OTAHKS STAY AFLOAT IN FROST CUTLERY TOURNEY POOL PLAY

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri State University positioned itself well for moving out of the pool play portion of the Frost Cutlery Tournament Friday afternoon by going 2-1.

The Otahkians (31-11) sandwiched victories over Georgia Tech and Furman around a 6-1 loss to Southwest Louisiana.

Southeast defeated Georgia Tech 2-1 and Furman 6-1.

Southeast completes pool play today with games against George Mason and Samford. To advance, a team must place among the top three teams in its six-team pool."We have a good shot at coming in second," said Southeast coach Lana Flynn Richmond. "But to do that we must win our next two tomorrow."The 30-team field contains several nationally ranked teams. Southeast played two of those teams on Friday.

Johannsen limited Georgia Tech, ranked in the Top 20, to just three hits in Southeast's first game of the day. Johannsen struck out one and walked one."Georgia Tech was a good win for us," said Richmond. "The defense played extremely well and Johannsen pitched a masterpiece."The Otahkians managed five hits, including an RBI triple by Janis Swiderski in the top of the fourth inning which gave Southeast a 1-0 lead.

Georgia Tech knotted the score in the sixth, but Southeast broke the tie in the seventh. Jodi Smith and Traci Wren opened the inning with singles and Amy Evers walked to load the bases. Melissa Moore scored the winning run with a groundout to second base.

Against Southwest Louisiana, Southeast jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Wren triple and a suicide squeeze bunt by Evers.

But Southwest Louisiana came back with two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Nikki Mortimer suffered the loss, giving up 11 hits in six innings.

Southeast bounced back with a win over Furman. Sara Reichert picked up the victory, striking out 10 and allowing four hits.

Furman had runners on base in first, third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings but Reichert ended all the threats with a strikeout."Reichert was pretty well in control of the game," said Richmond.

The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when the Otahkians managed three runs on just one hit. Furman committed two errors in the inning.

Southeast had just one hit through the first six innings and broke loose in the seventh with six hits and three more runs.

Lisa Kraxner led the offensive with two hits and two RBI.Southeast will play George Mason today at 1 p.m.

At the conclusion of todays pool play, single elimination begins.