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 the win.

Lady Govs sophomore starter Morgan Brewer (5-9) got the first two Redhawk hitters quickly, but pinch hitter Shelby Kuryllo flared a single just over the head of senior second baseman Randal Davenport to keep the inning going. Then Cheyenne Gipson re-entered the game as a pinch runner and got into scoring position by stealing second base.

However, the actual turning point came when Evan Sallis chopped a ball to 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 allow Gipson to reach 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 and permitting Sallis to move 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 misplayed Bolda's single, 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 to score red-shirt sophomore Jessica Ryan - and the other two coming on junior Amy Mills' second home run of the season to give APSU a 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 a pair of runs. 

Another error allowed the Redhawks to double their advantage in the third inning, with Sallis reaching on a miscue that preceded Kertz's'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 the offense the Lady Govs would muster in the nightcap. In fact, SEMO immediately would answer APSU's opening salvo with five of its own in the bottom of the first.

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 p.m., Sunday with a single game.

--AP--