SE Splits Saturday and Series with SNU

DURANT, Okla. – For the third-straight outing Southeastern fought to a double-header split, taking game one from Southern Nazarene 6-4 before dropping the series finale 9-7 on Saturday afternoon at the Southeastern Softball Field.
 
The split moves the Savage Storm to 23-15 overall on the year and 19-9 in Great American Conference play heading into a six-game road swing including a four-game series at Oklahoma Baptist April 8-9 and an April 12 twinbill at rival East Central.
 
The top five spots in the lineup hit .500 combined with Jessica Simmons leading the way with a 3-for-3 performance with a home run which accounted for a pair of RBI.
 
Sydney Kramer added a pair of hits as did Destiny Riddle.
 
Laramie Beal, Riddle, Mykaela Wallace and Jordyn James each drove in a run to go with the two from Simmons.
 
Jessica Seay got the start and allowed a run on seven hits in 3.1 innings before Riddle came in to record a pair of outs and earn the win.
 
Emily Cudd would close out the game with 3.0 innings of work to earn her second save of the year, allowing three runs, one earned, on four hits with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Simmons put SE up 2-0 with a two-run homer in the third inning, but SNU answered with a run in the top of the fourth.
 
The Storm responded with James singling home Riddle to mount a 3-1 lead, but again SNU would get a run back to make it 3-2 midway through the fifth.
 
A Beal RBI single followed by a Riddle RBI double and a Wallace RBI groundout would each bring in a run and open up a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
 
The Crimson Storm would score two runs on an error in the top of the sixth but SE would hang on for the 6-4 win.
 
Four errors proved costly for Southeastern in the finale as only five of the nine runs SNU scored were earned.
 
Seay took the loss in 3.1 innings pitched after getting tagged for five runs, only two of which were earned, on four hits with two strikeouts.
 
Riddle allowed a pair of runs on a pair of hits over two batters faced before Hunter Offill came on to record two-third of an inning while allowing a run on a hit.
 
Cudd would toss the final 3.-0 innings and allow an unearned run on one hit.
 
Riddle posted a 3-for-4 outing with a pair of RBI, while Simmons added a two hit game.
 
Beal and Riddle each drove in two, while Conner Harmon and Keeshia Thompson added an RBI each.
 
The Crimson Storm scored three unearned runs in the top of the second inning to open up a 3-0 lead.
 
Thompson would get one of those runs back in the bottom half with an RBI single.
 
A Beal RBI single would score Kramer in the third and Beal would come around and eventually score on a wild pitch to tie the game at 3-3.
 
A double followed by back-to-back home runs would give SNU a five-run fourth inning and leave the Storm in an 8-3 hole midway through the fourth inning.
 
In the bottom half of the inning an infield single by Harmon would plate a pinch-running Jasmine Morales to cut into the deficit.
 
Beal would latyer get hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in another run before Riddle singled home Harmon and Kramer to close the gap to 8-7.
 
However, SNU would add another run in the top of the seventh and SE would be unable to complete its rally in a 9-7 loss.