Southeast Missouri State softball team to play for title of OVC tourney

~ The Redhawks will play for the tournament title today

The Southeast Missouri State softball team is just one win away from an NCAA tournament berth, thanks to a walk-off home run by a freshman who nearly was pulled from the game.

Shelby Kuryllo's three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday night lifted Southeast to a stunning 3-2 win over Jacksonville State in the championship round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Southeast, seeded fifth for the six-team, double-elimination event in Charleston, Ill., will meet the second-seeded Gamecocks again at 9 a.m. today. The winner earns the title and the OVC's automatic NCAA tourney berth.

"These kids just keep finding a way," said Southeast coach Lana Richmond, whose squad had to endure a rain delay of about 7 1/2 hours between the end of the losers bracket final and the start of the championship round. "I couldn't be prouder of the entire team."

Defending tournament champion JSU (38-19), which sent Southeast (31-29) into the losers bracket Friday with a 4-0 win on a no-hitter by Tiffany Harbin, was poised to beat the Redhawks again.

Harbin, the OVC co-freshman of the year, escaped several jams to carry a three-hitter and a 2-0 lead into the seventh and final regulation inning.

Harbin recorded her 14th strikeout to begin the frame. But Southeast refused to go down.

Freshman Alene Bethel delivered a pinch-hit single and junior Evan Sallis continued her big tournament with a bunt single.

Up stepped Kuryllo, who hammered Harbin's first pitch over the left-center field fence for her second home run of the day and team-high ninth of the season.

"It doesn't get any better than that. I've never had one this dramatic in a conference tournament," Richmond said. "She came up big time. She drilled it. There was no doubt about it."

Just minutes after her winning home run, Kuryllo was at a hospital being examined.

Richmond said Kuryllo had taken a ball off her mouth during her previous at-bat in the fifth inning.

"She fouled off a ball and it came up and got her on her mouth and lip," Richmond said. "Her face puffed up. We wanted to take her out but she refused."

Sophomore Taylor Cowan, who had been stellar in relief during the first meeting with JSU, got the start Saturday and again was strong. She went all seven innings, allowing six hits while striking out two and walking four.

"Taylor Cowan and our defense gave us the opportunity for this dramatic win," Richmond said. "She battled and battled and our defense made play after play."

The Redhawks, who won their first two tournament games Thursday, fell into the losers bracket Friday when they were no-hit by Harbin in the winners bracket final.

Southeast bounced back Saturday morning, eliminating top seed and tournament host Eastern Illinois 9-1 in a losers bracket final that ended after six innings by the eight-run mercy rule.

Southeast's second tournament win over EIU saw the Redhawks jump on OVC pitcher of the year Amber May early for the second straight meeting.

Kuryllo's home run in the top of the first inning made it 1-0.

The Redhawks went ahead 5-0 with four second-inning runs, using two hits and two errors. Kuryllo had the only RBI in the frame, on a ground out.

EIU got a run in the fourth but Southeast answered with two in the fifth and two in the sixth. The contest ended when the Panthers failed to score in the sixth.

Freshman ace Alora Marble (18-8) dominated EIU for the second time after shutting out the Panthers on Thursday. She went all six innings, allowing five hits while striking out three and walking one.

Southeast had nine hits, led by Kuryllo and Sallis with two each. Sallis is 8 for 18 in the tournament.

In Friday's game vs. JSU, Harbin pitched her second no-hitter of the season and fell one out short of a perfect game. She walked senior Carmen Fowler with two outs in the top of the seventh inning.

Harbin, who retired the next batter to finish off the gem, struck out five.

The Gamecocks scored all their runs in the first inning, when they had five of their seven hits. An error to start the frame made all four runs unearned. Marble lasted just two-thirds of an inning.

Cowan kept Southeast within striking distance by allowing just two hits and no runs over the final 5 1/3 innings. She struck out two and walked two.