Softball Splits Day One In Houston

CONROE, Texas – Southeastern opened the 2019 season with a 4-1 victory over Pittsburg State at the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational in Conroe, Texas, but dropped the nightcap to Texas A&M-Kingsville 8-0 on Friday night.
 
The season-opening split got the Savage Storm off to a 1-1 start heading into a pair of Saturday matchups with ranked opponents, starting with No. 14 Tarleton State at 1 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. contest with Augustana.
 
In the season opener, Keeshia Thompson and Ivy Amador each collected two hits and combined for half of the team's eight hits.
 
Katie McCullar would add one and a pair of RBI, while Karsyn Brigance would add a hit and an RBI as well.
 
Elexis Watson and Mykaela Wallace would each add a hit, while Thompson accounted for the other RBI.
 
Destiny Riddle collected the win after tossing 5.2 scoreless innings and allowing three hits while striking out four.
 
McCullar would come on in the sixth inning and allow a run on two hits with two strikeouts over the final four outs to collect the save.
 
SE got on the board in the top of the first inning with Watson collecting a two-out single and scoring a batter later on Thompson's RBI triple to right center field.
 
Thompson would not wait long to come in as well, scoring on a Brigance single to center field to open up a 2-0 lead.
 
Both offenses stayed quiet over the remainder of the first six innings until the Storm again found a spark in the top of the seventh after back-to-back singles by Wallace and Amador were followed by a Hope Deanda sac bunt.
 
Wallace and Amador would each score on a McCullar two-run single to left, opening up a 4-0 lead midway through the seventh.
 
PSU would tack on a run in the bottom of the seventh, but McCullar would coax a strikeout to end the contest and preserve the 4-1 Southeastern win.
 
Friday's nightcap was not as kind to the Storm as the offense collected just two hits, a double from Symphoni Shomo and a single by Watson.
 
Emily Cudd took the loss after tossing 3.0 innings and allowing five runs on nine hits before handing the ball over to McCullar who tossed the final inning and allowed three runs on four hits.
 
TAMUK used four-straight singles to plate three runs in the top of the first inning and tacked on a two-out RBI single in the second to go up 4-0.
 
The Javelinas added three more runs in the fourth and then tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth to trigger the 8-0 run rule.