TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State's senior class showed up big for their final home series with a key win in Game One against Southern Illinois before Mother Nature intervened in the sixth inning of Game Two on Friday afternoon.
The Sycamores (21-26, 6-16 MVC) took a 2-1 lead in the third inning and never looked back as a dominant Indiana State pitching staff shut the door on the Salukis (26-22, 13-8 MVC) down the stretch.
Southern took vengeance in Game Two, jumping out to a 9-1 lead by the sixth inning, but lightning forced the game into a delay that was eventually turned into a halted game due to heavy thunderstorms in the area.
Indiana State moved its Senior Day festivities indoors to honor five seniors:
Kassie Brown,
Erika Crissman,
Rylee Holland,
Brooke Riemenschneider and
Mary Turitto.
The Sycamores and Salukis will try to finish Game Two on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET and will also try to get Game Three in as well. If neither game is able to be completed, Game Two will end in an SIU victory (as it is a complete game statistically) and Game Three will be cancelled.
Game One:
Indiana State (21-26, 6-16 MVC), 2
Southern Illinois (26-22, 13-8 MVC), 1
WP: Kenzie Ihle (15-13)
LP: Brianna Jones (13-13)
Save: Della Gher (5)
Southern Illinois jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning, but senior
Erika Crissman and the rest of the Indiana State senior class wasn't going to go down like that in their final home series.
The Salukis jumped on starter
Kenzie Ihle with a leadoff triple off the right field wall by Susie Baranski and a sacrifice flyout by Eryika Brandenburg for the 1-0 lead. Ihle, who was coming off the best week of her Sycamore career which included 20 strikeouts in two games at Evansville, settled in for two quick outs and allowed just two more hits for the remainder of her excellent start – her 15th win of the season.
Senior
Kassie Brown started the rally for the Sycamores in the bottom of the third by drawing a leadoff walk. Freshman
Leslie Sims (2-3) followed immediately with a signature bunt single that dropped right in front of the catcher. Senior
Rylee Holland (1-1, SAC) laid down a sacrifice bunt on the very next pitch to put Brown and Sims in scoring position for Crissman.
Crissman – who entered the day second all-time in career RBI with 98 – drove in her 99th and 100th runs of her illustrious Sycamore career with a beautiful double down the left field line, her 27th career double.
That would be all Ihle would need, as she kept the Salukis in check until the sixth inning when Southern started to mount a rally. With one out in the sixth, Ihle yielded just her third hit of the game – a double to SIU's Sydney Jones – and walked Katelyn Massa to force freshman
Della Gher into the game in relief.
Gher, already Indiana State's single-season school record holder with four saves entering today, went on to slam the door with five straight outs for her fifth save (which leads the MVC and puts her into a tie for third in the NCAA this season).
Game Two:
Indiana State jumped out first in Game Two after scoring one in the first on a bases loaded wild pitch, but the Salukis exploded for three in the third, three in the fifth and three in the sixth to take a 9-1 lead before the delay set in.
What started the offensive rally for the Sycamores was a three-run moonshot by slugger Shaye Harre – on which she became Southern Illinois' all-time leader in RBI.
Indiana State recorded three hits by three seniors – all back-to-back in the first inning by
Rylee Holland,
Erika Crissman and
Brooke Riemenschneider.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Softball team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook and
Twitter.
