LAKELAND, Fla.- The Southeastern University Fire softball team impressed on 2022 Opening Day, sweeping both games of a home doubleheader over the RV Mount Mercy University Mustangs by scores of 8-0 in each contest.
The SEU pitching staff dazzled, allowing just six hits, walking three, and striking out nine over 11 shutout innings.
"We were extremely efficient on the mound," commented SEU head coach
Kayla Watkins. "We pounded the zone and moved the ball around when we needed to."
At the plate, the Fire scored their 16 runs on 18 hits, including six for extra bases.
"I thought our patience at the plate came from knowing when to be aggressive," shared Coach Watkins. "We did a very good job of hunting down and not chasing up."
GAME ONE:
Junior outfielder
Erica Stahl ignited the Fire offense in the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run to center field that put SEU ahead of MMU 1-0.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher
Autumn Hunter established a rhythm early versus the Mustangs' lineup, sitting down a sequence of nine-consecutive hitters from the top of the first to the top of the fourth.
The Fire utilized a impactful bottom of the fifth to open the contest up, scoring six runs on five hits to grow their advantage to 7-0.
An RBI groundout by
Ashley Ellison in the bottom of the sixth put SEU up 8-0 and ended the contest via run rule.
Ellison was 2-4 at the plate with two runs batted in throughout the opening contest, including an RBI-double.
Hunter earned the win with a final line of 5.1 innings pitched, 75 pitches, three hits allowed, two walks, and five strikeouts.
Junior reliever
Megan Froehlich needed just four pitched to close out the final two-thirds of an inning on the mound for Southeastern.
GAME TWO:
The Fire wasted no time jumping out to an sizable early advantage, plating four runs on five hits in the bottom of the first to take a 4-0 lead over Mount Mercy.
Redshirt-senior right-handed SEU starter
Payton Thomas sat down the first five Mustangs she faced, picking up two strikeouts in the process.
An RBI-single by
Erica Stahl and RBI-double by
Leah Gonzalez in the bottom of the second scored two more to grow the Southeastern advantage to 6-0.
Thomas earned the win on the mound by going four strong, conceding only three hits, no runs, no walks, and struck out two.
Freshman pitcher
Claire Sekinger logged a clean frame in her first collegiate inning, striking out two of the four she faced in the top of the fifth.
Katie Atkins ripped one into right field in the bottom of the fifth that brought
Jamie Mead home and then an error by the MMU outfield allowed Ellison also to cross and end the contest at 8-0.
The Fire are back in action at the SEU Softball Field tomorrow versus the Bryan College Lions in an afternoon doubleheader at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.
