SHAWNEE, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State goes 1-1 at the Raising Cane's Softball Festival on Friday against Nebraska-Kearney and No. 8 Rogers State.
The Savage Storm battled back and forth in game one of the day against Nebraska-Kearney and would need extra innings to get a 7-6 win. In the final game versus No. 8 Rogers State, the Hillcats broke things open late in the game for a 10-3 victory.
GAME ONE: SE 7, UNK 6 (8 inn.)
Southeastern threatened to put a run on the board in the top of the first with a runner on second, but it would be the Lopers who opened the scoring in the bottom half. UNK laced a triple on its second at-bat in their half of the frame to set up a 1-0 lead. The Lopers continued to chain together extra-base hits in the bottom of the third to add another run to their score, 2-0.
Nebraska-Kearney bats stayed hot in the fifth, scoring two more runs on two hits while taking advantage of an SE error. However, after being kept quiet for most of the game, the Southeastern bats came alive in the sixth, as the Storm tied the game 4-all with three hits.
The blue and gold got its first two batters on through a leadoff walk and a double by Inidia McMurray.
Jazzy Rios ripped a single to center field to plate
Iliana Olivares for the first run, and two batters later,
Emily Simmons blasted a three-run shot to right field to make it 4-4.
After a scoreless seventh from both sides, SE was due up to bat in the top of the eighth and delivered three runs to push ahead 7-4. Good base running from McMurray led to the first score of the frame, and two more runs came from an RBI single by
Kennedy Morgan and a sacrifice fly from Simmons.
SE was quickly under pressure from the Lopers, who made it a one-run game, 7-6, with two hits, including a leadoff triple. With two outs and two runners on base, the Storm had to work out the jam, and SE would find the final out on a throw-out at home to secure the win.
GAME TWO: RSU 10, SE 3
The Strom struck in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead behind three straight hits.
Sage Harlow recorded the first knock, ripping off a double, and two batters later, another double from Simmons scored Harlow to make it 1-0.
Starting pitcher Simmons kept the Hillcats quiet in the first two innings, but the No. 8 team in the nation soon broke things open with a three-run inning in the third. The Storm pulled a run back in the fourth, but Roger State bats stayed hot, extending its lead to 5-2 in the fifth and exploding for five runs in the sixth to capture a 10-3 win.
Southeastern (5-6) returns to Durant, Okla., for its home opener on Monday, Feb. 17, at the Southeastern Softball Field against Northeastern State in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
