Redhawks split doubleheader with Bears

The Southeast Missouri State softball team finally got to play their first home game of the season Thursday afternoon, hosting Missouri State in a doubleheader at the Southeast Softball Complex.

The Redhawks made sure they seized the opportunity in the opener.

Southeast rallied from down two runs to overtake Missouri State 3-2 in the opening game of the day before succumbing to the Bears 2-1 in the finale.

"It's the first real game I've seen -- as a team -- us fight," catcher Xia Wilson said of the opener. "We've always ... in the last inning we want it but we're kind of afraid of it, and this was the first time I felt like we actually weren't afraid to win, and we wanted it and took initiative to do it."

The Redhawks struggled early to produce any form of offense against Missouri State (8-9) and fell behind 2-0 after a two-out solo home run to left center by Caitlin Chapin in the top of the fourth.

Southeast awoke in the bottom half of the inning.

The Redhawks' Savannah Carpenter singled with two outs, and Wilson lined a shot to right field that snuck under a charging Chapin's glove and went to the wall to plate Carpenter.

"It felt good," Wilson said. "It was my first big hit of the year. It felt good to finally help my team out."

Southeast took control the following inning.

Brittany Smith lined a one-out pinch-hit single, and Kaitlin Zink roped a shot to center field that put Smith on third and saw Zink take second on the throw.

"I felt that our team, all the way around, the people who came in to pinch-hit and pinch-run, everybody stepped up," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said.

Simone Patterson followed Zink with a bloop single to left that plated Smith and tied the game.

The Redhawks then showed off their aggressiveness on the base paths. Richmond called for a delayed double-steal and Patterson took off for second.

The Bears' catcher gunned the ball to second in an attempt to get Patterson, but Bears second baseman Ashley Brentz cut off the throw and hurled it back to the plate, where Zink slid in under the tag to give Southeast a 3-2 advantage.

"I had two seniors on," Richmond said. "Zink on third is a very quick and heads-up smart runner, so I knew we could do that. Again, just being aggressive. We went for it and they threw, and their cutoff person had a hard time handling the ball. Zink had already prepared to run, she had three steps on her by the time she got rid of it. It's things you have to do. This is what we do in practice, everybody. We're going to be aggressive and if we see it, we're going to go for it."

The Redhawks managed to hang onto the lead thanks in large part to flawless defense and Taylor Cowan on the mound.

Cowan (2-4) hurled all seven innings, allowing two runs on eight hits while striking out five.

"My defense worked really well behind me," Cowan said. "I was just trying to hit spots and let them do the rest. They did well."

"She took control," Richmond said of Cowan. "They had runners on, our defense came through with the plays, but she's our captain. She's righting the ship, she's telling everybody this is what we're going to do. She's my coach on the field."

The second game was not as kind to Southeast.

The Redhawks managed only two hits heading into the bottom half of the seventh and trailed 2-1, their lone run coming on a Lindsey Patterson solo shot over the left field fence.

"We had multiple fly outs," Richmond said. "We have to make an adjustment to hit the ball on the ground. I thought if we hit the ball on the ground their defense might be a little shaky, but we were incapable of doing that."

Southeast certainly tried to make amends in the final inning.

It started with Cowan relieving freshman Hannah Clemens on the mound and striking out Kirstin Cutter to end a potential Missouri State scoring threat.

Clemens (1-2) hurled a solid six innings, only allowing two runs on six hits.

"Hannah Clemens, a freshman, pitched a good game," Richmond said. "Her defense got her out of some, but she had some big strikeouts to end the innings."

The Redhawks found their offense in the bottom half of the inning. Carpenter singled up the middle, and Notre Dame product Summer Burger took her place on the base paths.

Alexis Anderson kept the inning alive with a two-out single after Wilson popped up to put runners on first and second with Chelsea Smith at the plate.

Smith lined a single to left field and Richmond waved Burger to the plate, but the Bears' Lauren Eisenreich gunned Burger down at the plate with a perfect strike to end the game.

"It was bang-bang the last play," Richmond said. "We're going to go for it. You have to go for it. You can't just play conservative at this stage in the game. We felt like we had a very good runner on, and we got the hit. They came up and made the play and that's all you can ask them to do."

It was a disappointing ending to the evening, but the Redhawks (4-8) were happy to finally play on their home turf.

Southeast's scheduled home doubleheader Tuesday against Harris-Stowe was canceled due to a wintery mix.

"It felt great," Wilson admitted. "I love our field. Our infield is perfect."

Missouri State is now 8-9 on the season.