April 27, 2011

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville softball experienced an oddity Wednesday, but it's certain that the Cougars would rather have not been a part of it.

Missouri, ranked No. 8 in the nation, tossed a perfect game and defeated the Cougars 10-0 in five innings. The Tigers used two pitchers for the feat as Chelsea Thomas and Kristin Nottelmann combined for 12 strikeouts for the Tigers.

Erika Taylor, 18-14, took the loss after giving up nine hits and striking out three. Taylor now has 694 career strikeouts as she approaches Kaitlin Colosimo's school record of 715 career strikeouts. SIUE Head Coach Sandy Montgomery said Taylor did not throw poorly despite the outcome.

"I thought she pitched pretty well to be honest. They got a lot of flairs. They only hit the ball hard a couple of times. We just did not do a good job defensively," said Montgomery. "Obviously their pitching was way too much for us today."

SIUE committed a pair of errors that led to four unearned runs.

The Tigers improved their season mark to 39-6 with the non-conference victory. Jenna Marston powered the offense with two hits and three runs batted in. Marla Schweisberger was the only other player with more than one hit.

The Cougars, 25-25, now must focus on the Ohio Valley Conference race as they play host to UT Martin this weekend. SIUE enters the weekend three games out of second place in OVC play with UT Martin just one-half game behind the Cougars.

"Obviously that's going to determine third or fourth place and maybe more depending on what other people do in the conference. They are very, very important games and we'll need to play well to get it done against UT Martin. They're a good team," Montgomery said.

Saturday's doubleheader at Cougar Field is set for 1 p.m. Sunday's Senior Day is a single game set for 1 p.m.

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