CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (27-11, 19-1) secured the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference outright regular-season title and the OVC Tournament's top seed with a 9-0, 5-2, doubleheader sweep of UT Martin (21-22, 13-10) Sunday.
SEMO swept UTM on its home diamond where it has won 30 in a row and gone undefeated in two-straight seasons for the first time in program history. The Redhawks' OVC title capped a perfect 13-0 record at the Southeast Softball Complex as SEMO was once again the only team in the league to go unbeaten at home.
The regular-season championship is SEMO's eighth in program history and third since the 2019 campaign. It also pushed the total number of OVC championships by the Redhawks Department of Athletics to six in 2022-23. SEMO's football (regular-season), women's indoor track & field, men's basketball (tournament) and women's tennis (regular-season & tournament) teams also celebrated title runs.
Paytience Holman picked up both wins in the circle for SEMO with an outstanding performance.
Holman pitched a one-hit shutout and retired 15 of the 16 hitters she faced in the Redhawks shortened five-inning win via the run rule.
SEMO staked Holman to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when
Alyson Tucker knocked in
Jillian Anderson and
Kat Sackett doubled home both Tucker and
Aubrie Shore.
The Redhawks blew the game open with a six-run, five-hit third inning.
Shore was hit by a pitch and Tucker walked before
Sydney Dennis scored two runs on a triple to right. Sackett singled down the right field line and Dennis scored.
Kynzie Wrigley later doubled to left center and both Sackett and
Zoe Schulte scored. Wrigley touched home on a ground out by
Tatum Gerwitz to make it a 9-0 ballgame.
SEMO took care of the Skyhawks in a quick 77 minutes for its eighth run-rule victory of the season.
Holman did not allow a walk and struck out one in her masterful game one outing that saw her throw 53 pitches.
Offensively, the Redhawks outhit UTM, 10-1, with Dennis and Sackett combining for four hits, two runs and five RBI.
In game two, Holman started again and fell behind, 1-0, in the top of the first inning.
Tucker, however, tied things up in the bottom of the second when she ripped a leadoff solo home run over the left field wall. The round-tripper marked Tucker's fourth of the year.
SEMO gave Holman her first lead in the bottom of the third when Shore and Tucker hit back-to-back run-scoring doubles. Both of those hits came with two outs giving the Redhawks a 4-1 advantage.
Wrigley's bunt brough home
Sydney Melton for SEMO's final run of the day.
Holman, who exited the game in the fifth, inherited a bases loaded situation when she re-entered that same inning. Holman then recorded three outs to get out of the jam.
UTM had the tying run at the plate with runners on first and third and two outs in the top of the seventh. Former Redhawk Katie Dreiling represented the tying run. Holman got Dreiling to fly out to left field and the championship celebration ensued.
Holman (6-6) gave up just one run on six hits, struck out two and walked none in seven innings during the nightcap.
Tucker finished at 2-of-3 with a double, home run, one run scored and two RBI to lead the Redhawks at the plate.
SEMO has now won 16-straight OVC games and picked up its 10th-consecutive series sweep in Cape Girardeau. The Redhawks ran its series winning streak against UTM to 11 victories, as well.
The Redhawks close out their regular-season with a three-game series at Eastern Illinois on May 6-7.
