PHOTO GALLERY
THURSDAY'S SCORES
#6 Eastern Illinois 3, #7 UT Martin 2
#3 Jacksonville State 3, #2 Austin Peay 0
#1 Eastern Kentucky 4, #5 SIUE 2
#8 Morehead State 4, #4 Southeast Missouri 1
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, UT MARTIN 2
OXFORD, Ala. - Eastern Illinois softball beat UT Martin 3-2 Thursday morning at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala. in game five of the OVC Tournament. Jessica Wireman pitched a complete game for EIU retiring eight Skyhawks and only walking one batter.
The Panthers improve to 35-19 overall and the Skyhawks finish their season 25-32 overall.
EIU jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Mady Poulter and Haley Mitchell both singled to the right side of the field to record two of the Panthers seven total hits. EIU's third run of the game would come in the bottom of the third inning. Taylor Monahan and Kayla Bear advanced to third and second base following a sacrafice bunt from Mady Poulter. The Skyhawks walked the next two EIU batters. Mitchell reached on an intentional walk to fill the bases, and Mia Davis would tally an RBI as Monahan advanced home on Davis' walk.
UTM recorded their first two hits of the game in the fifth inning and got on the board with one run. Alli Fulcher led off for the Skyhawks with a single to center field. Fulcher would score for UTM later in the inning on Alicia Hansen's single through the left side of the field. UTM had another two hit and one run inning in the sixth. Lauren Myers scored the Skyhawks final run on a wild pitch, but the Panthers held on to the 3-2 win.
Poulter (2-2), Mitchell (2-2), and Jennifer Ames (1-1) finished perfect at the plate for the Panthers, while Davis finished with a game-leading two RBI.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, AUSTIN PEAY 0
OXFORD, Ala. - Faith Sims tossed a two-hit shutout to lift the Jacksonville State softball team to a 3-0 win over Austin Peay on Thursday in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Choccolocco Park.
Sims held the second-seeded Governors to two singles in her 20th complete game and fourth shutout of the season. The third-seeded Gamecocks (31-23) advance to the winner's bracket final on Friday at 3 p.m. against either No. 1 Eastern Kentucky or No. 5 SIUE.
JSU got four of its five hits in the game in the first two innings and made them count. The Governors (37-16) started their No. 2 starter Kelly Mardones but was forced to turn to OVC Pitcher of the Year Morgan Rackel in the second inning after the Gamecocks chased the starter from the circle after giving up three runs.
Taylor Beashears had two of JSU's five hits, including a first-inning homer that set the tone for the rest of the game. The two-out solo homer from the junior transfer from Wallace State Community College dropped just over the wall down the left field line. Her team-high eighth long ball of the season put JSU up 1-0.
They got two more on back-to-back two-out singles from a pair of seniors in the second. Emily Woodruff ripped a 3-2 pitch back up the middle to score Leila Chambers and then Caitlyn Sapp snuck one through the left side to plate Jada Terry from second and give JSU a 3-0 advantage.
Those three runs would be all Sims would need. She struck out seven Austin Peay batters and walked three to improve to 20-9 on the season. It was her third appearance against the Governors this season after she earned a win and a save in a doubleheader sweep in Clarksville on April 14.
Mardones (13-5) suffered the loss after allowing all three runs on three hits and a walk while recording just five outs. Rackel gave up just two hits and struck out three in her 5 and 1/3 innings of relief work.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 4, SIUE 2
OXFORD, Ala. - The Eastern Kentucky University softball team took down Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 4-2, Thursday afternoon at Choccolocco Park in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Paige Murphy doubled to collect the first hit of the game and was moved over on a ground out. Emily Corbitt then collected a two-bagger of her own off of a payoff pitch to plate Murphy and put the Colonels on the board first, 1-0.
Both teams stayed silent until the fifth inning.
Brooke Harrison and Mollie Paulick each legged out infield singles to start the rally inning. Murphy was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Corbitt was issued a walk and collected a RBI and EKU went up two, 2-0.
Johnkyria Alston roped a single over the head of the shortstop to bring home two as the Colonels put SIUE in a 4-0 hole.
Bailley Concatto singled to open the bottom frame followed by a Zoe Schafer two-run shot to center field to cut into the lead, 4-2.
The Cougars were unable to push anyone else across, as Eastern took its second victory in as many days.
Paulick tossed her 11th complete game of the season.
Murphy hit 1.000 after going one-for-one at the dish and being clunked by three pitches.
EKU improves to 39-16 with the victory and SIUE falls to 25-20.
MOREHEAD STATE 4, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
OXFORD, Ala. - The eighth-seeded Morehead State Softball team knocked off fourth-seeded Southeast Missouri 4-1 to avoid elimination and advance in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament on Thursday evening at Choccolocco Park.
The win improved the Eagles to 28-22 overall for the season, while SEMO season ends with a mark of 33-20. The 28 victories are the most for the program since 2009.
After four scoreless innings, the Eagles broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth by taking advantage of three Redhawks' errors. Senior Kylie Holton drove home junior Allison Rager after the SEMO third baseman misplayed a ground ball by Holton, and then senior Taylor Wheeler produced another run in the next at-bat scoring junior Aubrey Bennett, who got on via error, from third on a groundout RBI to make it 2-0.
Morehead State extended its lead to 4-0 the very next inning when Rager blasted a two-run homer over the left-field fence, scoring herself and pinch runner Abigail Rhodes, who came on after senior Robyn Leighton singled with one out.
The Redhawks managed to produce one run in the game's final frame and had the tying run at the plate with two outs but senior ace Chelsea McManaway managed to get a fly out to center field to end the game.
McManaway (17-11), who was named First-Team All-OVC, gave up just four hits while striking out nine and conceding four walks in the complete-game victory. The Redhawk's Haley Thogmartin (12-7) was charged with the loss after giving up three hits and three runs, one earned, and striking out two in her start. Freshman Rachel Rook also saw action, throwing two-thirds of an inning and also giving up the home run to Rager.