Otahks look for repeat wins over OVC opponents

Southeast Missouri State University's softball team has beaten every squad in the Ohio Valley Conference this season, and that gives the Otahkians hope in the OVC Tournament.

The six-team, three-day, double-elimination event begins today on the campus of OVC regular-season champion and top seed Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn.

Southeast (15-27, 11-9) finished fourth among eight squads in the OVC's regular season and will play No. 5 seed Austin Peay (19-28-1) at 2 p.m. today. The game was originally scheduled for 9 a.m. but today's entire schedule has been pushed back because of rain.

Today's other first-round game pits No. 3 Tennessee-Martin (21-26, 12-8) against No. 6 Eastern Illinois (12-32, 7-13) at 4:15 p.m.

Tennessee Tech (38-14, 17-3) and No. 2 Eastern Kentucky (27-16, 13-7) received first-round byes and advanced directly into today's semifinals. Tech plays the winner of Southeast-Austin Peay at 6:30 p.m.

"I feel really good about our chances going in, mainly because we've beaten every team," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said. "I think our players will have confidence."

Southeast won one of three games in series against both Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky, and the Otahkians' losses to those squads were competitive. The Otahkians won two of three against Tennessee-Martin, split two games with Austin Peay and won two of three against Eastern Illinois.

"Even against Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky, the top two teams, both series went down to the wire and every game was close," Richmond said. "We showed we can play with those teams."

Defending OVC champion Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee Tech were expected to battle for the regular-season title after a virtual dead heat last year. The Colonels won by percentage points after the squads finished with 16-2 and 17-3 league records.

Tech takes the crown

But Eastern Kentucky got off to a slow start this year, and Tennessee Tech rolled to the championship, although the Colonels closed the season strong.

Tennessee Tech leads the OVC in both batting average (.295) and earned-run average (1.58), with Eastern Kentucky (.255, 2.07) second in both departments.

Southeast is fourth in batting average (.234) and sixth in ERA (3.51), but Richmond said the Otahkians' pitching staff has improved in recent weeks.

"The past two weeks, we've gotten consistency out of our pitching staff, and that's been our biggest question mark all year," Richmond said.

The Otahkians feature two of the league's top hitters in No. 8 Brooke Nett (.319) and No. 10 Kelly Birk (.302). Nett is third in on-base percentage (.414) and sixth in runs batted in (23), while Alana Bagby-Leonard is third in home runs (6).

Southeast's top pitcher has been Jessica Hunter, who is 10th in the OVC in earned-run average (2.47) despite a 6-9 record. She has three shutouts.

Tennessee Tech has the OVC's top three hitters in Stephanie Dallmann (.443), Kacy Bennett (.354) and LeeAnne Mongar (.346), along with two of the league's top three pitchers in Lori Bayless (13.6, 1.39) and Tia Brenning (15-6, 1.63).

mmishow@semissourian.com

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