Softball Earns Split in Finale at UAM

MONTICELLO, Ark. – Southeastern saw a win slip away in a 4-3 loss to Arkansas-Monticello in Sunday's opener, but finished the regular season out with a 6-3 win in the finale in Monticello, Ark.
 
The split means the Savage Storm will finish the season with a 29-21 record overall and a 25-15 mark in Great American Conference play and will head into the postseason tournament as the No. 3 seed and face Henderson State in the first round on Thursday, April 28 in Bentonville, Ark., at 10 a.m.
 
In the regular-season finale Destiny Riddle rapped out a 3-for-3 effort at the plate, while Courtney Riddle went 3-for-4.
 
Jessica Simmons added a pair of hits along with Laramie Beal.
 
Courtney Riddle drove in two runs, while Simmons, Destiny Riddle, and Beal had an RBI each.
 
Destiny Riddle got the start and tossed 2.0 innings of hitless and scoreless ball before Emily Cudd came on in relief for 3.2 innings and recorded the win after allowing a run on four hits.
 
Jessica Seay would finish off the game with 1.1 innings of work, allowing a pair of unearned runs on a hit with one strikeout.
 
SE got on the board when UAM botched the throw on a hangup play attempt which allowed Sydney Kramer to score from third and move Beal up to second, and one batter later Courtney Riddle would single home Beal for a 2-0 lead.
 
A second-inning Simmons single would plate Conner Harmon for a 3-0 lead and one batter later a Destiny Riddle single would plate Simmons for a 4-0 edge.
 
Courtney Riddle stretched the lead to 5-0 in the fifth with an RBI single to plate Kramer.
 
A solo UAM homer would cut into the lead, but a Beal single would offset that in the top of the seventh by scoring Kramer for a 6-1 lead.
 
The Cotton Blossoms would look to rally with a two-run homer in the seventh, but the Storm would hold on for the 6-3 win.
 
The opener looked to be going well for the Storm as well as a Beal single drove in Kramer in the first for a 1-0 lead.
 
UAM would retake the lead at 201 in the third, but a double by Kramer and a single by Beal would bring in two more runs for a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.
 
Unfortunately, the Blossoms would connect on back-to-back solo homers to tie and then end the game, handing SE a 4-3 loss.
 
Kramer and Beal collected a pair of hits each, with Beal driving in two and Kramer a third run.
 
Codd allowed a pair of unearned runs in her 4.1 innings of work after getting the start and tossing 4.2 innings and allowing six hits, before Seay came on to toss 1.1 innings and allowed a pair of runs on two hits. With two strikeouts.