Softball Sweeps UMD in Monday Twinbill

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern pushed its winning streak to 11 games after winning a pair of contests over visiting Minnesota-Duluth on Monday, taking game one 3-2 in eight innings before winning game two 5-3.
 
The wins lift the Savage Storm to 20-7 overall on the season riding an 11-game winning streak into a weeklong break before coming back to host East Central in Great American Conference action on March 25 in a double-header at 1 p.m.
 
Laramie Beal played the role of hero in game one, taking the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the eighth inning and putting it over the left centerfield wall for her sixth home run of the year and third time in the last five games that SE has ended a game with a home run.
 
The Storm got some help getting to that point when Lacie Cook tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with an RBI single with two outs that scored Conner Harmon and tied the game at 2-2.
 
SE trailed 2-0 for the first half of the contest after UMD hit a two-run homer in the top of the first inning, but finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Lauren Renneker was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home Shaina Crites.
 
Kramer finished the contest 3-for-4, while Arianna Jones posted a pair of hits, while Cook, Beal and Renneker each drove in a run.
 
Jacee Bennett tossed a complete game to earn her seventh win after going 8.0 innings and allowing two unearned runs on five hits with 11 strikeouts.
 
In game two, the Storm was out-hit 8-to-4, but made up for it by taking advantage of a pair of UMD errors.
 
Cook added two more hits in game two, while Haley Strawn and Mindy McElroy each picked up one.
 
Strawn drove in a pair of runs as well, while Cook added an RBI.
 
Jessica Simmons walked once and reached on a fielder's choice, but made the most of it by scoring twice and stealing a pair of bases.
 
In the circle, McElroy got the start and picked up her 10^th win after tossing 5.1 innings and allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits with three strikeouts.
 
Bennett then came on to pick up her fifth save of the year with 1.2 innings of work, allowing one hit and striking out three of the six batter she faced.
 
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Storm answered in the bottom half with Simmons drawing a walk before stealing second and third back-to-back and scoring on a throwing error to tie the game at 1-1.
 
That would remain the score until; the bottom of the fifth inning when Cook singled on a bunt with the bases loaded and Darrian Williams scored to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Beal then plated Simmons when she reached on a fielding error and one batter later Strawn  connected on a two-run single that scored Cook and Kramer to stake SE to a 5-1 lead.
 
McElroy got in some trouble in the top of the sixth inning, allowing a solo homer and loading the bases and allowing a single to score a run and close the score to 5-3, but Bennett would come on and strike out a pair of UMD hitters in a row to keep the score at 5-3 which would hold to be the final tally.