Softball Opens 2023 With Day One Sweep

YOUNGSVILLE, La.  – Southeastern collected a pair of wins in head coach Mackenzie Sher's Savage Storm debut, downing Midwestern State 12-1 in five innings to open the day before pulling out a 1-0 win over Drury in the nightcap at the Mardi Gras Invitational in Youngsville, La.
 
The wins get SE off to a 2-0 start on the season with an 11:30 am matchup with Delta State on Saturday, followed by a 7 p.m. contest against Mississippi college.
 
In the opener, Reese Taylor got the start and allowed a run on four hits with one strikeout in five innings of work on her way to a win in her Savage Storm debut.
 
Gracie Ore collected three hits, including a double, while Kamryn Rackley and Sabetha Sands each recorded a pair of hits.
 
India McMurray and Alexis Massie each added one hit in the effort.
 
Massie and Sands each drove in a pair of runs, while Rackley and McMurray added one Rbi each.
 
Massie put the Storm on the board in the top of the first inning with a two-run single to left, plating Mahy and Sands to take a 2-0 lead.
 
That would double in the second as Rackley would double home Bailey Beard who led off the inning with a walk, and would later score on her own on a wild pitch for a 4-0 lead.
 
SE would cash in on an Ore leadoff double in the third inning as she would score two batters later on a wild pitch. Rackley would draw a walk a batter later and Sands would bring her home with an RBI triple to extend the lead to 6-0 midway through the third.
 
MSU would get on the board in the bottom of the fourth to close the gap to 6-1, but the Storm would explode for six runs in the top of the fifth inning.
 
Sands would bring home Beard in the top of the fifth to open scoring in the inning and the pace quickly picked up, first as India McMurray drew an RBI walk, followed by Sands, Mahy, and McMurray scoring on a pair of wild pitches, pushing the lead to 11-1.
 
Kady Fryrear would cap the scoring in the inning by stealing home on the double steal to take the lead to 12-1.
 
Taylor would retire the side in order in the bottom of the fifth to lock up the 12-1 run-rule victory.
 
Amberlyn Walsworth tossed a complete-game shutout in her 2023 debut in the circle, scattering three hits and striking out three over seven innings of work.
 
Alvarado and Mahy each picked up a pair of hits on the contest, while Fryrear added one.
 
The lone run of the game would come in the sixth inning as Mahy doubled to lead off.
 
She would move to third on a McMurray sac bunt, but was thrown out as Massie tried to squeeze her home. However, Massie would round first and reach second as the catcher overthrew the centerfielder on the play, allowing her to come around and score the only run of the game.