Southeast Missouri State softball team drops final home game to EIU

The Southeast Missouri State softball team fell short of a weekend sweep of visiting Eastern Illinois, dropping Sunday's finale 7-4 at the Southeast Softball Complex.

Southeast, 9-12 in the Ohio Valley Conference and ninth in the standings, are contesting UT Martin for the eighth and final playoff spot in the 12-team league. Both team are 9-12 in conference play, three-games ahead of 10th-place Belmont.

Southeast took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on senior Lindsey Patterson's solo home run to left field, the Redhawks' ninth home run of the series.

EIU was held scoreless the first four innings by Southeast freshman Madeline Krumrey, but the Panthers broke through with three runs in the fifth. Southeast closed the gap to 3-2 on an RBI single by Patterson, who went 2 for 4 in the game.

The Panthers chased Krumrey in a three-run sixth, the big blow a two-run double by Bailey O'Dell, who later scored on a single by Hannah Cole.

EIU increased the lead to 7-2 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning before the Redhawks plated two runs in a futile rally in the bottom half.

Junior Savannah Carpenter had a double and went 3 for 4 for the Redhawks, who had 10 hits off EIU pitcher Jessica Wireman.

Wireman (10-11) struck out five batters, walked three and gave up four earned runs in pitching all seven innings.

Krumrey (10-10) allowed 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings. She struck out nine, walked two and gave up six runs -- all earned. Sophomore Keaira Schilling allowed two hits and one run over the final 1 1/3 innings.

April Markowski, Hannah Rachor, O'Dell and Cole each had two hits for the Panthers, who had 13 hits overall.

The contest concluded the home schedule for Southeast, which is 15-24 overall. The Redhawks will visit Arkansas for a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday before concluding OVC play and its regular season against Austin Peay this weekend in Clarksville, Tennessee.

The Redhawks will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader against the 11th-place Govs on Saturday and a single contest at 1 p.m. Sunday.

UT Martin concludes its regular season with a three-game series at home against third-place Murray State. If both teams finish with identical OVC records, a tiebreaker involving records against the tournament's highest seeded team (or teams) would determine the final tournament spot. UTM currently holds the upper hand in that scenario.