Sweep eludes Southeast Missouri State softball team

The Southeast Missouri State softball team wanted to bury Austin Peay after sweeping Saturday's doubleheader.

Ashley Bolda had other ideas.

Bolda, the only Missouri native on the Austin Peay roster, pitched a four-hitter in her home state as the Governors beat the host Redhawks 2-1 on Sunday to salvage a victory in the three-game series.

"I thought she did an outstanding job," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said. "She's a St. Louis kid [from Wentzville, Mo.]. We've got a very good hitting team and I give her a lot of credit."

Southeast still had a productive weekend by taking the series. The Redhawks, 12-20 overall, are 8-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play as they remained fourth in the 11-team league. They were last in the OVC a year ago.

Southeast Missouri State center fielder Evan Sallis tracks down a fly ball during the seventh inning of Sunday's game against Austin Peay.

"We have a good team," senior Nicole Troncoso said. "Everybody pulls together."

It looked like the Redhawks, shut out on two hits through six innings, might pull out another dramatic win over Austin Peay (8-25, 3-10). They rallied in Saturday's opener despite being down to their final out.

"I did actually think we were going to do it," Troncoso said. "We tried to make a comeback at the end."

Troncoso and sophomore Taylor Cowan, who both had two of Southeast's four hits, each singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Freshman Shelby Kuryllo grounded a ball to shortstop Kristin Whitmire, who tried to force Troncoso at third. The throw appeared to skip off Troncoso and it rolled into the Southeast dugout.

All the runners moved up a base, with Troncoso scoring, freshman pinch-runner Renee Terry going to third and Kuryllo moving to second.

But Southeast never could push across the tying run.

Sophomore Kaitlin Wallace grounded out to third and junior Shelby Stein's grounder to the right side was snared by a diving first baseman Shelby Norton, who barely beat Stein to the bag for the final out.

"You have to give them credit," Richmond said of the Govs, who committed two errors but recorded quite a few dazzling plays, including several on outfield catches. "I thought their outfield took base hits away from us. They played much better defense than on Saturday.

"It's a tough one. We had our pitching and defense. Our offense couldn't get going early, but we had our opportunities."

Troncoso said the Redhawks should have been able to make better use of a strong wind that looked like it would aid the hitters.

"We just didn't take advantage today when the wind was blowing out," she said.

The Govs used the wind right away as Lauren de Castro led off the game with a home run to left field. Norton's third-inning RBI double made it 2-0.

Austin Peay's damage came off freshman Shea Cothren (3-8), who allowed four hits in three innings to take the loss.

Junior Stefanie Barnes kept Southeast in the game with four scoreless frames. She allowed two hits, struck out two and walked none.

"She came in and really disrupted their timing," Richmond said.

Bolda (2-5) struck out three and walked none.

Southeast finishes its seven-game homestand Wednesday with a 3 p.m. nonconference doubleheader against Indiana State.