Southeast softball team drops doubleheader to Belmont

The Southeast Missouri State softball dropped both games of a doubleheader to Belmont on Saturday at the Southeast Softball Complex.

The Redhawks (7-20, 2-7 OVC) had eight hits and scored five runs in Game 2 of its doubleheader but gave up a big inning to the Bruins (11-20, 5-6 OVC) and lost 14-5 in five innings. In Game 1, Southeast batters combined to strike out nine times and had just four hits in a 6-0 loss.

"When you can't play all phases of the game well, you're going to have a downfall, like we did in that game," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said after the Redhawks loss in Game 2. "We got some ground balls and easy outs, and that's when you have to step up and make them. We just couldn't do that today."

Southeast built itself a lead in the first inning of Game 2, scoring two runs on four hits. Nicole Deering got things going with a leadoff single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Haylee Krack to give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead. Lindsey Patterson collected her ninth RBI of the season on a double down the left-field line that scored Leah Duffe to extend Southeast's lead 2-0. Duffe reached base two batters earlier with a single and scored from second base.

The Redhawks scored three more in the third inning, all of which came with two outs. Deering, who finished the day with three hits and an RBI, singled for the second time in the game, scoring Chelsea Smith, who doubled to lead off the inning.

Duffe followed and reached base on an error committed by the Belmont third baseman. Savannah Carpenter hit a two-RBI single that scored Deering and Duffe to give the Redhawks a 5-0 lead.

Belmont cut in to Southeast's lead in its half of the third, scoring three runs on three base hits including a triple from Jordan Daly that drove in two runs. Daly scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3.

In the fourth inning, the Redhawks' defense fell apart, committing five errors and allowing 11 unearned runs to score. The Bruins sent a total of 15 batters to the plate and collected eight hits in the inning. Eight of the nine batters in the Bruins lineup scored at least once and the first three batters of the inning scored twice. The 11-run inning gave Belmont a 14-5 lead, putting into effect the eight-run rule, which ended the game after five innings.

"It was a long inning in which they batted around and one thing seemed to pile on to another," Richmond said.

The errors committed in the inning included overthrown balls to first, misplays on ground balls and confusion about where to throw on a bases-loaded ground ball. Richmond said that her team is taught to know what to do before every play, but that mental errors happen in tough situations.

"We teach them to know what they're going to do if the ball is hit their way every pre-pitch," Richmond said. "They know what play they need to make. It's just a matter of being able to execute it, and tonight we tried to execute but mental and physical mistakes cost us."

Belmont coach Chris Kuhlmeyer said his team has been consistently hitting the ball hard and focuses on putting teams away with big innings.

"We scored a bunch of runs in that inning, but the things we did the best were hit the ball hard and keep it in play," Kuhlmeyer said. "We forced them to commit those errors and make plays on us. That's kind of the flow of the game we rely on and the things we can do to an opponent. It may not always be 11 runs, but we've had games this season where we've scored six or seven and that was enough to get us a win."

Southeast will host conference foe Tennessee State in a doubleheader beginning at noon today.

Richmond is unsure of who she will send to the circle but said all three of her pitchers as well as all of her players will be ready to compete.

"The three components have to work for us in a game," Richmond said. "You've got to have it in the circle, our defense has got to play behind them and we've got to get the big hits, but we never throw in the towel on them. We have to keep up the positive talk and go to the next game."