

Freshman Brooklynn Danielson (6-0) picked up the win in game two while junior Emily Delgado (2) earned the save.

Game One: 7-0 loss vs. Belmont
It was a scoreless affair for four innings in the opening game of the day. Freshman Hailey Lucas dueled Belmont's Maya Johnson and worked around traffic early in the contest.

Lucas stranded two Belmont runners in the first, one in the second and third, and then three in the fourth to keep the visitors off the board.

Sage Grann drew a two-out walk in the second inning and Blomenkamp hit a two-out single in the third, but both were left on base, keeping the score at 0-0.

Belmont broke the deadlock in the fifth with a double and a sacrifice fly, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins added four more runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to win by a final score of 7-0.

Game Two: 5-1 win vs. Belmont
Danielson came out of the gates rolling, striking out the first two batters she faced. One inning later, the freshman once again struck out the initial two Bruins she went up against, giving her four punchouts through two innings.

Despite Belmont loading the bases in the third, Danielson got out of the jam by producing a groundout to second baseman Erin Lee to keep the Bruins off the board.

The game would remain scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when third baseman Amanda Knutson hit an RBI double to center, scoring pinch runner Sarah Cook to give SIU a 1-0 lead.

After the first two Bruins reached in the fifth, Delgado entered the game and generated a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to escape the inning unscathed.

This opened the door for the Salukis to score four runs in the bottom of the fifth. First it was junior Emily Williams who came through with an RBI single to bring home Blomenkamp. One batter later, Potter launched a three-run home run to left field to give Southern a 5-0 advantage.

This was the junior's 14th home run of the season, tying Katie Jordan ('05), Maria Damico ('05), and Katie Wilson ('07) for the fourth-most in a single season in program history.

Belmont scored one run in the sixth to make it 5-1. In the seventh, Delgado picked up her second save of the year after pitching around a one-out walk to secure the win for the Salukis in game two.

Danielson earned the win after allowing just two hits, no runs, and three walks with five strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched. Out of the bullpen, Delgado allowed two hits, one run, and one walk with five strikeouts in 3.0 innings pitched. The junior's second strikeout was the 200th of her career.

Up Next
SIU and Belmont will play game three on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Charlotte West Stadium.

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