Redhawks softball adds to win streak

The streaking Southeast Missouri State softball team powered its way to a sweep of Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois in Charleston, Ill., on Thursday.

The Redhawks took the first game 6-2 and the second game 11-3 to push their winning streak to eight games.

Southeast improved to 9-8 in the OVC and moved into a tie for third place with Tennessee-Martin. The Redhawks are 20-19 overall.

Freshman Giana Zimmerman struck out three and scattered five hits over seven innings to earn the win in the first game. She allowed two runs, but only one was earned.

Eastern Illinois opened a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but the Redhawks tied it in the fifth on a run-scoring groundout by Lauren Bradley.

Southeast took the lead in the sixth when Elise Sperakos and Carmen Fowler led off the inning with singles. The Redhawks scored two runs on a throwing error by second baseman Megan Nelson.

The Redhawks tacked on three more runs in the seventh, with everything coming with two outs. Jennifer Vasquez, Sperakos and Whitney Dupuis all doubled, with Dupuis knocking in two runs with hers.

Fowler went 3-for-3 with two runs scored, while Sperakos and Shelby Stein both had two hits.

In the second game, Eastern Illinois again jumped out to an early lead with an unearned run in the first. But Southeast tied it in the third on a run-scoring single by Nicole Troncoso.

The Redhawks' offense erupted for five runs in the fourth and another five in the sixth to seal it.

Dupuis struck out five over six innings to earn the win and improve to 5-7.

Fowler knocked in a run with a double and Stein also doubled home a run in the fourth. The big blow was Alex Ramirez's three-run homer to left field on a 1-2 pitch.

In the sixth, Bradley walked with the bases loaded before Vasquez belted a grand slam on a 1-2 pitch.

Troncoso and Stein finished with two hits apiece in the second game.

The Redhawks return to action 1 p.m. Saturday when they host Eastern Kentucky for a doubleheader.

Tennis

Southeast announced the signing of Ashton Hartley, who plays at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles for Meridian Community College in Mississippi.

Hartley was a high school standout at Clinton High School in Clinton, Miss. She has two years of eligibility remaining.