DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern Oklahoma State softball program gets set for its home opener on Monday, Feb. 17, with a doubleheader against Northeastern State starting at 1 p.m. from the Southeastern Softball Field.
STORM WATCH
Due to the weather, Southeastern was only able to get two games in at the Raising Cane's Softball Festival. The Savage Storm picked up a 7-6 win over Nebraska-Kearney in eight innings but later fell to No. 8 Rogers State. After splitting the pair of games, SE is 5-6 overall through 11 games.
Iliana Olivares and
Sage Harlow led the blue and gold at the plate on Friday, each recording four hits across the two games. Both players tallied three hits versus Rogers State, with Olivares going 3-3 and Harlow 3-4. Olivares remains the Storm's leader in hits with 14 and is batting .378 with three doubles and a home run. Harlow ranks second with 11 hits on a .440 batting average and has five RBIs. As a unit, Southeastern has a .302 batting average and has tallied 48 runs on 97 hits.
Emily Simmons and
Trinity Oden have quickly established themselves as the two dominant arms for the Storm. Simmons and Oden have combined for 53.2 innings of work out of the 73.0 frames played so far and have 56 of the team's 67 punchouts. Oden leads the side with 32 strikeouts in 24.1 innings, while Simmons carries the best record on the rubber at 3-2 with three complete games and recently picked her first save of the season in the 7-6 win over Nebraska-Kearney.
Southeastern and Northeastern State was originally scheduled to meet Alvy Early Memorial Classic for the first meeting of the season, but due to weather, the game was canceled. SE and NSU head into the 89
th meeting, and the Storm leads the all-time series 65-23. Last season, the two sides faced off twice and would split the pair of games, with NSU getting the better of the Storm at home 1-0 to snap a 14-game wins streak for the blue and gold.
PREVIEWING NORTHEASTERN STATE
Before heading to Durant to take on Southeastern, the Riverhawks will meet Arkansas Tech in Russellville for a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 16. NSU is 5-5 through the early parts of the season after splitting two games with Southern Nazarene on Friday. Northeastern State won the first game 8-6 behind nine hits but was limited to just two hits in a 9-0 defeat in game two.
The Riverhawks have a pair of hitters in double figures, led by Madison Heinle and Madison Nance with 10 each. Heinle is batting .412 with a team-high nine RBIs and paces the side with three home runs, while Nance has ripped off five doubles on a .385 batting average. In the circle, Gracie Turner (2-1) leads the side with a 3.33 ERA through 21.0 innings of work and has 12 of the team's 36 strikeouts.
