The Southeast Missouri State softball team finished last in the Ohio Valley Conference a year ago and was picked eighth in the 11-team league this season.

But the Redhawks have played like anything but one of the OVC's weaker squads during the early stages of the conference schedule.

Southeast handed host Jacksonville State, the defending OVC tournament champion and preseason favorite, its first conference loss of the season Saturday, 7-6 in the opener of a doubleheader.

That victory marked Southeast's first-ever triumph over JSU, snapping a 21-game losing streak to the Gamecocks.

The Redhawks nearly pulled off a sweep but JSU rallied for an 8-5 win in the nightcap. The teams close their three-game series in Jacksonville, Ala., today.

Southeast is 5-3 in conference play, good for fourth place. The Redhawks are 9-17 overall. JSU (22-8, 9-1) fell into second place.

The Redhawks rallied in Saturday's opener after trailing 6-3 entering the sixth inning.

Southeast pushed across a run in the sixth then scored twice during its final at-bat in the seventh.

Both seventh-inning runs were unearned, and the Redhawks had only one hit in the frame.

Senior Carmen Fowler got the inning started with a walk, although she later was thrown out at home on a single by senior Nicole Troncoso for the second out.

Troncoso took second on the play. After a walk to sophomore Taylor Cowan, freshman pinch-runner Amber Ewert took third on a wild pitch.

Ewert scored the tying run on an error that should have ended the game. Cowan moved to third on the play and scored on a wild pitch.

Freshman Alora Marble pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh to record her team-best fourth win of the season. She worked 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief, allowing six hits, walking none and striking out three.

Cowan and junior Evan Sallis both had two of Southeast's nine hits. Cowan got her team-leading fourth home run of the year. Junior Renee Kertz also homered and had two RBIs.

Southeast led 5-2 entering the sixth inning of the nightcap when the Gamecocks exploded for six runs. Amanda Crow's grand slam was the big blow. It was her second homer of the day and 10th of the season.

Marble (4-4) took the loss, allowing five runs in two inning.

Southeast had eight hits, led by Sallis and Troncoso with two each. Troncoso homered and delivered three RBIs. Freshman Shelby Kuryllo also homered.

JSU had 11 hits in each game while finishing the day with five home runs.

Track and field

The Southeast track and field program had a strong showing at Saturday's Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn.

Samantha Espiricueta, Josh Uchtman and Brandon Colbert all took home gold medals.

Espiricueta won the discus with a distance of 143 feet, 11 inches, Uchtman won the shot put (55-9 3/4) and Colbert captured the hammer throw (194-7).

Espiricueta also was second in the javelin (154-5) and Uchtman was fourth in the discus (152-9).

Robert Delaria was second in the 400 meters with a time of 49.89 seconds.

Earning thirds were Courtney Gapelu in the discus (131-03), Emilea Old in the javelin (120-10), Craig Robinson in the shot put (53-11), Rachel Kahle in the 100 (12.23) and Jessica Bollinger in the 3,000 (10:09.34).

The 400 relay team of Megan Edwards, Kahle, Angelica Larrier and Jerika Lewis (46.87) also was third.

Brianna Egbuka was fourth in the hammer throw (162-02) and fifth in the shot put (42-4).

Ed Draper in the javelin (171-10) and Jason Lumpkin in the 3,000 (8:33.74) also earned fourths.

Rounding out Southeast's top-five finishers were three fifth-place performances, by Jill Schnurbusch in the pole vault (11-1 3/4), DeAndre Simmons in the 100 (11.07) and Chris Loseman in the 3,000 (8:34.38).

Southeast hosts the annual Joey Haines Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

-- From staff reports