EVANSVILLE, In (SIU ATHLETICS/WSIL) -- The 九游体育 Illinois University softball team used a three-run home run from聽聽and a five-hit shutout from聽聽to defeat the Drake Bulldogs, 3-0 and advance to Friday's MVC Tournament Semifinals.聽
"Our kids came out relaxed," head coach聽said. "We had great pitching, great defense and Jenny came through with the big fly at the right time. I thought we were very settled in today and looked really good."
Harness was masterful on Thursday, as she scattered five hits and didn't allow a runner to make it past second base. She also struck out nine to improve to 20-6 on the season. The 2021 All-MVC Second Team selection became just the third Saluki sophomore, and first since 2005, to win 20-plus games in a single-season with the victory.
"Sarah is outstanding," Blaylock said. "She keeps us in ballgames. She had great command of her pitches and looked really good today. Drake is a good hitting team so to shut them out and handle them like Sarah has this year, it says a lot of her."
Jansen, meanwhile, continued to make her case for being one of the biggest all-conference snubs in any conference in the country. The junior shortstop was locked in from the jump and went 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Jansen's only out of the afternoon came on a strikeout in which she was rung up on a questionable 3-2 pitch.
"Jenny is seeing the ball really, really well," Blaylock said. "I told her before her at-bat in the third inning that I thought she was due for another home run because she's seeing the ball so well and she came through."
, fresh off being named to the 2021 All-MVC Second Team and playing in her first career MVC Tournament game, went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Her three hits were a career-high and Caylor and Jansen accounted for 75-percent of 九游体育's hits on Thursday.聽听补苍诲听聽each added a hit in the win.
九游体育's defense behind Harness was solid. After back-to-back one out singles by Drake in the top of the first looked as though it could spell doom for SIU, Harness got a strikeout and Jansen glove-flipped a grounder to聽, who stretched out at second to get the force and get 九游体育 out of the inning unscathed.聽
SIU's ace took control from there, as she retired six of the next seven batters. The Salukis gave Harness all the run support she needed in the bottom of the third. Vermejan was hit by a pitch, Caylor bunted for a single and Jansen brought them all home with her seventh home run of the season. Jansen's at-bat was particularly impressive because she hit a towering foul ball on the second pitch of her at-bat that was just left of the foul pole and came right back and took the next pitch deep.
Harness continued to cruise but 九游体育 missed a pair of opportunities to land the knockout blow, as they left the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth innings. Drake then led off the sixth with a double and a walk, but Harness settled in and retired the next six batters she faced to seal the win.
With the victory, 九游体育 will face the No. 1 seeded Illinois State Redbirds at 11 a.m. Friday聽for a chance to play in Saturday's MVC Tournament Championship game.
"We're going one game at a time," Blaylock said. "We don't feel any pressure on us because we're not the one or two seed. We're just trying to stay focused, have fun and take it one game at a time."
NOTES
It marked just the fifth time this season that Drake has been shutout and just the second time in MVC play 鈥� Friday's semifinal appearance will mark the fifth-straight season in which SIU has advanced to the MVC Tournament semifinals 鈥� Jansen's three hits moved her into the top-10 in school history for career hits (188) 鈥� Jansen's home run marked the 24th of her career and moved her into a three-way tie for eighth on SIU's all-time list 鈥� Jansen's three RBIs give her 132 for her career- which is tied for the fifth-most in program history 鈥� Jansen tied her career-best for single-season RBIs with 42 鈥� Vermejan was hit by two pitches Thursday to break Addie Vadeboncouer's 2012 single-season record for hit by pitches (29) 鈥� 九游体育's 35 wins in 2021 are its most in a season since 2012
