CONROE, Texas – Southeastern takes down No. 1 UT Tyler to highlight the final day of action at the Division II First Pitch Invitational.
The Savage Storm began the day against Mississippi College and fell to the Choctaws 8-3, but would follow that with a 7-5 win against No. UT Tyler after scoring five runs in the second inning.
SE (2-3 0-0 GAC) heads to Bentonville, Ark., on Feb. 6-8 to compete in the Alvy Early Memorial Classic and will take on five teams across the three days of play.
GAME ONE: MC 8, SE 3
Southeastern and Mississippi College exploded for four runs in the first inning, tied 2-2. The Storm began the bottom half of the frame with a leadoff single from
Susan Edwards, who eventually made it home to score on a sacrifice flyout from Illiana Olivares. Two batters later,
Emily Simmons plated the next run on a double ripped to center field to bring home
India McMurray from first.
The Choctaws kept up their strong start in the top of the second, adding three more runs to their score to take a 5-2 lead. From there, the two sides combined for just three hits between the two of them, heading into the seventh.
Mississippi College got its bats going again, scoring another three runs to stretch its advantage to 8-2. SE began the bottom half of the frame with a leadoff single by Edwards, and she would score two batters later to make it 8-3. However, this would be the end of a late rally for the Storm, as the final two outs came on back-to-back strikeouts.
Edwards recorded two of the team's seven hits, while MC tallied 10 knocks over the seven frames.
Lindsey Dubberly fell to 1-1 in the circle, going 6.1 frames in her first start of the season, with six runs allowed on seven hits.
GAME TWO:
SE 7, UTT 5
The Storm struck early against the preseason No. 1 team, scoring five runs in the top of the second to lead 5-0. SE got the scoring going in the second with a two-run single from
Trinity Oden into leftfield to plate
Jazzy Rios and
Kasey Simmons, who reached safely on a walk and a base hit. An error by the Patriots brought in a third run before Johnson lined a single into leftfield for the fourth score. Olivares finished off the scoring in the frame, bringing in the final run on a groundout.
UT Tyler pulled a run back in the third, but the blue and gold answered back in the sixth with a run. A leadoff double from
Keegan Rowland set up an RBI-single from Olivares two batters later to make it 6-1. The Patriots kept the pressure on with a three-run inning in the second to cut it to a two-score game, 6-4.
Alyson Malone came in for relief and got the back-to-back outs to end the frame and limit the damage.
In the top of the seventh, Southeastern added an insurance run on two hits to stretch its lead to 7-4. K. Simmons, who had the hot bat at the plate all game, helped provide the Storm with their seventh run of the game on a single into left field to score
Rylie Swindall from third. In the bottom half of the frame, Malone navigated the Patriot lineup, giving up one run after a leadoff double, to secure her first save of the season in a 7-5 win.
Southeastern recorded 10 hits, led by K. Simmons with three hits in four at-bats. Olivares and K. Rowland each tallied two hits, while Olivares batted in two runs and K. Rowland scored two runs. T. Oden (1-0) got the start in the circle and went 5.0 innings with four runs allowed on eight hits to earn her first win of the year in the circle.
