DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern earns its first GAC series of the season, winning the rubber match against Henderson State 4-1 at the Southeastern Softball Field.
Lorryn Johnson continued her perfect weekend at the plate, finishing game three 2-for-2 with a run scored and a triple. Both the Savage Storm and Reddies scattered six hits across the seven innings, and they each finished with a pair of errors.
Alyson Malone grabbed her second win this season in the circle, pitching a complete game with seven strikeouts and one run allowed on six hits.
Malone hammered the strike zone early from the circle, striking out four in the first two frames, and retired the side in order during the first. The SE offense used the strong start by its starting pitcher take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Southeastern worked back-to-back walks to leadoff the inning, and on the fourth at-bat of the frame,
Emily Simmons sent a sacrifice fly to left field to score
Susan Edwards from third.
Both sides posted zeros in the second and third, before trading runs in the fourth, with the blue and gold holding their one-run edge, 2-1. An error by the Storm in the top half of the fourth set up the Reddies' lone run of the day, as they scratched it in on a sacrifice flyout. SE answered back in the bottom half after Johnson led off the inning with a single, and three batters later,
Tally Rowland knocked a double into right-center to score Johnson.
Southeastern added some insurance in the next inning, scoring two more runs in the fifth to grow its lead to 4-1. Both runs reached home after a pair of throwing errors by HSU's third baseman and catcher.
Malone continued to deal in the circle during this stretch and had to work through some traffic, stranding five baserunners across the final three innings. The senior right-hander continued to rack up punchouts, recording one in the fifth and sixth to keep the Henderson bats at bay. Malone would face the tying run at the plate in the top of the seventh, but worked out of the jam to get HSU's Josie Golden to foul out to third baseman
McKenna Simmons for the final out.
Southeastern (7-10, 2-1 GAC) remains at home for a Great American Conference series with Southern Nazarene on February 27 and 28.
