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The 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship gets underway on Wednesday with four games.
The Championship is being held for the 28th time in 2022 and for the sixth year at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama. Tickets for the event are $10 per person per day (ages 12 and up) or $25 for an all-session pass for the entire event. Children 6-12 are $5 per day as are college students with a valid ID. Parking is $5 per day.
The entire event will be streamed on ESPN+.
Game 1: #6 Tennessee Tech 3, #7 Eastern Illinois 1
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Game 2: #8 SIUE 8, #5 Austin Peay 3
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Game 3: #3 UT Martin 4, #6 Tennessee Tech 4
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Game 4: #4 Southeast Missouri 9, #8 SIUE 1
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Note: The losers of Games 1 and 2 are eliminated.
#6 TENNESSEE TECH 3, #7 EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
OXFORD, Ala. - The hard part is out of the way as the Tennessee Tech softball team advanced past the single-elimination contests on Wednesday and will now see at least two more games as the Golden Eagles will play UT Martin this afternoon at 3 p.m.
Tech took a 3-1 victory over Eastern Illinois in the day’s opener. It was a pitchers’ duel for the longest time as the two teams went scoreless through the first three frames.
The Golden Eagles broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth as Sydney Dukes went yard with a solo home run.
The lead held until Eastern Illinois tied the game in the top of the sixth as Morgan Lewis hit a line-drive double past third base, driving in Marama Makea.
In the bottom of the sixth, Dukes was walked on four straight pitches, then Carmen Betts reached on an unsuccessful fielder’s choice. Haeli Bryson laid down a bunt single down the first base line, loading the bases. Sydney Love-Baker hit a grounder to short with EIU’s defense erasing Bryson at second, but the play drove in Dukes.
A fielding error at short off of Penning’s grounder allowed Betts to score and make it a 3-1 game.
EIU threatened in the top of the seventh as Lindy Milkowski walked, Megan Burton reached on an errant throw from the catcher to first, then Maddie Swart loaded the bases on a two-out walk. Alyssa Arden threw two quick strikes to Kendall Fields, who then fouled off the next three throws. Arden caught Fields swinging for the final out.
Arden improved to 14-12 on the season, allowing one run on three hits, walking eight and striking out eight. The Panthers (25-30) stranded 13 batters in the contest.
EIU starter Alexa Rehmeier, who earned both victories in the weekend series, took the loss to fall to 12-10. She allowed three runs – two earned – on four hits, walking four and striking out three.
#8 SIUE 8, #5 AUSTIN PEAY 3
OXFORD, Ala. - Eighth-seeded SIUE softball opened the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a big win, eliminating No. 5 seed Austin Peay 8-3 at Choccolocco Park.
The Cougars now move on to the six-team, double-elimination portion of the tournament with their next game set for 5:30 p.m. against No. 4 seed Southeast Missouri.
After dropping three straight games at Austin Peay to end the regular season this past weekend, SIUE clawed back in the league championship with an 11-hit effort on offense and a standout performance in the circle by Kelsey Ray.
Austin Peay, which ended its season with a 30-23 record, got off to a strong start off SIUE starter Lexi King. The Governors scored three runs in the first inning. Ray entered the game and allowed no runs on four hits over the final 6 2/3 innings.
SIUE's offense came alive in the third inning. Piper Montgomery singled to open the inning. After Kylie Lane pinch ran for her, Micah Arps singled to advance Lane to third base. Arps made it two runners in scoring position with a stolen base as King, a first team All-OVC performer, singled home Lane. After King stole second, Arps would score on a wild pitch. Lauren Yslava singled to left field to score King and make it 3-3.
Yslava, a second team All-OVC outfielder picked up her second RBI of the game in the fifth with a sacrifice fly that drove home Bailley Concatto, also a second team All-OVC honoree.
With a 4-3 lead, SIUE doubled its scoring in the sixth, plating four runs.
It was led off by a home run to right center field near the scoreboard from Aerin Talley, the first round-tripper of her collegiate career.
That bounced Austin Peay starter Jordan Benefiel from the game in favor of Harley Mullins, who surrendered three more runs to the Cougars highlighted by a two-run double by King.
SIUE kept Austin Peay's top three hitters in the lineup to no hits, including an 0-for-4 game for OVC Player of the Year Lexi Osowski.
Concatto, King and Montgomery each had two hits for the Cougars as SIUE outhit Austin Peay 11-6.
#3 UT MARTIN 5, #6 TENNESSEE TECH 4
OXFORD, Ala. - Trialing through the first five frames of the contest, the tide quickly changed for the University of Tennessee at Martin on one swing as Kaitlyn Kelley rocketed a go-ahead three run home run down the left field line in the bottom of the sixth inning to ultimately propel the squad to a 5-4 victory over Tennessee Tech in the opening contest of the Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship.
