Fire Softball started their week of play strong behind a sweep of the visiting Mount Mercy Mustangs, winning behind dominant defense and timely hitting in a 4-1 victory and the 6-0 shutout shortly after in today's doubleheader.
Edan Playa started the doubleheader as the starting pitcher for the Fire, striking out three and only allowing one run on eight hits as the defense of Southeastern tracked every fly ball and fielded every ground ball. Playa pitched every inning and advanced her record to 7-2.
Batting struck early as
Leah Gonzalez extended her hitting streak to 15 games and scored the first inning RBI, driving home
Chapel Cunningham who went 1-4 in the first contest.
Raylei McKinney took over the second inning, launching a three-run bomb over the left-center wall, for her team leading second long ball of the season, McKinney went 2-for-2 in the game with three RBI's, a walk, and a run scored.
No scores would be added until the seventh when the Mustangs finally found some life in their bats. Unfortunately the effort was too little too late, the Fire ended the rally with one run scored and two Mount Marty athletes on base.
With the win the Fire moved to 17-8 and dropped the visiting Mustangs to 7-8.
The second round of the day between the two teams was much of the same story. Except this time around the pitching by
Autumn Hunter with the help of her defense turned in a no-hitter, the fourth in Fire history. Hunter was four walks short of a perfect game, striking out nine batters and allowing her defense to do the rest.
The leadoff batters for Southeastern registered fantastic numbers,
Ella Brooks went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and took two walks. Her sister
Hailey Brooks turned in one her best games of the season going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Once more, the bat of Gonzalez was strong as she cashed in her 16th straight game with a hit moving into third in SEU history for most consecutive games with a hit. In the second contest versus the Mustangs, Gonzalez accounted for four of the six runs scored going 2-for-2 and earning a walk.
The two runs that were not plated by Gonzalez were given to the Fire by
Riley Sanders and pinch hitter
Kaitlyn Quillen. The Fire would overpower Mount Mercy for the second straight game and move to 18-8 on the season as the Mustangs dropped to 7-9.
Southeastern starts a three game Sun Conference showdown versus the St. Thomas Bobcats (17-1) this Friday at 3 p.m. as the Fire look to extend their winning streak to four in a row.
