March 23, 2002

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo.- The Southeast softball team got better pitching performances from its trio of pitchers today, but their bats went quiet as they dropped a pair of one-run ballgames to Eastern Kentucky, 3-2 and 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.

In game one, Southeast (3-12 overall, 0-2 Ohio Valley) missed a golden opportunity to score in the first inning. SS Dawn Piantino and 2B Brooke Nett each singled to open the inning but Southeast could not push either across the plate. C Jennifer Cobin ended the inning when she took strike three with the bases loaded.

Eastern Kentucky (14-7, 2-0) hit the board first in the second, scoring two runs thanks to a double to rightfield by 2B Bethany Herrington that scored pinch runner Amy Wells and her sister Amy Herrington, who had singled earlier in the inning.

EKU added another run in the third inning when catcher Megan Mills singled home Elise Burch who had doubled to start the inning.

Southeast finally got on the board in the fifth inning when Piantino blasted a shot that cleared the leftfield wall and scored herself and pinch runner Michelle Lunsford, who ran for pinch hitter Christine Knobbe who singled with two out. Piantino had gone 224 career at-bats before hitting her first homerun last week against Jacksonville State. This time her second career home run came a mere 22 at-bats and a week later. The blast pulled Southeast within one at 3-2.

That would be the final margin as Jonelle Csora (8-4), the OVC Pitcher of the Week on March 11 of this season, went the distance. She allowed five hits and two runs over the seven innings and struck out an impressive 12 of 27 batters she faced. Rachel Van Fleet (3-3) took the loss for Southeast. She went only two innings, allowing four hits and three runs. In relief, Kristen King pitched five great innings for the Otahkians, allowing five hits and zero runs.

In game two, EKU once again capitalized quickly when pitcher Jessica Soto helped her own cause by lining a shot down the leftfield line that scored Burch and put the Colonels up 1-0 after one inning.

EKU added their second run in the fourth inning with back-to-back, two-out doubles by 3B Ashley Totten and Bethany Herrington.

The Otahks got one of those runs back in the fifth inning when 3B Jamie Birk singled and pinch hitter Jennifer Cobin doubled to deep center field scoring Birk all the way from first base and cutting the EKU advantage to 2-1. The hits ended the no-hit bid for Colonel pitcher Jessica Soto, who had gone four and two-thirds innings without allowing a hit and only allowing two base runners.

Southeast had a chance entering the seventh inning to tie the game, when CF Kemi Rampi lined a shot to deep leftfield that would have been a homerun, but it tailed off and went foul. She lined out on the next pitch.

Soto (5-1) got the win for Eastern. She went seven innings, allowed only three hits and a run while striking out 10 batters. Freshman Kelly Birk (0-5) took the loss for the Otahkians. She pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and two runs.

"EKU executed at the plate when they needed to," Southeast head coach Lana Richmond said after the game. "They also played solid defensively and had great pitching. I thought we had strong pitching too, but we got behind in game one and that hurt us. Kristen King, however, did a great job in relief in that game. We had our opportunities, although limited, we just did not take advantage of them."

EKU's Bethany Harrington was 3-5 on the day with two doubles and three RBI's. Southeast was led by 2-6 performances from Piantino and Nett.

The two teams will square off in the third and final game of the series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Game Notes: The loss ended a streak of seven years in which Southeast had swept the opening doubleheader of Ohio Valley Conference play ... in game one Southeast scored two runs in the fifth inning and in game two added another run in that frame, marking the first time the team has scored in the 5th all season long, they had previously been outscored 16-0 in that inning.