The Skyhawks (33-17) were held hitless until the fifth inning when they finally broke through with a single up the middle by Maddi Long to loosen the pressure. After the first hit was on the board, UT Martin went on to score a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth inning – including the three-run homer by Kelley – to take a lead which it would not give back.
UT Martin finished the day with six hits with the pair of Paige Clark and Long leading the way with two hits and an RBI each. Kelley’s lone hit packed a punch to lead the team with three RBIs.
Three different pitchers saw action in the circle with Erin Gallagher (12-3) picking up the victory after pitching 6.1 innings while striking out three and allowing three runs. Katie Dreiling pitched a third of an inning while Alexis Groet got the final out of the game to earn her second save of the season.
Tennessee Tech (32-21) was a formidable foe after coming out of a single-elimination contest early in the day on the arm of starter Alyssa Arden. Having thrown a complete game against Eastern Illinois in the morning, she came back and pitched 5.1 strong innings against the Skyhawks before running out of gas.
The Golden Eagles were the first to jump on the board with a two-run shot breaking the scoreless tie in the third inning off the bat off Mackenzie Fitzgerald to make it a 2-0 contest.
The Skyhawks began to chip away in the fifth inning. With Long tallying the team’s first single and moving over to second via a throwing error, she was replaced by pinch runner Anna Blanton. The move paid off on the second pitch of the next at bat as she came around to score on a RBI double down the left field line from Clark to cut the deficit in half.
Then in the sixth inning UT Martin took it a step further as Shyanne Sheffield worked a four-pitch walk before Kallie Pickens singled to short to put a pair of runners on the bags to set up the critical moment in the game. After passing on two straight balls, Kelley turned on the third pitch she saw and belted it over the left field wall to give the Skyhawks their first lead at 4-2. They weren’t done in the inning however as another four-pitch walk – this time to Dreiling – was followed by a sacrifice bunt to move her into scoring position before a double by Long put the Skyhawks up by three.
The Golden Eagles would not go away quietly however as two singles, two walks and a hit by pitch resulted in two runs coming home to score and cutting the margin down to one run. With the bases still loaded with two outs, Groet got Buettner to foul out to Kelley who sprinted and dove into the wall close to the visitor’s dugout to snag the final out and preserve the 5-4 victory.
With the win, the Skyhawks advance in the winner’s bracket of the OVC Softball Championship and will take on Belmont on Thursday, May 12. First pitch from Choccolocco Park is scheduled for 10 a.m.
#4 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 9, #8 SIUE 1
OXFORD, Ala. - #4 Southeast Missouri (28-22) dropped #8 SIU Edwardsville (19-34) into the loser's bracket of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a commanding 9-1 victory Wednesday night at Choccolocco Park.
Third baseman Kynzie Wrigley, hitting out of the cleanup spot, fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle to key SEMO's postseason opening win. Wrigley went 4-for-4 with two runs, a double, two singles, one home run and three RBI during her big night.
SEMO, which was swept in three games by SIUE earlier this year, jumped on the Cougars quickly and never let up.
Ahead, 1-0, after scoring the game's first run in the bottom of the first, SEMO broke the game open with four more in the bottom of the third inning, all with two outs.
The Redhawks had the bases loaded when Tori Bradley walked and Kaylee Anderson scored. On the next play, Abigail Rickermann cleared the bases with a triple to left field pushing SEMO's lead to 5-0. For Rickermann, it was the third triple of her career.
Wrigley stayed hot at the plate and ran her hitting streak to five games to get the Redhawks going early. Coming off a big series vs. Belmont, Wrigley delivered a two-out opposite field double off the left field wall to score Rickermann in the first inning.
SIUE, after going scoreless for three frames, got on the board with a solo home run by Lauryn Yslava in the top of the fourth.
SEMO continued to pounce on the Cougars when Wrigley hit a one-out single to left, advanced to third on a double by Anderson and scored on a groundout by Kat Sackett. Chelsy Pena then stepped in and knocked in Anderson on a two-out single to center making it 7-1 in favor of the Redhawks.
Wrigley came up one more time in the bottom of the fifth inning and belted a two-run home run to end the shortened run-rule ballgame.
Her four hits marked a career-high.
As a team, SEMO outhit SIUE, 11-2. Anderson and freshman Sydney Dennis followed with two hits each and Rickermann added a career-best three RBI out of the leadoff spot in the lineup.
Rachel Rook (18-9), in her seventh career OVC Tournament start, struck out three and allowed only two hits in five innings. Rook did not allow a walk and shutout SIUE in four frames. She broke SEMO's all-time single-season strikeout record with 203 this year.
Mia Haynes (8-18) took the loss. Haynes worked 2.2 innings allowing five runs on five hits, walking five and striking out one along the way.
The Redhawks, who are in their 20th OVC Tournament all-time, advance to face top-seeded Murray State Thursday at 12:30 p.m., CT.