FRIDAY'S SCORES
UT Martin 7, Middle Tennessee 2
Tennessee Tech 8, Northern Kentucky 0 (5)
Tennessee Tech 7, Niagara 4
Eastern Kentucky 10, Miami (Ohio) 2
SIUE 4, Kansas City 2
Saint Louis 9,
Murray State 6
Chattanooga 4,
Eastern Kentucky 2
UT Martin 5, Mississippi Valley State 1
Southeast Missouri 10, Detroit 7 (10)
TENNESSEE TECH 8, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 0; TENNESSEE TECH 7, NIAGARA 4
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Sophomore Taylor Ketchum threw her second one-hitter of the young season to help the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles score an 8-0, five-inning win over Northern Kentucky Friday morning at the Frost Classic hosted by UT Chattanooga.
Tech also downed Niagara, 7-4, in its second contest of the day, as Claudia Harke (2-2) notched her second win of the season and Ketchum earned her first save of the year.
With the wins, the Golden Eagles improved to 6-4.
In her fifth outing of the season, Ketchum (4-1) limited NKU to just one hit over five innings, while striking out seven. After giving up a bunt single on the first pitch of the second inning and a walk in the third, Ketchum retired six of the final seven batters she faced.
Senior center fielder Melody Christian opened the scoring by ripping a two-run single up the middle in the bottom of the second for a 2-0 lead. Christian finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, as she added another RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
Junior catcher Kendall Hooper also delivered a two-run single for Tech with a walk-off single up the middle in the fifth. Sophomore Hannah Eldridge and freshman Cortney Fry each went 2-for-2 with Fry adding an RBI, while Brittney Spalding had Tech's only extra base hit, a double, and scored one run.
Eldridge had a big second game for the Purple and Gold. The shortstop went 2-for-3 against Niagara and scored two runs. Five other Golden Eagles scored, with three runs coming in the bottom of the sixth.
Niagara went on the scoreboard first with a single run in the top of the first inning, and scored two runs in the third off sophomore starter Erica Tuck. Harke came in and held Niagara to one more run, working into the seventh, while the Golden Eagle bats turned six hits into seven runs in the fourth and sixth innings.
Holding a 7-3 lead, the Golden Eagles ran into trouble in the top of the seventh as the Purple Eagles opened the frame with two singles, bringing the tying run to the plate. Ketchum took the circle and got the save, yielding a walk to load the bases before setting down the next three batters, including a clutch strikeout.
Tech returns to the field Saturday at the Frost Classic. The Golden Eagles will take on Miami (Ohio) at 10 a.m. CT and Missouri State at 2:30 p.m. CT.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 10, MIAMI (OHIO) 2; CHATTANOOGA 4, EASTERN KENTUCKY 3
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University softball team opened action at the 2013 Frost Classic Friday with a 10-2 win over Miami (Ohio) and a 4-3 loss to host Chattanooga. The Colonels now stand at 4-2 overall.
Eastern scored a season-high 10 runs in Friday’s first game against Miami (Ohio) (1-5). The Colonels scored six runs in the third to break open the game. Senior Raquel Howes and sophomore Katie Tackett combined to go 4-for-7 (.571) at the plate while piling up five RBIs. Tackett blasted her first home run of the season to lead off the second inning.
In the decisive six-run third inning, six EKU players notched a hit including Howes with the go-ahead RBI double. Sophomore Lauren Mitchell, Tackett, freshman Sarah Fobbs and senior Melissa Costa added RBI singles later in the frame to make the score 7-1.
Howes ended the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth.
Freshman Haley Flynn pitched the first three innings, did not allow a hit and gave up just one run on the way to earning her first collegiate victory.
Later in the day, Chattanooga broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a two-out rally. Katie Dutton walked to put runners at first and second. Alyssa Taylor followed with a single to center field to score the winning run.
A Howes solo home run in the third inning opened the scoring. The Mocs (5-5) then took a 3-1 lead in the fourth keyed by Kasey Tydingco’s two-run double.
Eastern rallied in the sixth behind RBI singles from Mitchell and redshirt freshman Haley Schenasi.
Sophomore Leanna Pittsenbarger (2-1) was assigned the loss due to giving up one run and two hits in 1.2 innings of relief.
The Colonels continue action in the Frost Classic tomorrow with games against Toledo (1:15 p.m.) and Northern Kentucky (3:30 p.m.)
SIUE 4, KANSAS CITY 2
MEMPHIS, Tenn.- SIUE softball won its first game at the Blues City Classic Friday by defeating UMKC 4-2.
The win improves SIUE's record to 5-3 overall. SIUE has three more games scheduled for the tournament, hosted by Memphis. SIUE faces Wright State at 11 a.m. and Detroit at 1 p.m. Saturday. SIUE's tournament finale is an 11 a.m. meeting Sunday against Mississippi State.
SIUE hurler Haley Chambers struck out seven and did not walk any UMKC batters to improve her season record to 3-1. Chambers allowed six hits.
Down 2-0, SIUE rallied for four runs in the fourth inning against the Kangaroos. Montgomery said that after a slow start the team gained momentum in the fourth.
Rachel Coonrod got the Cougars started in the fourth with a double to the gap in left center. After Kelsey Hansen was inserted as a pinch runner, CC Hutchinson drew a walk and Chambers came into the game to run for her. An infield ground by Brittany Toney out moved the runners over to second and third. Taylor Tooley then singled to left which drove home Hansen.
The bases were loaded after Jordan LaFave drew a walk off Kansas City pitcher Cinda Ramos.
