LAKELAND, Fla.—Southeastern turned 19 hits into 14 runs during a doubleheader sweep of Mount Vernon Nazarene on Wednesday.
The Fire matched their longest win streak of the season at four with a 5-0 win in the first game of the doubleheader followed by a 6-2 win to improve to 13-7.
Autumn Hunter turned in a complete game shutout effort in the pitching circle, posting eight strikeouts with just one walk and five hits to earn her fourth win of the year.
The Fire took advantage of a pair of second inning errors with
Hailey Brooks reaching on a dropped third strike to lead off the inning, then scored on a throwing error.
Chapel Cunningham made it 2-0 with a two-out RBI single to shortstop.
Cunningham finished the game 2-for-4 with two stolen bases.
Lauren Sekinger added a two-out RBI single to left in the third to score Brooks to push the lead to three. A line drive to center field by
Leah Gonzalez in the bottom of the fifth brought in
Raylei McKinney and an RBI single by Brooks put the Fire up five to end the inning.
Gonzalez and McKinney were both 2-for-4. Brooks finished 2-for-3 with three stolen bases.
The Fire overcame a rocky start to the second game but
Edan Playa was able to get out of a jam with two on and nobody out in the top of the first, aided by a double play.
Playa improved to 5-1 on the season, going 5.1 innings and allowed one earned run on four hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Sekinger's two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the inning gave the Fire an early lead.
The big inning was the third when Southeastern loaded the basses with one out and got an RBI single from
Danielle Wasserstrom, a walk to
Riley Sanders, and an infield single by Cunningham to make it 5-0.
The Cougars came back with a run in the fourth, taking advantage of two Fire throwing errors, but the Fire answered in the bottom of the fifth with a single up the middle by Cunningham with two outs to score Brooks who doubled. Mount Vernon picked up the final run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly.
Cunningham finished 2-for-4.
The Fire will host Cleary on Thursday for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
