SIUC sophomore pitcher Tracy Remspecher salvaged the Salukis’ performance in the Saluki Invitational by throwing her first collegiate no-hitter Saturday.

Remspecher retired the first 13 batters against St. Louis University in a 7-0 victory at IAW Fields. She carried a perfect game until the fifth inning on her way to a career-high 10 strikeouts.

Remspecher, who had shoulder surgery in December, said she was just concerned about making it through the whole game.

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I pretty much knew about (the no-hitter) the entire game, but I tried not to think about it, Remspecher said. Ever since I came back from surgery, I’ve been making it through five strong innings, and then my arm would get tired.

The win landed the Salukis (18-7-1) a disappointing third-place finish in the tournament. Losses to eventual champion Southeast Missouri State University 3-2 Saturday and the University of Northern Iowa 2-1 Friday in nine innings ended all hopes of a repeat title for SIUC.

After a two-game scoring drought, SIUC finally was able to produce some offense with runners in scoring positions against the Billikens. The Salukis cranked out eight hits and took advantage of five errors by St. Louis.

Junior infielder Jaymie Cowell’s double in the fourth drove home two runs to begin the rout.

They loosened up, SIUC coach Kay Brechtelsbauer said. They were tight and didn’t really loosen up until we got some runs.

Runs on the scoreboard were hard for the Salukis to find in their two losses. After opening the tournament with an impressive 10-2 victory over the University of Tennessee-Martin Friday, offense looked to be the least of their problems.

SIUC roughed up three Skyhawk pitchers, banging out 12 hits in only five innings as the game was called because of the eight-run rule. Freshman third baseman Julie Meyer and junior first baseman Theresa Shields carried the scoring load, driving home four and three runs respectively. Freshman pitcher Erin Stremsterfer earned the win as she tossed a four-hitter.

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But the Salukis failed to come through at the plate with runners on base against UNI and SEMO. SIUC left a combined 16 runners on base in both games.

We left 11 runners stranded against Northern Iowa, Brechtelsbauer said. You can’t win against a team like that without scoring. All we needed was one run, and we couldn’t get it.

Not even a school-best 16 strikeout effort from sophomore pitcher Carisa Winters against UNI could make up for the poor hitting. Winters, who battled with Panther sophomore hurler Heidi Fromherz for nine innings, pitched a flawless game before faltering in the ninth. Her third wild pitch of the game allowed second baseman Jackie Paulus to score the winning run.

Sometimes the breaks go your way, and sometimes they don’t, Winters said. Sometimes your pitch rises too much or your change falls in the dirt. It just happens.

The SEMO game turned into the Christine Engelhardt show for the Otahkians. The junior pitcher went the distance, striking out eight batters and retiring eight consecutive batters at one point.

SIUC did not score a run until Cowell’s two-out, two-run homer in the seventh. Otahkians outfielder Ricki DeArmon’s two-run double in the fourth opened up a 3-0 lead.

Brechtelsbauer said the team wilted to the pressure of not being able to generate offense in key situations. For the Salukis, who face Eastern Illinois University at home Tuesday, the problem must be resolved before the conference season begins this weekend.

We are not coming through when we need to, she said. That’s part of the game we need to work on. We just couldn’t put things together.

The Salukis play host to Eastern Illinois University at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at IAW Fields.