CARBONDALE, Ill. (SIU ATHLETICS) -- The Southern Illinois University softball team completed a three-game sweep of the Valparaiso softball team with a 8-0 five inning, run-rule win Sunday inside Charlotte West Stadium.
The Salukis plated two runs in the second on聽聽first career home run and then hung a six-spot in the fourth highlighted by Huckleberry's second home run of the game.聽
"Elisabeth has been hitting the ball hard since the start of conference play," head coach聽聽said. "She's one of those kids that you're not necessarily seeing how well she's hitting the ball from her stat line. That is the kind of hitter that we recruited and its good to see her really start to come through."
Southern outscored Valpo, 14-1 in its sweep, which marked the second time this season in which SIU has swept a MVC opponent and held them to a run or fewer. It was the Salukis sixth MVC series win this season and its third sweep.
"Today was more of a dominant performance than our two wins yesterday," Blaylock said. "We had great pitching, great defense and I was glad that we put up a big inning. It was okay that we waited until the fourth inning to get that done because I want them to understand that that's okay. I don't want them to press or feel like we have to score early."
聽improved to 19-4 on the season after she allowed just three singles and struck out six. The Bowling Green, Mo. native, who was named one of 30 finalists for the NFCA DI National Freshman of the Year award earlier this week, was spectacular all weekend for the Salukis. The sophomore hurler allowed just seven singles in 12 innings of work while striking out 10 and walking just two.
Southern's offense gave Harness plenty of run support on Sunday, thanks in part to a monster day at the plate by Huckleberry. The Fisherville, Ky. native went 2-for-2 with two home runs and a career-high five RBIs. Her two home runs tied the school record for most home runs in a single game and she became just the 10th Saluki freshman to hit two homers in a game. 聽
"My stats don't necessarily show that I'm hitting the ball as well as I am," Huckleberry said. "I'm hitting the ball hard but I am just not getting paid off. But having a game like this where I get paid off is definitely a confidence boost."
SIU's 1-through-6 hitters all had at least one hit and were a combined 9-for-16 at the dish with 8 RBIs. Huckleberry,聽聽(2-for-3) and聽聽(2-for-3) all had multiple hits in the win.
After Harness struck out four of the first eight batters that she faced to open the contest, Southern used a single by Boelens and Huckleberry's first career home run to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless third, Southern passed the bat in the fourth. Jansen led off with a double and聽聽followed with single to score Jansen from second. Boelens then singled to put two runners on for Huckleberry, who went deep to center field to put SIU ahead, 6-0 with no outs in the fourth.聽聽drew a walk next before Valpo got back-to-back outs.聽聽socked a two-out double that moved Warwick to third and聽聽brought both of them in to score with a two-out single.
The Salukis will close out the 2021 regular season with a pivotal road series at Northern Iowa on May 8-9. The Panthers, who are currently in second in the MVC, took two of three from the first-place Illinois State Redbirds to add to next weekend's drama.聽
"I want us to continue to go one game at a time," Blaylock said. "I don't want us to think big picture. I want us to focus on game one and then game two on Saturday and just keep playing like that. I think we're better when we play like that because we are semi-young. We just need to take it one game at a time and see it out."
NOTES
Huckleberry is the 43rd Saluki to hit two home runs in a game and just the 10th to do so as a freshman 鈥� Southern improved to 42-0 in games where at least one player hits two home runs 鈥� SIU improved to 19-4 at Charlotte West Stadium this season with the sweep of Valpo 鈥� Southern's 19 home wins this season are its most since 2006 while its .826 winning percentage at home this season is also its best since 2006 鈥� The Salukis are 28-4 at home over the last two seasons 鈥� Southern held Valpo to just one run on the weekend, which was the fourth series in which SIU has held its opponent to four runs or fewer and the second time this season that the Salukis have held its opponent to just one run in a three-game sweep 鈥� It's just the second time since 2000 (when MVC went to three-game series) and first time since 2005 that SIU has swept multiple series in which they've allowed one run or fewer in the sweep 鈥� In addition to becoming the program's all-time leader in runs scored and it's single-season record holder for stolen bases,聽聽became SIU's all-time leader in games played (224) and games started (221) 鈥� With her three doubles this weekend,聽聽became the sixth Saluki with 40-plus career doubles .. She's tied for third all-time with 41 career doubles and needs nine more to break Shaye Harre's all-time doubles record 鈥β�聽RBI-single in the fourth gave her 144 career RBIs- four shy of second in school history and 12 back of SIU's all-time record, also held by Harre 鈥� Harness' 28th career win moved her into a tie for 13th all-time in school history 鈥� Vermejan's run scored on Sunday gives her 49 for the season- the fourth most in a single-season in program history.
