Saluki softball clinched a berth in its second-straight Missouri Valley Conference Championship game today with wins over Illinois State and Missouri State 2-0 and 9-8 respectively. Southern will take on top-seeded Drake in the Championship game tomorrow at 1 p.m.
 
"I feel like we played pretty well all day long," head coach Kerri Blaylock said ". I thought we pitched extremely well and Massa came up with a big hit in game one and I thought we made great adjustments against [Morgan] Day, who kind of fooled us earlier in the season. In game two we kept talking about playing seven innings and the kids did a tremendous job."
 
The first game started as a pitcher's duel with Southern Illinois' junior Brianna Jones and Illinois State's Morgan Day taking the circle and allowing only a combined three hits through the first three and a half innings.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Saluki sophomore Katelyn Massa broke the tie with a solo-homerun to left-center field to give Southern a 1-0 lead. After Massa's homer, Southern began to hit Day and recorded two more hits in the inning.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, sophomores Maddy Vermejan and Susie Baranski both singled and were advanced by a Maris Boelens sac bunt. In the next at-bat Boelens' fellow freshman Jenny Jansen hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Bailey Pulley who pinch ran for Vermejan to make the score 2-0.
 
Jones and the Salukis' defense held Illinois State scoreless to earn Jones her 25th win and sixth complete-game shutout. She struck out six, walked four and allowed six hits. Baranski was 2-3 in the game with a bunt single and a double. She also had a beautiful diving catch in right field.
 
In game two, the Salukis entered the game with a bark when it loaded the bases with two walks and a single. With one out, senior Sydney Jones slaughtered a pitch to left to make it a 4-0 ball game.
 
Megan Brown led off the second inning with a double into the gap in left-center. Senior Savannah Fisher singled later in the inning to move Brown to third. In the next at-bat, Boelens dropped down a bunt single to score freshman Meredith Wernig to make it 5-0.
 
In the bottom of the second, Missouri State erased the advantage. The Bears got on the board for the first time with an RBI single up the middle to make it 5-1. The single was senior Savannah Dover's last pitch of the game and Brianna Jones took over in the circle for her. With the bases loaded, Jones allowed back-to-back walks to make it 5-3. Then, All-MVC second-team selection Kaitlin Beason singled up the middle to score two bears to make it 5-5.
 
In the top of the third, Southern had an answer. Sophomore Kyleigh Decker led off the inning with a hard-hit single up the middle. Vermejan reached on her 22nd hit-by-pitch of the season, bringing her within one of the single-season program record. Two batters later, Savannah Fisher hit a sac fly to left to score Decker from third to make it 6-5.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, the Saluki defense committed three errors to allow Missouri State to score once to make the game 6-6.
 
Southern had an answer in the next frame. Sydney Jones led off the inning with a double to right and was moved over by a Decker fly out. Vermejan reached safely a fielder's choice to score Jones at home to make it 7-6.
 
In the top of the seventh inning, Decker hit a homer to right to make it a 9-6.
 
Missouri State hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Bears' rally fell short and the Salukis held on two head to their second-straight MVC Championship game. Southern will take on top-seeded hosts Drake tomorrow at 1:00 to close out the tournament.
 
"We're playing with house money," Blaylock said. "We weren't picked to win it. We weren't supposed to be Missouri State, but that doesn't matter. We just play really well when we're relaxed. Drake is a great team and we're just going to go out and play the game."