APSU Women’s Softball
Cape Girardeau, MO – A walk-off loss to open the day led to the Austin Peay softball team being swept, in a Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader Saturday against Southeast Missouri, as the Lady Govs fell to the Redhawks 8-5 and 9-1.
Renee Kertz hit her second home run of Game 1, with two outs and the game tied at 5-5, after Austin Peay (7-25, 2-10 OVC) entered the bottom of the final inning up 5-4 and needing only one more out to seal away the win.
Lady Govs sophomore starter Morgan Brewer (5-9) got the first two Redhawk hitters quickly, by pinch hitter Shelby Kuryllo flared a single just over the head of senior second baseman Randal Davenport to keep the inning going and Cheyenne Gipson coming back in the game and getting into scoring position by stealing second base.
The real turning point then came when Evan Sallis chopped a ball to red-shirt first baseman Shelby Norton, who mishandled the ball for just a moment, but that was enough for the speedy Sallis to reach on the error and Gipson to get to third.
That brought up Southeast Missouri’s (12-19, 8-5 OVC) leading hitter Carmon Fowler, who singled through the left side of the Lady Govs infield to bring in Gipson with the tying run, with Sallis moving to second.
That brought up Kertz, who hammered a 2-0 pitch over the left-center field fence for the walk-off game winner.
The Lady Govs had trailed 4-0 after three inning, but took take advantage of a walk, two hits and a SEMO error to cut the Redhawks lead in half, with Brewer drawing a two-out walk, followed by back-to-back singles by Norton and junior Ashley Bolda.
But SEMO leftfielder Shelby Stein let the single by Bolda get by her and roll to the fence, allowing Brewer and Norton to come all the way around to score to make it 4-2.
The Lady Govs would carry their momentum into the fifth inning, taking the lead by scoring three runs – the first on an RBI single by junior Catie Cozart scoring red-shirt sophomore Jessica Ryan – and the other two coming on junior Amy Mills’ second home run of the season, which also drove in Cozart for the 5-4 advantage.
Southeast Missouri opened up the game’s scoring by taking advantage of an Austin Peay miscue to take the lead in the bottom of the second inning, when Brewer threw wide of first base on a swinging chopper by Stein that brought in Renee Terry and Kaitlin Wallace for a 2-0 lead.
Another error allowed the Redhawks to double their advantage in the third inning, with Sallis getting on to start the inning on a APSU error that was followed one out late by Kertz’s first home run Saturday, making it 4-0.
In Game 2, the Lady Govs came out swinging with freshman Lauren de Castro, Cozart and Brewer all recording singles, with senior Tiffany Smith driving in de Castro with a sacrifice fly, for a quick 1-0 lead, but that would be all he offense he Lady Govs would muster in the nightcap, with the Redhawks scoring five times in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead for good.
Austin Peay wouldn’t get another runner on base after the first, while Southeast Missouri scored two more runs in the third and fourth innings to come away with the 9-1 – five-inning run-rule victory.
The two teams will conclude the three-game series, at 1:00pm, Sunday with a single game.
