DURANT, Okla. — The Newman softball team got the offense clicking, but a pair of late comebacks gave Southeastern Oklahoma State a pair of wins in a nonconference doubleheader Thursday afternoon.
The Jets (2-13) put forth their best single day of offense of the season, pumping out 21 hits and nine runs, taking multi-run leads in both games, but the Savage Storm (6-4), charged back to grab a tight 4-3 win in the opener before opening up late in a 14-6 win in the nightcap.
Three hits, including a bases-loaded single by Lacey Colvin, helped plate two runs in the first inning to build a lead. With Jensen Cromer cruising through the first three-plus innings, the Storm got back in it with one swing, knocking a two-out, two-run homer in the fourth.
Erin Jankiewicz responded immediately for Newman, slapping a home run to lead off the top of the fifth, but with two outs in the bottom of the frame, Southeastern managed to push across two runs to take its first lead of the game. Jankiewicz added a double in the top of the seventh, but was stranded.
After going down 1-0 in the first inning of the day's second game, the Jets came through with the biggest offensive inning of the season in the third. Powered by a solo home run from Hayden Francis and a two-run bomb by Ariole O'Neal, Newman pushed across five runs to take a big lead.
The hosts scored twice in the fourth to close the gap to 5-3, and after Newman scored an insurance run in the top of the sixth, the Storm bats hit a new gear, putting up 11 runs to close the contest.
Jankiewicz kept up her recent hot streak at the plate, cracking five hits, a double, a home run and three RBIs for the Jets. Taylor Mannis added four hits, and Colvin three.
Newman will take the upcoming weekend off, with its next action coming in its home opener February 25 against Southwest Baptist.