UNI softball completes sweep of Southern Illinois with 8-3 win

Sunday, March 20

Carbondale, IL

11 AM

University of Northern Iowa

11-10, 3-0

Southern Illinois University

11-12, 1-4

Northern Iowa

Southern Illinois

UNI softball completes sweep of Southern Illinois with 8-3 win

3/20/2022 4:02:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Another big fifth inning for UNI softball propelled the team to its third win over Southern Illinois in three days to sweep their first MVC series of the season.

It was a strong open to the Missouri Valley season for the Panthers on the road in Illinois. UNI's bats came alive for a third straight game as they scored six runs in the fifth inning. The Panthers would top the Salukis on Saturday with an 8-3 win to close out the first conference series with a sweep.

The first inning passed by with both squads going three up and three down to open the third and final game of the weekend series. UNI would leave one on base after a leadoff walk to begin the second. Southern Illinois would jump out to their first lead of the game in the bottom of the inning on a single to center-left field to go up by one. The Panthers answered quickly in the top of the third as they loaded the bases with the top of the order.

A walk to Kamryn Shaffer with the bases loaded would score UNI's first run of the game as Mya Dodge walked home. On the next at-bat, Kylee Sanders would be hit by the second pitch to walk home Sammy Moss for a two-to-one lead. Emmy Wells popped out in the next at-bat to end the Panther scoring at two.

It would be two more quiet half-innings until the Salukis would go back on top in the bottom of the fourth. Southern Illinois second batter hit a two-run homer to put the Salukis back up by one. UNI would again answer almost immediately in the top of the fifth by having a two-hit and six-run half-inning.

The Panthers would start the fifth with two straight walks for Dodge and Moss. Two batters later, Shaffer would also walk, loading up the bases for the third time in the game. Sanders would then come up to bat and strike off a double up the middle to bring two runs home. Another walk would be thrown to Wells as Hannah Isley would come in to pinch run at first to reload the bases.

A fielder's choice from Taylor Hogan would put Isley out at second but would let Shaffer score to bring UNI's lead up to two runs. Sanders would score on the next at-bat thanks to a wild pitch from Saluki pitcher Sarah Harness to grow the lead to three. The Panthers would add two more runs at the end of the half-inning as a single for DarynLamprecht went far enough to get Hogan and Brooke Snider home.

UNI would threaten again in the sixth, putting two runners in scoring position. But a strikeout looking for Wells would end the Panthers attempt in the sixth. It'd be another inning of three up and three down ball until the bottom of the seventh when Southern Illinois was able to get three runners on base. With the bases loaded and two outs left in the game, UNI would pull off the double-play from home to first to grab their third win of the weekend.

Starting pitcher Kailyn Packard pitched her second complete game of the weekend, allowing only four hits and three runs with three strikeouts. With the win, Packard is 6-3 on the season along with two straight wins. Lamprecht would be the only Panther batter to have a multi-hit game as she had a single and a double in four at-bats. UNI's three other hits would come from Sanders with a double, and two singles from Dodge and Moss.

UP NEXT:
The Panthers will head to Evansville, Ind. for a series against the Aces next weekend. UNI will play a doubleheader with Evansville on Saturday with a single game to end the series on Sunday. First pitch for the beginning of Saturday's doubleheader is set for noon.