Box Score EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – No. 1 took one more trip around the bases.
Zoe Schafer capped her collegiate career Saturday with a home run in her final at bat as SIUE completed the 2021 season with a 9-1, five-inning win over Belmont at Cougar Field.
"What a way for Zoe to end her career at SIUE," said SIUE Assistant Coach Valerie McCoy. "It was just an unbelievable way to finish a fantastic career here. We couldn't be more proud of her as a person and a player."
The Cougars, 18-21 overall and 18-14 in the Ohio Valley Conference, won for the ninth straight time. In any other year, SIUE would enter the OVC Championships as the hottest team in the league. However, the league championships feature only the top four regular-season teams, and the Cougars fell short in conference winning percentage. The nine-game winning streak is the longest since the 2017 season.
Schafer made sure SIUE had the happy ending in its final regular season and led the Cougars with three hits and three RBIs. Her final hit was a fourth-inning two-run homer over the left field fence.
Her 32nd career home run, the most by a Cougar in the Division I era, also was her 207th career hit.
SIUE freshman Sydney Baalman earned the win and improved her season record to 10-9. She won her last six games and yielded just five earned runs during that span. She struck out six Saturday.
Senior Bianca Vozenilek threw the final inning in her final game as a Cougar against Belmont, 15-25 overall and 11-20 in the OVC.
"Bianca comes in and closes the door in the last inning," said McCoy. "She did a great job of holding her composure and finishing off the season on a big note."
SIUE's offense collected 12 hits for the game and chased Belmont's Alex Chesi, 6-11, in the third inning with a five-run rally. The third inning featured RBI hits from Lexi King, Schafer, Amber Storer, Micah Arps and Bailley Concatto.
The Cougars added four more runs in the fourth on Schafer's homer, an RBI double by Storer and an infield error off the bat of Arps.
"We are so incredibly proud of this group of seniors and this team," said McCoy. "To go 9-0 and finish the year with three series sweeps is incredible."
