SE Athletics
DURANT – Southeastern and Arkansas Tech were tied 2-all in the bottom of the seventh with the Storm down to their final out, and a single ripped up the middle by Kasey Simmons provided the game-winning run, 3-2.
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K. Simmons had one of the team’s six hits, while Ryley Lance led the Storm with two hits. Alyson Malone went 5.0 innings in the circle, struck out six batters, and allowed two runs on four hits. Southeastern committed zero errors for the game, compared to ATU, who had three, which led to a pair of runs for the blue and gold.
SE’s starting pitcher Malone was locked in early, striking out six of her first 11 batters faced to keep the Golden Suns off the scoreboard. However, ATU’s Bradi Basler was equally as effective, with SE held to one hit in the first three innings, as Basler faced the minimum through the first two frames.
Southeastern eventually found a breakthrough in the bottom of the fourth, taking a 1-0 lead. A walk by Iliana Olivares was followed by a pair of errors, which led to Olivares crossing home plate for the first run of the game. In the following inning, SE added another run to its score to go ahead 2-0, as Olivares batted in Sabetha Sands with a single to left center field.
The Goldens Suns responded in the top of the sixth with two runs of their own to tie the game 2-all. SE threatened to add to its score in the bottom half with runners on first and second, but back-to-back outs would strand the pair. Emily Simmons, who came in for relief in the sixth, kept ATU off the scoreboard in the top half of the seventh to put the Storm in a position to grab the win.
On the second at-bat of the bottom of the seventh, Sage Harlow notched a double off her bat to get into scoring position with one out. Harlow advanced to third on a ground out on the following at-bat, bringing K. Simmons to the plate with two outs, who laced a single up the middle to score the game-winning run for a 3-2 win.
Southeastern (14-13, 7-7 GAC) gets set for a home midweek matchup with Cameron on Tuesday, Mar. 18, with the first game of the doubleheader set to start at 1 p.m.
