DURANT, Okla. – The second day of the Southeastern Oklahoma State Regional Invitational saw the SWOSU Softball team earn their first victory of the young season before dropping a tightly contested contest in the nightcap.
 
SWOSU (1-3) concludes the tournament on Sunday, facing Central Missouri (9:30 am) and Oklahoma Christian (12:00 pm).
 
SWOSU 9, Eastern New Mexico 3
Box Score (html)
 
The Bulldogs built a 5-0 lead after two innings then added a pair in both the fifth and seventh innings to earn their first victory of the season over Eastern New Mexico. Morgan Swisher scored on an error in the first inning before Bailey King came through with an RBI double that scored Taya Haney to put the Dawgs up 2-0 after one frame. SWOSU then extended that lead to 5-0 with Tori Hawk scoring on a wild pitch while Paige Bowler and Abigail Schade had RBI singles in the inning.
 
SWOSU loaded the bases in the third and left one on in the fourth, but they didn't add to their lead until getting two unearned runs in the fifth. Eastern New Mexico got on the board with an RBI double in the fifth, then added a pair on a two-run single in the sixth but SWOSU got an RBI double from Keanni Barron and an RBI single from Paige Bowler in the top of the seventh to go back on top 9-3.
 
Taya Haney (1-1) got her first victory of the season in the circle by tossing a complete-game and allowing six hits and three earned runs with seven strikeouts and five walks. Seven different players combined on nine hits for SWOSU, with Hawk and Bowler each getting two hits while Hawk scored three runs and Barron plated twice.
 
Emporia State 1, SWOSU 0
Box Score (html)
 
Saturday's night cap turned into a pitcher's duel until Emporia State pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh inning. Both teams had chances to score in the earlier innings, only to be turned away by the opposing defense and pitching.
 
SWOSU stranded two runners in the first and fifth innings and pushed the go-ahead run to third base in the top of the seventh with two outs before a groundout ended the threat. Conversely, Emporia State had a pair of baserunners stranded in the third and sixth innings and the Hornets left the bases loaded in the fifth. ESU led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, then got a SWOSU error and a walk to load the bases with no outs and Hailey Cope singled home the winning run.
 
The Bulldogs were limited to five hits in the game, two of which came from Taya Haney at the designated player position. Taylor Eaves (0-2) pitched a gem for 6.0 innings, allowing five hits with four strikeouts, but the go-ahead run was charged to her and she took the tough-luck loss.