Southeast Missouri State softball team upends OVC-leader Eastern Illinois 8-4

The Southeast Missouri State softball team made the pitching staff with the nation's second-best ERA seem mortal.

Host Southeast handed Ohio Valley Conference leader Eastern Illinois just its second league loss, 8-4 on Tuesday.

The Redhawks, fifth in the 11-team OVC, improved to 20-24 overall and 14-10 in league play. EIU is 32-8 and 19-2.

EIU entered with a 1.14 ERA. The Panthers, who shut out Southeast twice last week in Charleston, Ill., had not allowed more than four runs in a game.

Southeast had eight hits Tuesday, including home runs by freshman Shelby Kuryllo and junior Shelby Stein.

Senior Carmen Fowler had two hits, raising her team-leading average to .406. Stein and freshman Alene Bethel both recorded two RBIs.

Freshman Alora Marble, Southeast's wins leader, improved to 10-6 with a complete game. She allowed eight hits and just one earned run while striking out four and walking two.

The Redhawks, who trailed 3-0 after the top of the first inning, broke a 4-4 tie with a four-run fifth inning. Fowler's double drove in the go-ahead run. Bethel delivered a two-RBI pinch-hit single to cap the frame.

Southeast concludes a six-game homestand Friday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader against Williams Baptist, an NAIA squad from Walnut Ridge, Ark.