CARBONDALE, Ill. (SIU ATHLETICS)-- The Southern Illinois University softball team split its Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader with the Evansville Purple Aces on Sunday, April 11. The Salukis fell 8-2 in Sunday's opener but rebounded with a 4-1 win in the nightcap to clinch their fifth-straight series win over the Aces.
"I think we are getting better at a lot of things- we're playing seven good innings and we're putting together 14 innings of our brand of softball," head coach  said. "But we have to be better when our opponent strikes first. The first game today could've easily been a 4-2 game but we gave up a home run when we made a mistake on a pitch, which if that hadn't happened it would've been a whole different ballgame with the score 4-2 and us coming up to the plate in the seventh. In game two, Sarah had another dominant performance and I thought our offense did a really good job of jumping on them early."
In the series finale, SIU scored two in the first, one in the third and tacked on an insurance run in the sixth which was more than enough for , who went the distance and surrendered just four hits to seal the win.
After Harness blanked the Aces in the first, Southern jumped out to an early lead care of its two fifth-year seniors Ìý²¹²Ô»åÌý. Vermejan was plunked by a pitch to set the table for Massa, who brought her in to score with her fifth home run of the season.
"All of her pitches that went for strikes were dropping," Massa said of her home run. "I fell in an 0-2 hole pretty quick but I knew where she was going to throw the next strike. I knew it was going to be down in the zone so I just had to let my bat get there and make sure that I was down on the ball and not pulling up."
SIU added to its lead in the bottom of the third thanks to heads up base running from Vermejan. With runners on first and second with no outs, Massa laced a pitch right at Evansville's second baseman, who began to turn two. Vermejan flew around third and slid into home as the Aces were putting the finishing touches on their double play.
The Aces finally got to Harness in the fifth, as they used two hits and a walk to scratch across a run.
Evansville continued to gain momentum and drew a one-out walk in the top of the sixth that sent the tying run to the plate which, in turn, gave the Aces the chance to roll over their lineup and get to the top of their order, where Eryn Gould, Evansville's top hitter, loomed large. Gould strung together good at-bats against Harness all weekend and was a respectable 3-for-6 with a pair of doubles off of Southern's ace.Ìý Massa, however, ended Evansville's chance to do that, as she cut down a would-be base stealer to get Southern out of the sixth.
"We didn't want to face their top of the order anymore," Blaylock said. "The big play of the game was Massa throwing out the runner in the sixth because it allowed us to face their 7-8-9 hitters in the seventh. We didn't want to get to Gould again so I thought we did a good job of doing that."
Southern tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, as  singled and came around to score on a two-out single from .Ìý
Harness went the distance to improve to 14-2 in the circle this season. The reigning MVC Pitcher of the Week allowed just one run on four hits with 11 strikeouts and two walks to earn the victory. The Bowling Green, Mo. native became the first Saluki since 2010 to record double-digit strikeouts in back-to-back starts.Ìý
"Evansville is a team full of tough-minded kids that don't quit," Blaylock said. "When you have kids like that that just take hacks and don't quit, you have to be spot on and Sarah was. She had all of her pitches working today."
Vermejan went 2-for-2 with a double, a hit by pitch and two runs scored while Boelens was 2-for-3 with a run scored.Ìý
In game one, the Aces scored a pair of runs in each of the first two innings to jump out to a 4-0 lead. After  came on in relief and steadied the ship through the middle innings, Evansville got to her for three more in the sixth and added a final run in the seventh to go ahead 8-0.Ìý
With two outs in the seventh, Southern plated a pair of runs on  sixth home run of the season but that was all the Salukis could muster.
Clark took the loss in Sunday's opener, as she went one inning and allowed four runs on four hits. Eberle threw six innings of relief and allowed four runs on five hits.
At the plate, Jansen went 2-for-4 with a home run, a run scored and 2 RBIs.Ìý was 2-for-3 with a run scored while  went 1-for-2 with a walk and a double.
The Salukis are back in action next weekend when they travel to Normal, Ill. to tangle with the first-place Illinois State Redbirds in a matchup between the top two teams in the Valley. First pitch for Saturday's doubleheader is set for Noon.
