Softball Completes Sweep of Northern Iowa with 5-3 Win on Senior Day

Saturday, April 18

Carbondale, IL

2 PM

Southern Illinois University

28-14, 17-5

Northern Iowa

22-19, 10-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northern Iowa	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	5	0
Southern Ill.	0	0	0	2	3	0	X	5	6	0

Erin Lee (left), Brooklyn Pritchett (center), and Haley Wilkerson (right)

Softball Completes Sweep of Northern Iowa with 5-3 Win on Senior Day

04/18/2026 | 7:41:00 | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Dominic Hoscher, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - After winning the first two games of the series on Friday, the Southern Illinois University softball team (28-14 overall, 17-5 MVC) finished off the sweep with a 5-3 victory on Senior Day.

Southern Illinois honored seniors Erin Lee, Haley Wilkerson, and Brooklyn Pritchett in a ceremony at the conclusion of the game. All three contributed to the win with Lee drawing a walk, Pritchett scoring a run, and Wilkerson tallying an RBI off of a pinch-hit, bases-loaded walk.

"Just so proud of our seniors today and our team playing some of their best softball," head coach Jen Sewell said. "Haley Wilkerson is on fire coming of the bench for pinch-hit at bats. She is seeing the ball so well right now."

Lee made her 42nd start of the year and recorded her 26th walk, which is second on the team (Sydney Potter, 28).

"Erin Lee is just a staple for us," Sewell said. "We go as Erin goes. Another four-year senior who just gives us so much confidence. Those two (Lee and Wilkerson) as captains have pushed this team to new levels."

Pritchett scored her 13th run of the season in a two-run fourth inning for the Salukis.

"Pritchett has been such an amazing addition to our lineup," Sewell said. "She scores nearly every time she enters the lineup."

The Salukis scored their five runs on six hits with zero errors in the win. All three runs for Northern Iowa came in the top of the fifth on a pair of home runs. The visitors also had five hits and no errors on Saturday.

Junior pitcher Emily Delgado's impressive weekend continued in game three as she picked up her second win. Delgado (8-4) earned the win after allowing just one hit, zero runs, and zero walks with three strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched. The junior finished the weekend 2-0 with one save, a 0.00 ERA, and eight strikeouts across three appearances.

Hayden Kurtz and Amanda Knutson led the team with two hits each on Saturday. Knutson's three-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth put the Salukis ahead, 5-3, and was the junior's seventh homer of the season.

"This team has worked so hard for this series and we loved seeing the team pick up big wins on a very emotional day," Sewell said. "We need to push through this last quarter of the conference and solidify the 1-2 spot and this weekend really helped us. It's a huge sweep."

Freshman Brooklynn Danielson got the start and allowed one run with five strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched. Danielson started off the game with two strikeouts in the top of the first inning.

The Panthers opened up the second with a lead-off single, but the runner never got past first as Danielson retired the next three batters she faced.

It would remain scoreless between SIU and UNI until the fourth inning. After the Panthers stranded three in the top of the frame, the Salukis scored two in the bottom half to go up, 2-0. First, it was Mikaela Coburn producing an RBI single to score Pritchett for the first run of the day. Wilkerson then drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in Knutson and put SIU ahead by two.

Northern Iowa answered back with a lead-off home run in the top of the fifth. Two batters later, UNI went deep again via a two-run shot to take a 3-2 lead.

The lead didn't last long as Knutson launched a three-run home run to score Kurtz and Sydney Potter in the bottom of the fifth. The junior's homer gave Southern Illinois a 5-3 lead.

Delgado, who had entered the game for freshman Hailey Lucas in the fifth, recorded two strikeouts and a ground out in the sixth to keep the advantage at two.

The junior from Corona, Calif., finished off the contest with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, securing the 5-3 win for Southern Illinois.

This was SIU's first sweep of UNI since 2019 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The last time the Salukis had swept the Panthers in Carbondale, Ill., was in 2010.

Up Next
Southern Illinois improves to 28-14 overall and 17-5 in conference play after the sweep of Northern Iowa. The Salukis will now travel to Murray State on Tuesday, April 21, for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.

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