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Box Score 2 DURANT, Okla. – No. 2 Southeastern pushed its winning streak to five games and finished off a four-game sweep of Southern Arkansas on Saturday afternoon, picking up wins of 3-1 and 10-7 at the Southeastern Softball Field.
The wins lift the Savage Storm to 19-4 overall on the season and 4-0 to open Great American Conference play.
The Storm opened the day in a pitcher's duel, with
Mindy McElroy getting the start and tossing 4.2 inning to earn the win after allowing a run on nine hits with three strikeouts.
She handed the ball to
Jacee Bennett in the fifth inning who would allow a pair of hits and strike out five batters in the final 2.1 innings to earn a save.
A
Courtney Moore double opened scoring in the game when
Jessica Simmons scored from second.
The Storm added two more on a
Rachel Jones RBI single in the second inning that plated McElroy and
Kelsey Overacker.
SAU would get a run back in the top of the fifth, but the Storm would get out of trouble when Bennett came on to retire the final batter of the inning with runners at second and third.
McElroy turned in a pair of hits to help her pitching effort, while four others posted hits as well.
Moore and Jones each finished with an RBI.
The finale was an altogether different story as the teams combined for 23 hits and seven errors to add up to a total of 17 runs between both teams, with nearly all of that coming in the first three innings.
Moore led the charge for the Storm with a 3-for-3 outing and a pair of RBI, while
Paige Priest and
Lauren Renneker each added a pair of hits.
Jessica Simmons also posted a hit along with two RBI and three runs scored.
Courtney Riddle and
Whitney Hamilton each added an RBI.
Jacee Bennett got the start, but found it rough sailing, giving up five runs on seven hits before handing the ball in the second inning to
Shayna Milam who allowed a run on a hit with a pair of strikeouts in one inning of relief.
McElroy would then come on in the third inning and allow a run on three hits with two strikeouts over the next four innings to record her second win of the day.
Bennett would then come back on with two runners on and no outs in the seventh inning and retire the final three outs to earn the save.
SAU got on the board with a solo homer by the leadoff hitter, followed by a two-run shot by the three hole to take a 3-0 lead.
The Storm answered with a Moore RBI single followed by a Hamilton RBI fielder's choice to cut the deficit to 3-2.
The Muleriders would add three more in the top of the second inning to mount a 6-2 lead.
SE would respond again, however, with Priest and Renneker collecting one-out singles to get back to the top of the lineup where Simmons would drive in Priest with a single.
Overacker would come on to run for Renneker at third base and immediately be issued a trip home on a passed ball that cut the gap to 6-2, still with one out.
Lacie Cook would follow suit with an infield single that left runners at first and third.
Riddle then flied out to right field which allowed Simmons to score on the sacrifice to cut the deficit to 6-5 with two outs.
Moore would then follow up with an RBI double in the left-center gap to tie the game at 6-6.
Moore would come home two batters later as part of the delayed double steal to put SE up 7-6.
After holding SAU scoreless in the top of the third,
Laramie Beal opened the bottom half of the inning with a triple deep into the left field corner and scored when the left fielder's throw missed its mark coming back into the infield.
Priest would follow with a double and move to third on a Renneker sac bunt.
Simmons would then drive her home when she reached on an error that also allowed her to advance to second.
She would then move to third on a Cook groundout and score when Riddle reached on another error to stretch the lead to 10-6.
The Muleriders would pick up a run in the top of the seventh and push runners to second and third, but Bennett would end the game with a strikeout to preserve the victory.
