May 6, 2005

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Friday, May 06, 2005) The Southeast Missouri State softball team snapped a nine-game losing streak and kept their hopes for a Ohio Valley Conference Tournament berth alive with a 3-1 win over Eastern Illinois Friday afternoon at the Southeast Softball Complex. Currently the Redhawks sit alone for the sixth and final spot for the tourney, a game ahead of Eastern Kentucky who the Redhawks own the tiebreaker with.

The Redhawks (23-25, 11-13 OVC) exploded in the first inning when Michelle Summers (Glendale, CA/Hoover) singled to center to lead-off the inning. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Victoria Torrez (Garden Grove, CA/Cypress CC). Summers then moved to third on a Kelly Birk (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison HS) groundout. Megan McDonald (Cape Girardeau, MO/Cape Central) then hit her sixth homerun of the season over the centerfield fence to plate Summers and giving the Redhawks a quick 2-0 lead.

In the third inning the Redhawks added an insurance run against the visiting Panthers (15-29, 12-12 OVC). Summers collected her second hit of the game when she doubled to right and advanced to third on a Torrez grounder. Birk then doubled to right for her team-leading 25th RBI of the season.

Meanwhile freshman pitcher Elaine Fisher (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell North) was rolling. She set the tone early as she struckout the first two Panthers she saw and continued her dominance of the strikezone throughout the game.

She picked up the win (6-5) and her third complete game of the season, allowing a unearned run on four hits while striking out six batters and walking none.

She lowered her earned run average in OVC games to a miniscule 0.45 in 11 appearances. She has struck out 29 batters in OVC play while walking only two in 47 innings.

The Panthers got their run in the seventh but Fisher shrugged off the run and retired the next batter to complete the 3-1 win in a game that only lasted one hour and 15 minutes.

Summers, Birk and McDonald all had 2-3 days and accounted for all six Redhawk hits. For Summers it was her team-leading 12th multi-hit game of the season.

McDonald's homerun gives the club 28 homeruns on the season, just one homerun shy on the team record for homers in a season set by the 1998 squad.

The Redhawks will look to secure their OVC Tournament berth this weekend and attempt to move up in the seedings when they host Austin Peay for the regular season finale. The Redhawks will play a doubleheader against the Lady Govs tomorrow starting at 1:00 p.m. The Teams will conclude their season's on Sunday with one game at 1:00 p.m. Sunday's game will also be Senior Day as the Redhawks will honor seniors Amy Fahnestock (Ste. Genevieve, MO/Wabash CC), Birk and Torrez.