That set up Chelsea Yankolovich for a single up the middle. Chambers and Tooley scored on the hit while Lafave crossed the plate due to an error on center fielder Brooke Parker.
UMKC, 3-7, scored both of its runs in the first inning. Liz Broyles tripled with one out and scored on an infield grounder. Katie Kelley added a solo home run for the Roos. UMKC had just three baserunners after the first inning.
SAINT LOUIS 9, MURRAY STATE 6
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Murray State softball team gave up seven runs in the top of the sixth inning of Friday’s Arkansas Invitational opener in Fayetteville to fall to Saint Louis, 9-6.
The Billikens (3-2) struck first in the game when Lindsay Friedman hit a two RBI long ball in the top of the third to give Saint Louis an early 2-0 advantage. However, the Racers would answer in the top of the fifth to pull ahead 4-2.
The big inning got kicked off by Christian Cox who smacked a two RBI single to center field to tie the game at two. Two batters later the Racers (1-4) took the lead on an RBI single to left field that scored Cox. MSU added to its lead in the next at bat when Casey Castile reached base on a fielder’s choice, allowing pinch runner Brianne Sanders to score.
The next inning, however, would not be so kind to Murray State, as Saint Louis scored seven runs off of four hits to take a 9-4 lead. The barrage began when Laura Bohning hit a two-out home run that allowed three Billikens to cross the plate. Saint Louis would go on to add two more runs on two RBI double and capped the scoring with two runs off of walks.
With neither team scoring in the bottom of the sixth nor the top of the seventh, the Racers had just three outs to stage a rally of their own. Alexa Becker got things started for MSU with a single to center field and was brought home on the very next play by a double from Castile to cut the deficit to four.
After an error allowed Castile to move to second, she would score a run of her own on a ground out from Shelbey Miller to make the score 9-6. However, that would be as close as the Racers would get as Saint Louis pitcher Brianna Lore fanned the last batter of the game for the win.
Lane Knieb (2-2) earned the win in the game by allowing no runs off of one hit over 1.2 innings, while Murray State’s Shelby Kosmecki (1-3) took the loss after allowing seven runs on six hits with nine strikeouts.
Becker led the Racers on the day by going 2-for-3 with a run and a walk, while Cox went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two walks.
The Racers will continue play in the Arkansas Invitational tomorrow when they play a pair of games at Bogle Park. MSU will take on host Arkansas at 12:30 p.m., followed by Louisiana-Monroe at 3 p.m.
UT MARTIN 7, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 2; UT MARTIN 5, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 1
OXFORD, Miss. - UT Martin earned a pair of wins on the opening day of the Red and Blue Classic. The Skyhawks defeated Middle Tennessee, 5-2, and beat Mississippi Valley State, 5-1.
Senior Leah Taylor went 4-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and sophomore Lauren “G” Smith smacked a two-run home run to center field to in the win over MTSU.
The Skyhawks scored one run in the second inning, two more in each of the third and fourth innings and two in the top of the seventh inning. Taylor and freshman Deven Wilson were the only Skyhawks with multiple hits. However, junior Kayla Wade had a triple and an RBI.
The Skyhawks had 10 hits in the game.
Sophomore Casey Vincent picked up the win in the circle for the Skyhawks. She pitched seven innings and gave up three hits and two earned runs. She allowed one walk, while striking out five batters in the game.
Vincent is now 2-2 on the year and leads the team with 24 strikeouts.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 10, DETROIT 7
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. - Southeast Missouri (3-3) earned a 10-inning duel Friday night over Detroit (1-6), 10-7. Southeast out-hit Detroit 17-10.
Kaitlin Zink led-off the game with a double to left field. Taylor Cowan got her first hit of the season when the left fielder got turned around on a fly ball that dropped, allowing Zink to score and put Southeast up 1-0 in the first.
Detroit was quick to answer in the bottom of the inning when Alyssa Schaub hit a first-pitch lead-off home run to center field to tie the game at 1-1.
Detroit broke the tie in the fourth with a double to left-center off the bat of Vanessa Garcia to put the Titans up 1-2.
The Redhawks opened up a big lead in the sixth that started with a Brittany Smith lead-off double, her second of the game. With runners on first and second, Zink hit a high double to right to plate B. Smith and tie the game at 2-2. L. Patterson stepped into the box with runners on second and third and blasted Southeast's first home run of the season over the right-center field wall and put Southeast up 5-2 on Detroit.
Detroit added a run in their half of the sixth to narrow the deficit to 5-3.
With bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Sam Henderson hit a double to tie the game and send the game into extra innings.
With the international tie-breaker rule in effect, the game was extended to the 10th inning. With two runners on and one out, Cowan hit a home run to give Southeast a 10-7 lead. The Redhawks shut down the Titans in the bottom of the 10th to earn the extra-inning victory.
Cowan went 4-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored. L. Patterson went 1-for-5 with three RBI and scored twice. Zink recorded a 2-for-5 night with an RBI and scored three times while Simone Patterson went 2-for-3 with an RBI tonight.
L. Patterson (1-0) earned the the win for the Redhawks while Cowan, earned her first save this season. Cowan, who started the game, pitched 4.1 innings, giving up two runs, striking out four, walking one. Hannah Clemons pitched 3.0 innings giving up three runs, striking out four, walking two. L. Patterson worked 2.2 innings, giving up two runs, striking out four, walking one.
Southeast will return to Blues City Classic action Saturday at 4 p.m. when they take on Samford followed by Nicholls State at 6:30 p.m.