LAKELAND, Fla. – The Fire were stingy on defense Saturday afternoon. Southeastern University continued its series mastery as it took both ends of the softball doubleheader from Webber Internationals, 8-0 in six innings and 3-1.
Leading 2-0 going to the bottom of the sixth in game one, SEU exploded for a six-spot with run-scoring hits off the bats of Hailey Bradley, Leah Gonzalez, who drove in two, and Lauren Sekinger with an RBI walk from Ella Brooks and Raylei McKinney's sac fly sprinkled in, ending the game 8-0. Edan Playa held Webber to three hits for her third shutout of the season.
After the Warriors tied the game in the top of the third in game two, the Fire answered with a pair of big runs in the home half. With one out, Gonzalez walked and McKinney singled. Following the second out, Sekinger sliced a double and brought both runners home for a 3-1 lead. Emma Vickers held the visitors scoreless in the fourth and Maria Zelenka continued the task for the final three innings.
Sekinger paced the SEU hitters with two, two-hit games – 2-for-4 with an RBI in the first game and 2-for-3 with the two-run double in the late contest. Both Gonzalez and Chapel Cunningham accounted for three hits apiece – Gonzalez 3-for-5 with three runs, a double and three RBI, while Cunningham added a 3-for-8 day with two runs and a stolen base.
Brooks singled in each game with two runs, an RBI, and a stolen base. McKinney also lined a hit in both games with a run, two RBI, and a sac fly.
Kassidy Moore, Nicole Wasserstrom and Bradley, who had one RBI, added singles with a run apiece.
Both Playa and Zelenka took their season records to identical 13-3 marks. In her third shutout and the team's sixth, Playa gave up three hits and struck out one. Zelenka struck out three in three innings of work, surrendering only two hits with two walks. Vickers gave up the lone run of the weekend over her four quality innings giving up five hits with three strikeouts.
With the sweep, SEU improved to 27-6 (9-3 SUN) and swept its second of four 3-game series. Webber dropped to 13-21 (4-8 SUN) on the season.
The Fire return to action on Friday when they travel to Ave Maria to kick of their next series with a single game starting at 3 p.m. on Friday.
