Southeast softball knocks off Missouri, spawns new life after rough start

Southeast Missouri State's Sydney Dennis bats against Tennessee State on Sunday, March 24, 2024 at the Southeast Softball Complex.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

After a brutal start to Ohio Valley Conference play and a dismal record to begin the season, it felt like just about everybody had written off SEMO softball at Missouri on Wednesday.

Everybody, except for Paytience Holman.

The senior pitcher threw a scoreless seven innings in Columbia, Missouri, to ensure Southeast (13-20, 7-5 OVC) knocked off the No. 11 Missouri Tigers (29-8, 4-5 SEC) in a thrilling 1-0 victory on the road.

Allowing just three hits, one walk and hitting two batters, Holman willed the way to a win against one of the best teams in America with a dominant performance in the circle.

A performance that Missouri had no answer for, especially down the stretch when going hitless for the final four innings of the game.

“She was just, she was changing speeds,” Missouri’s Jenna Laird said of Holman. “She had her hard stuff, and then she had her changeup.

“We weren’t making adjustments on the changeup.”

That changeup of Holman’s kept Missouri out in front at the plate, making the Tigers uncomfortable compared to the speedy SEC pitchers they normally face.

Compared to the 74 mph fastball of Auburn’s Maddie Penta, the only other pitcher to shut Missouri out at home this year, Holman’s changeup was something different.

As weird as it sounds, those slower speeds caught Missouri completely off-guard, and Holman’s scoreless outing needed just a single run to put her Redhawks on top.

Southeast got ahead in the fourth inning with a raucous double by Brittany Affolter, sending Zoe Schulte home from second base to put the Redhawks up.

After clogging the bases three times in the first three innings, it felt like Missouri had the momentum in the game.

But the extra-base hit by Affolter, her first of the year, turned that momentum upside down as the rowdy Redhawks opened up with the first lead of the game and, despite never adding on, held on for the win.

While the offense lacked, the defense never did, holding Missouri to just its fourth shutout of the year in a season in which the Tigers have thrived in the hitting game.

It’s a time for celebration for Southeast, knocking off the top team in the state by every metric you could possibly find, but it’s a frustrating end to a long win streak for Missouri.

“Give all the credit to SEMO,” Tigers coach Larissa Anderson said. “I mean, they came out here to win, and we really didn't match their energy and their competitiveness.”

The Redhawks currently hold just 13 wins on the year, with a 7-5 record in conference play entering the month of April.

It’s been nothing short of a miserable start to the year for Southeast considering the returning roster of talent and high expectations, but there’s new life within the program after Wednesday.

Dropping a series against Southern Indiana on the road less than a week ago, the Redhawks defied all expectations for their midweek matchup.

Against Missouri’s top two pitchers, Southeast pulled off the unthinkable and took a game off the Missouri Tigers, just their third non-conference loss of the entire season.

Southeast joins San Diego State and Baylor along with Auburn, Tennessee and LSU in-conference, all of which have been ranked, as a team that has emerged victorious against Missouri this year.

Beginning a home series against Tennessee Tech beginning on Saturday, Southeast has a chance to breathe a new life into its conference schedule this weekend.

With any luck, Wednesday’s result might have been the lifeline that the Redhawks have been searching for in this young 2024 season.