Southeast softball team wins E. Kentucky series
Kelly Barbour
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Sports
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Giana Zimmerman started in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. She shut out the first five innings, but it was in the sixth when she ran into trouble. Zimmerman was having a hard time finding the strike zone and walked ten throughout the game.
"You can't walk that many batters, but she hung in there," said head coach Lana Richmond.
In the sixth inning, Zimmerman walked five, and two of the runners scored on a wild pitch. The bases were loaded in the bottom of the seventh, and Zimmerman made the game-ending strikeout. She made that same inning-ending strikeout six times in the opener and had a total of 13 strikeouts.
The offense was just as strong. Sophomore pitcher Whitney Dupuis and junior catcher Alex Ramirez both knocked balls out of the park in the opener. It was Dupuis' first career homerun and Ramirez's sixth homerun of the season, the team high.
"I was surprised we were able to pull through all those walks," Zimmerman said. "But we're hitting the crap out of the ball. I have confidence in the offense."
The final score of the opener was 4-3, and Zimmerman was credited with the win.
Pitching struggled in the nightcap for the Redhawks, but their defense was able to compensate. Dupuis allowed 14 hits, but her defense didn't commit any errors and helped strand nine runners on base.
The offense really came through in the nightcap. Hits by Ramirez, junior left fielder Jennifer Vasquez, Dupuis, and freshman third baseman Renee Kertz were key to the Redhawks' victory. Southeast lost the lead when the Colonels tied the game with a run in the fourth inning. The lead was regained due to the outstanding offense the Redhawks have capitalized on. Dupuis was credited with the win, with a final score of 8-5.
"Our offense is rolling, and we've been getting five or six hitting consistently," Richmond said. ? ? ?
The entire series was a battle, but Sunday's game was the hardest fought. The Redhawks were behind 3-0 and didn't have a hit until the fifth inning, in which they scored one run.
Junior Elise Sperakos delivered a two-run double in the sixth that tied the contest, then the center-fielder made a magnificent diving catch in the seventh.
"I think it was a little bit of adrenaline there," Sperakos said.
The game was tied until the seventh inning. With the bases loaded, Vasquez hit a walk-off single that scored Dupuis. The final score of the game was 4-3, and Zimmerman was credited with the win.
The series pushed the Redhawks into third place in the OVC, securing them a place in the conference tournament. The 11-game winning streak was the longest since 1998 and is the sixth longest in the program's history.
"We have so much confidence in each other," said Lauren Bradley, the Redhawks' lone senior who was recognized before the first pitch on Sunday's senior day. "That's a big part of our success.
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