Softball Falls to SIUE in OVC Tournament Opener

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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- The top-seeded SIU Edwardsville softball team erased an early three-run deficit with eight unanswered runs and posted an 8-3 win over eighth-seeded Morehead State in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Wednesday night at Cougar Field.

SIU Edwardsville improves to 40-14 overall and 13-4 at home.  The Cougars, who won the 2014 OVC Tournament and played in an NCAA Regional, have notched victories in six of their last seven home contests.  MSU, which had won nine of its previous 13, slips to 22-23 overall and 7-11 on the road.

SIU Edwardsville advances to the winner's bracket of the double-elimination tournament and will do battle with fourth-seeded Tennessee Tech on Thursday at approximately 4 p.m. ET.  Morehead State falls to the loser's bracket and will square off with fifth-seeded Eastern Kentucky around 6:30 p.m.

Junior right fielder Tressa Watson put Morehead State on the board with a three-run homer in the top of the first, but SIU Edwardsville responded with one run in their first at-bat, two in the fourth, four in the fifth and one in the sixth.  Watson's blast was her fourth this season and the 10th of her career.

Senior shortstop Alex McDavid, junior pitcher Haley Chambers and junior center fielder Jordan LaFave belted homers for SIUE, which began the tournament averaging just 0.57 per contest.  Chambers now has nine long balls on the campaign, while McDavid has six and LaFave has five.

The Cougars tallied a 9-3 advantage in hits.  McDavid and sophomore second baseman Allison Smiley recorded two hits apiece for SIU Edwardsville, while McDavid also posted two runs and three RBI.  Three MSU players had one hit apiece.  The Eagles committed all three errors in the affair.

Chambers, who was recently named the OVC's Pitcher of the Year, improve to 23-6 with the win.  She allowed no runs and just two hits after the first inning.  The left-hander finished with a line of seven innings, three earned runs, three base knocks, two walks, 10 strikeouts and 100 pitches.

Senior right-hander Tanna Seuferer fell to 10-8 with the loss.  She allowed four earned runs, eight hits and one walk in 4.1 innings as the starter.  Sophomore right-hander Megan Tymorek, who faced seven batters out of the Morehead State bullpen, yielded one run, one hit and one free pass.

Thursday and Friday will, once again, feature four games per day.  Every tournament contest is being streamed live and free of charge on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.  For additional information, visit MSUEagles.com, OVCSports.com, Twitter.com/MSUEagles and Facebook.com/MSUEagles.