Those watching Saluki softball during Sunday’s game experienced the highest high, only to have it ripped away from them.
The Dawgs, who were on the verge of earning a sweep against the Murray State Racers, had trailed for the entirety of Sunday’s game and entered the bottom of the seventh down only one run.
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Mikaela Coburn came up to the plate with one out left, and drove a base hit past the shortstop and scored two runs, which initially won the game for SIU. However, an official review turned over the play and left SIU faithful stunned that they were being handed a 5-4 loss.
The rest of the weekend was highly successful for the Salukis. The Dawgs, who were celebrating senior day and honored Emma Austin, Addi Baker, McKenzie Newcomb, Alexis Rudd and Chloe Scroggins on Saturday, took game one of the series behind the strength of their offense.
The scoring started early, with Anna Carder crossing home off a Jackie Lis RBI in the bottom of the first inning. Another run, this one from Sarah Cook off an Baker single, scored in the bottom of the third.
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Carder herself scored off another Lis single in the bottom of the fifth before a Coburn single scored Lis and Emily Williams, and the final two runs, via a Williams flyout and Lis single, scored in the bottom of the sixth to reach a final score of 7-1.
Emma Gipson tossed two scoreless innings before Newcomb, who won MVC Pitcher of the Week, replaced her, going the final five innings and allowing zero runs, though one unearned one squeaked through during the fourth.
Kaytee Dahlstrom was in the circle for game two, throwing the full five innings in a 10-1 victory.
Lis, who was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, brought Austin home in the bottom of the first and hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third. Coburn also hit a home run in the period, leaving the score at 4-0.
The offensive explosion came in the bottom of the fourth as the Dawgs piled on six more runs. Amanda Knutson, Lis, Scroggins, Charley Pursley, Coburn and Baker all scored on five hits to leave the score at 10-1 and help run-rule the Racers.
Kiana McDowell was handed the ball on Sunday and proceeded to give up three runs in four at-bats before getting replaced by Dahlstrom, who herself only went one inning.
Newcomb threw 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, but it wasn’t enough to overcome for the Dawgs. They got on the board in the bottom of the second off a solo homer from Baker but didn’t score again until the fifth, when Knutson and Pursley scored off a Carder double.
Baker scored again in the bottom of the sixth off a Knutson single to put the Dawgs down 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth, sitting within striking distance and setting the stage for Coburn’s controversial ending play.
With the series win, the Dawgs sit at 29-18, including 19-4 in MVC play and in first place with one weekend left to go. SIU will travel to play the Evansville Aces and wrap up regular season play on May 2-4.
The weekend also saw Madi Eberle and Elizabeth Warwick, who both now coach at Murray State, return to Carbondale.
Sports reporter Ryan Grieser can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook.
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