Softball splits at All-Missouri Cancer Classic, prepares for road trip

Southeast Missouri State's softball team moves on to 10-4 on the season after splitting the weekend series at the All-Missouri Cancer Classic in Kansas City, Mo., before a 10 game, 11 day road trip.

Southeast won both games to open the tournament on Saturday, March 4, with strong pitching performances from junior pitcher Madeline Krumrey and freshman pitcher Alexis Estes.

Krumrey went all seven innings in the first game of the day in a 2-1 win over Missouri State. She allowed seven hits and just one earned run and struck out four in the victory, putting her over the 200-strikeout mark for her career. The win gave Krumrey a 5-1 record on the season.

The Redhawks finished with just five hits for the game, but a key two-run double by junior catcher Riley Hayes in the second inning gave Southeast all the run support it would need.

"To start the event off with a win like that against Missouri State was big," coach Mark Redburn said. "They're a good program. We got runs off of Riley HayesÂ…we made that last basically the entire game and had a great performance from Maddie KrumreyÂ… Our defense was really solid and our pitching was good."

In the second game of the day, Southeast defeated University of Missouri-Kansas City, 4-2. Estes picked up the win, pitching all seven innings and allowing two runs on three hits and struck out eight batters. Southeast scored in three straight innings, beginning with a RBI triple by sophomore infielder Parker Bandy in the fourth inning. Freshman infielder Addison Barnouski homered in the fifth inning and the Redhawks would plate two more runs in the sixth after an UMKC error. Estes allowed her only two runs of the game in the seventh inning. The freshman transfer now has a record of 4-0 on the season.

"The offense just wasn't quite what we wanted it to be for the weekend," Redburn said after scoring just six runs in the two victories. "I think the positive was knowing that our pitching is pretty good and our defense is pretty goodÂ… so if we're struggling a little bit offensively, as long as we're solid with our pitching and defense like we've shown, then we're going to be pretty successful."

On Sunday, March 5, the Redhawks lost back to back games to Saint Louis University, 10-1 and 6-4, ending a seven-game winning streak. Four different pitchers made an appearance for Southeast in the game one. Sophomore pitcher Haley Thogmartin registered the loss.

In game two, Southeast went into the final inning trailing 6-0. The Redhawk's rallied for four runs before the tying run was thrown out at second to end the game. Krumrey would receive the loss in the game, giving her a 5-2 record for the season.

Freshman outfielder Rachel Anderson, along with Barnouski and Krumrey, were all named to the all-tournament team.

Southeast will next play on Thursday, March 9, in Oxford, Alabama, against Loyola-Chicago. This is the first game of an eleven-day road trip that stretches through Southeast's spring break, with the team playing a total of ten games in that time and traveling over 1,600 miles before returning back to Cape Girardeau.

"This is kind of the final stretch for us before we go into conference play," Redburn said. "We're going to have a good mixture of teams and opponents."

Southeast will play four games in four days in Oxford, Alabama, as the team hosts the SEMO Tournament. The Redhawks will then head to Atlanta, Georgia, to play one game against Georgia Tech on Tuesday, March 14, then play Kennesaw State the following day in Kennesaw, Georgia. Southeast will then fly to Lawrence, Kansas, for the Rock Chalk Challenge and play five games in three days, beginning with a double header against Tulsa and a rematch against UMKC on Friday, March 17. Southeast will also play against LSU and Kansas in the tournament.

"We're going to get teams of mid-major level all the way up to the SEC," Redburn said. "I think it's good for us to be able to get away as a team and enjoy this experience and go through some things like being able to fly. I think for our program and for our players that will kind of lift them and kind of prepare us before we go into the weekend there of conference play."

Conference play begins on Saturday, March 25, for the Redhawks at Tennessee Tech.

"We're healthy right now," Redburn said. "We've got a lot of people playing, a lot of people getting at bats, playing defense, running bases. So we're fresh and everything. We're looking forward to this last little stretch here before we start conference."