Southeast Missouri State softball team closes regular season with sweep of Austin Peay

The Southeast Missouri State softball team closed its regular season Sunday by climbing to .500 in conference play, completing a weekend road sweep of Austin Peay with an 11-10 victory.

The win came a day after a doubleheader sweep of the Govs that secured a spot for the Redhawks in this week's Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

It was the third conference sweep of the season for the Redhawks, who improved to 12-12 in OVC play and 19-25 overall.

The Redhawks took an 11-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh and were able to extinguish a rally by Austin Peay (9-37, 5-22 OVC) that produced five runs.

Sophomore Keaira Schilling recorded her second save of the season after relieving Southeast freshman starter Madeline Krumrey with two outs in the seventh. Schilling got the Governors' Heather Norris to pop out to end the game.

Senior outfielder Kayla Fortner tied Southeast's single-season RBI record of 48 with a two-run single in the fourth inning. Fortner already had broken the Redhawks' single-season record of home runs with 16.

The Redhawks scored four runs on two hits off Austin Peay starter Sidney Hooper (2-12) in the first inning. Junior Savannah Carpenter, who had three hits, brought home the first run with a double, and freshman Riley Hayes later delivered her fifth home run of the season, a three-run blast.

Southeast increased its lead to 5-0 in the second on an RBI single by freshman Claire Wernig.

Austin Peay closed to within 5-4 with a run in the second and three-run home run by Laurel Burroughs in the third.

The Redhawks used three-run innings in the fourth and sixth to take an 11-5 lead. Fortner's single was the big hit in the fourth, while an error allowed two runs to score in the sixth.

After the Govs had scored three run in the seventh, Natalie Ayala hit a two-out, two-run home run off Krumrey to narrow Southeast's lead to 11-10.

Krumrey (13-10), who got the win, struck out six, walked two and allowed 12 hits and 10 runs over 6 2/3 innings.

Wernig and sophomore Nicole Deering both had two hits for Southeast, which had 12 hits overall.

Southeast won eight of its final 10 games.

Southeast will enter the OVC tournament in Edwardsville, Illinois, as the seventh seed and will open against second-seeded Jacksonville State at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.