DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern stretched its winning streak to four games with a Friday sweep of Arkansas Tech, taking the series opener 6-5 in dramatic fashion before picking up a 4-1 victory in the nightcap at the Southeastern Softball Field.
The wins lift the Savage Storm to 7-9 overall and 5-1 in Great American Conference play with the final two games of the series slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
Destiny Riddle collected a pair of hits and drove in four of the team's six runs in the opener, while
Elexis Watson,
Katie McCullar,
Karsyn Brigance,
Ivy Amador, and
Hope Deanda added one hit each.
Watson and Amador each added an RBI.
McCullar picked up the win in relief after tossing 1.1 innings and striking out three of the four batters she faced.
Riddle got the start and was tagged for five runs, three earned, on five hits with three strikeouts.
Emily Cudd tossed 2.1 hitless innings in relief with a strikeout.
ATU opened scoring with an inside the park home run to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and added three runs on another homer in the fourth inning to take a 5-0 lead midway through four innings.
The Storm offense finally got moving in the fifth with a Brigance double followed by an Amador RBI single to score Brigance and close to 5-1.
Two batters later Deanda reached on an infield single and was followed by Watson RBI single to score Amador and close to 5-2.
A Shomo walk would then load the bases for Riddle who ripped a double to left center to plate all three baserunners and tie the game at 5-5 after five innings.
Both teams went scoreless in the sixth and the Storm kept it tied heading to the bottom of the seventh where Watson drew a one-out walk to put a runner on.
She moved around to third on a Shomo sac bunt attempt which was thrown past first and left runners on second and third with one out.
Riddle would then lay down a perfect squeeze bunt up the first base line to score Watson from third for the winning run in a 6-5 victory.
In game two it was Deanda who collected a pair of hits while Shomo, McCullar, and Amador added one each.
Deanda drove in a run on her first career homer, while McCullar and Amador each added an RBI.
McCullar collected her second win of the day after tossing 3.2 innings in relief and allowing one unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts.
Cudd tossed 3.1 innings after earning the start and scattered five hits without allowing a run.
Amador put SE on the board with an RBI single in the second to plate McCullar.
McCullar would drive in Shomo in the third to push it to 2-0 and it would hit 3-0 later in the inning when Thompson scored on the benefit of an ATU error.
Deanda cleared the left-center wall on a solo shot in the fourth to stretch the lead to 4-0.
The Golden Suns would pick up a run in the top of the sixth on an error to fashion the 4-1 final score.
