LAKELAND, Fla.- In their return home after a seven-game road stint, No. 4 ranked Southeastern softball advanced to 9-8 with a doubleheader sweep of Calumet College of St. Joseph by scores of 6-4 and 10-2.
Autumn Hunter advanced to 5-4 on the season with the game-one win after going five innings and allowing four earned runs and striking out four.
Claire Sekinger earned a save after going two innings and allowing no hits with two strikeouts.
Riley Sanders was responsible for the first two runs of the contest after driving a two-out, two-run double over the head of the left fielder to give the Fire a 2-0 edge.
In the top of the third, the Crimson Wave led off the inning with a double that would come around to score off a one-run single into left center. Two batters later, a fielder's choice brought home the tying run.
The Fire added two more in the bottom of the frame after
Jamie Mead led off the inning with a single and was followed by a two-run home run over the left field wall by
Erica Stahl.
Back-to-back errors and a wild pitch by the Crimson Wave in the bottom of the fourth loaded the bases for
Leah Gonzalez who moved the Fire lead to 5-2 with a sacrifice fly into left field, scoring Mead.
The Crimson Wave brought the score within one in the fifth after two base runners reached with singles and came around to score on a two-out, two-run double into center.
Southeastern added an insurance run in the sixth after
Haleigh Harrell and Mead put together back-to-back doubles, securing the Fire's 6-4 victory.
Mead and Stahl each concluded game one going 2-4 while Harrell went 2-3 with two runs scored.
Game two saw the Fire grab a 10-2 victory in five innings after posting nine hits and capitalizing on five errors by the Crimson Wave defense.
The visiting team jumped out to a 1-0 lead behind two singles in the top of the first but the Fire responded with two in bottom of the frame. After
Chapel Cunningham reached on a fielders choice and advanced to second on a passed ball, Gonzalez would claim another RBI with a double into right center to tie the contest. Immediately following, Nicki Wasserstrom added another run to the board with a sacrifice fly into left field, scoring Stahl.
Southeastern added two more in the bottom of the second behind two hits and two errors to take a 4-1 lead and would add five more in the third off five hits. Both
Danielle Wasserstrom and Nicki Wasserstrom reached base with singles and scored off a two-run double into right center by Harrell. Mead followed with another double down the left field line to score Harrell and take the 7-1 lead. Later in the inning the Fire added another with a two-out RBI single by Stahl.
In the bottom of the fourth, Harrell added another RBI with a sacrifice fly into right field to move the Fire lead to 10-1.
A solo home run by the Crimson Wave in the top of the fifth moved the score to 10-2 by a groundout and the fly out concluded game two.
Kenzie Forrester earned the win after allowing just two runs in five innings and striking out three.
Mead concluded game two with a 3-3 effort while Cunningham, Stahl, and Gonzalez each recorded two RBI's. Harrell tallied a team-high three RBI's and two runs scored.
Sun Conference play begins on Friday as the Fire host Webber International at 4 p.m. with a doubleheader following on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m.
