April 17, 2005

Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Sunday, April 16, 2005) Southeast fell just short of a weekend sweep of the Samford University Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon. After a late surge by the Redhawks in the sixth inning to tie the game, the Bulldogs took a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh and were able to hold on for the win.

Amy Fahnestock, impressive in two appearances yesterday, made the start for Southeast (22-17, 10-5 OVC), but Samford (21-19, 13-5 OVC) was able to jump to an early lead in the first.

After the leadoff batter Trisha Holman was caught looking at strike three, Erin Hall was able to reach base on a tough error by third baseman Victoria Torrez. Hall chopped the ball hard to Torrez's left when Torrez lunged for the ball and had it tip off the end of her glove. Fahnestock seemed to have things under control, though as she forced Heather Williams to fly out in foul territory to right field. However, Shelley Stanley took advantage of the extra out in the inning and blasted a towering home run, her sixth, to right field to put the bulldogs on top 2-0 after the first inning.

Samford added another run in the third inning when Hall doubled to drive in Liz Pearse.

Haley Scism, who yesterday held the Redhawks to only one hit in five and one-third innings of work, was equally effective today through the first five innings. Heading into the sixth, she had held SEMO to only one base hit.

Things for Scism quickly changed in the sixth inning. Kelly Birk put a charge into the club when she led the inning off with a solo home run, her second blast of the weekend. Stephanie Huffman followed with a single to left, and Callie Brittan came on to pinch run. Megan McDonald followed suit with a base hit of her own to third base. Finally, Scism's day ended after the walked Lindsey Webb to load the bases.

Still with no outs, Southeast took advantage of the opportunity and manufactured two more runs to tie the ball game at three when Stephanie Mata and Lindsay Pickering each hit a sacrifice fly to plate Brittan and McDonald.

After two quick outs in the top of the seventh, it looked as though the Redhawks would head to the bottom half of the inning with a chance to score one for the win. However, the Bulldogs got the ball rolling with Pearse's single to right. Holman was then able to reach base on a single to second baseman McDonald where she made a sliding stop to keep the ball on the infield. However, Hall completed the two-out rally with another single that brought Pearse around to score.

Despite falling just short today, Southeast ends the weekend in a tie for third place in the conference with Tennessee-Martin. Southeast improved their conference record to 10-5 after winning the Samford series two games to one.

Fahnestock picked up her second complete game of the weekend. She allowed just six hits over the seven innings, and struck out five more batters. In 15 2/3 innings of work during the weekend series, Fahnestock struck out 14 batters and did not issue any walks.

Birk reached base three times in four trips to the plate in today's game. She went 1-2 with her fifth homer of the season, and also drew two free passes. Her on-base percentage on the season improved to .437, good for second on the team. McDonald leads in the on-base category with a .443 OBP.

With her single in the sixth inning, McDonald extended her hitting streak to 9 games this afternoon. She was 1-3 at the plate with one run scored.

Mata also had an impressive showing this weekend. Although she went 0-1 at the plate today, she drove in a run with her sac fly in the sixth, and she also reached base on a walk. After reaching first on the walk, she stole second base for her fifth swipe of the season. She is a perfect 5 for 5 in stolen base attempts on year.

The Redhawks will take two days off before traveling to Charleston, Illinois to battle conference foe Eastern Illinois in a doubleheader on Wednesday. The ball club returns home for a weekend series against Tennessee Tech next Saturday, April 23. First pitch of the Saturday twin bill is set for 1 p.m.

^-NTS