Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

April 19, 2008

By Kyle Herm
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Saluki softball team (24-18, 10-6 MVC) dropped both games of Saturday's doubleheader against Creighton (34-13, 12-2 MVC), 1-0, and 9-2, at Charlotte West Stadium.

Home runs proved to be the difference in both games, with Creighton scoring the only run in game one on a solo homer, and a three-run home run in the top of the first in game two, ended up as the eventual game-winner.

Southern Illinois was led offensively by senior first baseman Lauren Haas, who went 3-for-6 in the doubleheader, and hit her fifth home run of the season in the second game.

The Salukis will look to pick up a win in the series finale on Sunday at 12 p.m. at Charlotte West Stadium.

Game One - Creighton 1 Southern Illinois 0
Southern Illinois was edged, 1-0, in the series opener in a hard-fought pitcher's duel between Creighton's sophomore standout, Tara Oltman, and SIU's freshman right-hander, Danielle Glosson.

Glosson only allowed four hits and struck out four Bluejays en route to the complete game four-hitter, however a costly deep popup that cleared the wall in left-center field gave CU the victory.

The game remained scoreless through four innings of play, but with a 2-0 count with no outs, sophomore leftfielder Michelle Graner hit her eighth home run of the season for the eventual game-winning run.

Oltman, who earned her 24th win of the season, had to work out of jams in both the second and fourth innings prior to having the one-run lead.

The Salukis had chances with runners on first and second with two outs in the second and again in the fourth, but failed to drive in a baserunner in both situations.

Southern Illinois stranded a total of seven runners in the game, and struck out for a season-high 12 times.

Creighton 9 Southern Illinois 2
Creighton jumped all over the Salukis in the second game of the doubleheader, scoring seven of its nine runs in the first two frames.

Senior catcher T.J. Eadus started the early-inning scoring spree with a three-run home run off SIU freshman starter, Nikki Waters, in the top of the first to take a, 3-0, lead.

Eadus' 11th homer of the season went on to be the eventual game winner.

The Salukis battled back with a run in the bottom of the first on a RBI-single by junior third baseman, Katie Wagner, but the Bluejays responded with a four-run top of the second to push their lead to 7-1.

Creighton attacked Saluki reliever, Katie McNamara, who replaced Waters in the second, before she could get a feel in the game.

The Bluejays' Bailey Dawson made McNamara pay for back-to-back walks with a two-RBI double, and CU scored two more runs in the inning on a run-scoring double by Renae Sinkler, and RBI-single by Bailey Dawson.

Creighton plated another run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the third to go up, 8-1, before SIU got one run back in the bottom of the fourth on a home run by senior first baseman, Lauren Haas.

McNamara settled in to hold CU scoreless for the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but gave up a top-of-the-seventh solo home run to Michelle Koch to make the final, 9-2.

Bluejay senior starter Amanda Hess evened her record to 5-5 on the year with the win, while Waters suffered the loss to fall to 12-10.

Junior outfielder, Katie Schmidt also complimented Haas' 2-for-3 performance to lead SIU's offense with a pair of singles for her fourth multi-hit game of the season.