May 5, 2007

Box Score

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Southeast Missouri State softball kicked off its final Ohio Valley Conference series with a doubleheader split this afternoon at Morehead State. The Eagles (21-31, 7-18) posted an 8-1 win in the first game, while the Redhawks (19-29, 10-17) rebounded in the second game with a 7-4 victory.

Morehead State began the first game by tallying three runs in the second inning as freshman Ashley Archer delivered a two-run single to right center off Southeast starting pitcher Lauren Bradley (Overland Park, Kan./Shawnee Mission South) to score senior Melody Ross and junior Korey Ellis before scoring herself on an RBI single from sophomore Bri Jones.

Archer struck again in the third inning as she blasted a two-RBI double to bring home Ross and Ellis to highlight a three-run stanza as the home team posted a 6-0 advantage. In the fourth inning, Ellis brought home Jones from third with an RBI sacrifice fly to left field and Ross lined an RBI single to score freshman Brittany Scheer to increase the Eagles' leading margin to 8-0.

Southeast got on the board in the fifth inning when freshman first baseman/pitcher Stacia Dopudja (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) recorded an RBI infield single that plated junior third baseman Michelle Summers (Glendale, Calif./Hoover) to provide the final margin.

Archer led Morehead State at the plate by hitting 3-for-3 and drove in four runs. Freshman Alex Gjevre (14-11) gained the complete-game win by allowing just one run on eight hits.

Freshman second baseman Jennifer Vasquez (Placentia, Calif./El Dorado) paced the Redhawks with a 3-for-4 day, while Dopudja hit 2-for-4 with an RBI. Bradley (4-4) allowed five runs on 11 hits in five and one-third innings of work to take the loss.

In the second game, Southeast claimed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning after Summers reached base on a double to left center and later scored on a Morehead State infield fielding error. Summers came back in the second inning with a three-run homer that gave the visitors a 4-0 leading margin.

The score stayed the same until the sixth inning when Bradley tagged a two-run homer to center field, giving the Redhawks a 6-0 lead. Senior center fielder Lindsay Pickering (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles West HS) increased Southeast's advantage to 7-0 in the top of the seventh with a double to left field that scored Dopudja.

The home team plated four runs in the bottom half of the seventh, highlighted by senior Krystle Coleman's two-run double to left center, that sliced the Redhawks' lead at 7-4. Dopudja forced the Eagles' final out on an infield groundout to gain the win.

Bradley paced Southeast with a 3-for-3 effort with two RBI and scored twice, while four other Redhawk players each tallied two hits. Dopudja (2-6) gained her first collegiate complete-game victory on the mound after allowing four runs on six hits.

Coleman and senior Becky King each hit 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI to lead the Eagles. Junior Kari Quinn (4-16) was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits in four innings thrown.

Both teams will close to the 2007 season with a single game tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.