Southern Illinois kept its Missouri Valley Conference Tournament hopes alive Friday afternoon at Charlotte West Stadium, edging Illinois State 1-0 in eight innings to eliminate the Redbirds and extend the Salukis' postseason run. It was a low-scoring affair that required a walk-off RBI single to finally separate the two teams after seven-plus innings of scoreless softball.

The game's only run came in the bottom of the eighth, when Sydney Potter doubled to right center to put a runner in scoring position with two outs. Hayden Kurtz followed with a single to left center, plating Potter and ending the pitching duel. The winning run was the only one either team managed across 29 total at-bats for SIU and 31 for Illinois State.

Emily Delgado earned the win in relief for Southern Illinois, tossing four scoreless innings after entering in the fifth, finishing with a record of 11-5. She allowed four hits and walked one while striking out two. Starter Hailey Lucas was equally sharp through the first four frames, punching out six Redbirds and surrendering no runs. Illinois State's Hannah Meshnick absorbed the loss, falling to 6-11 after allowing the decisive run over 3.2 innings of relief work. Paige McLeod held SIU scoreless through the first four innings to keep the Redbirds in it, but Illinois State's offense — despite collecting nine hits on the day — could never string together enough to break through, stranding 12 runners on base.

With the loss, Illinois State's season comes to a close at 29-22. Southern Illinois, now 34-16, stays alive and will face Murray State in an elimination game later Thursday. The winner of that contest advances to Saturday's championship game against Belmont.  Either the Racers or the Salukis would need to beat the Bruins twice in the same day to claim the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.