Otahkians help OVC cause with sweep of Austin Peay

Southeast Missouri State University's softball team picked up a pair of much-needed Ohio Valley Conference victories Saturday as the Otahkians swept a doubleheader from visiting Austin Peay.

The Otahkians rallied for a 3-2 win in the opener, then prevailed 4-1. Southeast is 7-16 overall and 4-4 in the OVC. Austin Peay is 12-24-1 and 1-6-1.

"It was critical for us to win and stay in the thick of things in the conference," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said.

Southeast trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning of the opener. Dawn Piantino led off with a walk and moved to third on Reagan Hamlin's double. Two outs later, freshman Kelly Birk tied the contest with a two-run triple and then scored the winning run on a throwing error.

Kristen King (1-6) was the winning pitcher. She tossed scoreless 2 1/3 innings in relief of King, the starter.

In the second game, freshman Rachel Van Fleet (4-4) hurled all seven innings, allowing eight hits.

Birk, Brooke Nett and Courtney Eklund all had three of Southeast's 17 hits on the day.

The squads will close out their three-game series at noon today.