SE Sweeps Day One of Series vs. UAM

DURANT, Okla.  – Southeastern returned home in style, pushing its current win streak to five-straight with a double-header sweep of Arkansas-Monticello, winning game one 4-2 and game two 6-5 on Thursday afternoon at the Southeastern Softball Field.
 
The wins also lifted the Savage Storm back above .500 to 17-16 on the season overall and 13-5 in Great American Conference play with the final two games of the series slated for 1 p.m. on Friday.
 
While the SE bats have been catching the spotlight lately, It was pitching that shone for much of the day on Thursday.
 
In the opener Jacee Bennett collected a complete game for her 10^th win of the season after allowing two runs on three hits with seven strikeouts.
 
In the nightcap, Jessica Seay tossed 7.0 innings and faced all but two batters to collect the win after allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits with a season-high 11 strikeouts.
 
Bennett faced two batters in relief in that game and allowed a pair of unearned runs on two hits.
 
The Storm opened the first game with four runs in the first inning, taking advantage of an error that allowed Sydney Kramer to score followed by back-to-back home runs from Haley Strawn and Arianna Jones to open up the 4-0 lead.
 
UAM would get one back in the fourth and another in the seventh, but SE would hold on for the 4-2 win.
 
Kramer finished the game 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Laramie Beal added a hit, as did Strawn and Jones who each homered.
 
Strawn drove in a pair of runs on her longball, while Jones had one RBI.
 
In game two a Strawn double scored a pinch-running Breanna Smith for the first run of the game in the fourth inning.
 
Beal would add a two-run double in the fifth to open up a 3-0 lead.
 
The Cotton Blossoms would answer with a two-run homer in the sixth to close the gap to 3-2.
 
But the Storm had another answer in the bottom of the sixth, first with a Jordyn James pinch-hit RBI single, followed by an RBI double by Jessica Simmons and an RBI single by Kramer to stretch the lead to 6-2.
 
Southeastern would need every one of those runs as UAM connected on back-to-back homers in the top of the seventh to close the gap to 6-5, but that was as close as it would get as SE held on for the win.
 
Kramer again led the way with a 3-for-4 game at the plate with a run scored and an RBI, while Beal and Jones each added a pair of hits.
 
Simmons, Strawn and James each chipped in one hit.
 
Beal finished with a pair of runs batted in, while Simmons, Kramer, Strawn and James drove in one each.