Southeast Missouri State softball reaches OVC tourney finals but must win twice

Southeast Missouri State's Sarah Messex celebrates her solo HR against Jacksonville State with teammates during the fifth inning of the winner's bracket final of the OVC Tournament on Friday in Oxford, Alabama. Jacksonville State won 4-3.

Trent Penny ~ The Anniston Star

OXFORD, Ala. -- After a thrill ride of a day at the Ohio Valley Conference softball tournament, Southeast Missouri State is alive and in the championship round.

In the winners' bracket final, the top-seeded Redhawks fell to three-time defending champion Jacksonville State 4-3 on Friday afternoon, with a seventh-inning comeback falling short. That put Southeast into the elimination bracket final Friday evening, where the Redhawks fought off a late rally by Eastern Kentucky to win 11-8.

SEMO's Rachel Anderson rips a base hit against Jacksonville State. Jacksonville State played Southeast Missouri State in softball action from the OVC Conference Tournament Friday at Choccolocco Park in Oxford. JSU hung on to win the game 4-3. (Photo by Trent Penny)

Courtesy of Trent Penny ~ The Anniston Star

Southeast (43-16) will face Jacksonville State (36-13) in Saturday's finals at 11 a.m. If Jacksonville State wins, the tournament is over and the Gamecocks are champions. If Southeast wins, they'll play again 30 minutes afterward in a winner-take-all game to decide the championship.

"Our goal is to get out there, get on base as easy as we can and compete every single pitch," said center fielder Rachel Anderson, the conference's player of the year.

The two teams split two regular-season games as they tied for the OVC regular-season crown. They've now met three times and those games have been decided by a combined four runs.

Southeast fell behind in Friday's game 4-0 after JSU scored four times in the third inning. The Redhawks got one back when Sarah Messex hit a solo homer, but they couldn't add anything despite getting two runners on base.

They got two more runners on in the sixth but didn't score. In the seventh, Southeast seemed ready to blow the door open against JSU ace Faith Sims, the conference's pitcher of the year.

Rachael Donald opened the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Pinch-runner Mackenzie Long took second base on a wild pitch by Sims, who said later she felt a twinge in her shoulder when she pitched to Donald.

SEMO's Rachel Rook winds to fire a pitch to a JSU hitter. Jacksonville State played Southeast Missouri State in softball action from the OVC Conference Tournament Friday at Choccolocco Park in Oxford. JSU hung on to win the game 4-3.

Courtesy of Trent Penny ~ The Anniston Star

Mykaela Arellanes singled home Long to make it 4-2, and Anderson was walked intentionally. Claudia Gallo bunted successfully, moving Arellanes and Anderson up one base each. Ashley Ellis grounded out to bring home Arellanes to make it 4-3 and move Anderson to third. Addison Barnouski was hit by a pitch, then stole second to put the winning run in scoring position.

But Sims snuffed out the rally when she got Kaylee Anderson to pop out to third base.

"Obviously, Faith is a great pitcher, and they have a great program," Southeast coach Mark Redburn said. "We thought it probably be a low-scoring game. ... We left some people on base. We didn't get a basehit at the right time."

Against EKU, Southeast wasted no time grabbing a lead. The Redhawks scored five times in the first inning on Barnouski's two-run single, Messex's two-run double and Parker Bandy's run-scoring single. They scored three more times in the second for an 8-0 lead, as Gallo, Anderson and Ellis each socked solo homers.

From there, Redburn had hoped to close out the game after five innings through the eight-run mercy rule.

SEMO's Sarah Messex gets the glad hand from head coach Mark Redburn after hitting a homerun. Jacksonville State played Southeast Missouri State in softball action from the OVC Conference Tournament Friday at Choccolocco Park in Oxford. JSU hung on to win the game 4-3.

Courtesy of Trent Penny ~ The Anniston Star

Eastern Kentucky pushed the game to the bottom of the seventh, trailing 11-3. The Colonels managed five runs and had runners on first and third with two outs and slugger Hannah Clark at bat. Clark has 13 homers this season, but Rachel Rook got her to fly out to end the game.

Rook worked the last inning and was one of four Redhawks to pitch, including winner Haley Thogmartin (21-6).

"I give credit to EKU," Redburn said. "They're playing potentially their last game. They're down eight at that point. They fought and battled all the way to the end, but it's a little frustrating that we wanted to put it away, save some pitches, save some arms, and instead we had to do the exact opposite and go through basically all of our arms."

Against EKU, Ellis, Barnouski, Messex and Bandy each finished with two hits, and Barnouski and Messex each drove home three runs.