St. Petersburg, Fla. – The Southeastern University softball team earned their 30th win of the season with the doubleheader sweep of NCAA DII Eckerd College on Monday night.
The Fire took game one by the score of 6-1 before completing the sweep with a 3-0 victory in game two.
Both teams showed rust early after allowing the opposition to score an unearned run in the first inning.
The score remained 1-1 until the third inning, when Taylor Stoltz drew the bases loaded walk to score Kayle Mullenix who led off the inning with a single.
The Fire added to their 2-1 lead with three big runs in the fifth inning. Brittany LaCasse led off the inning with a double off the left-center field fence. LaCasse was moved to third on an infield single from Kim Pierce. Jen Hedrick then laid down a squeeze to score LaCasse. Stoltz continued the inning with an infield single. Finally, Cat Maldonado drove in Pierce with a single through the right side to put SEU up 5-1.
Pierce added an insurance run for starting pitcher, Emily Bryant, with a deep homerun to left center in the sixth to put the Fire up 6-1.
Bryant earned the win after throwing six innings while allowing four hits and one run (unearned).
Nicci Hopps started the scoring in the second inning of game two with an RBI single to center to score Hedrick.
Hedrick plated two more runs in the third inning with a two RBI single to right field to score Mullenix, who led off the inning with a single, andDeVyn Barker who reached base after being hit by a pitch.
Three runs was more than enough for starter, Lauren West as she dominated in route to the complete game shutout. Through seven inning of work, West allowed just one hit while striking out eight.
The Fire conclude regular season play this weekend when they host Northwood University for a doubleheader on Friday before hosting St. Thomas University for a doubleheader on Saturday.
