SUNDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 4, @Tennessee State 0
UT Martin 8, @Belmont 2
Murray State 7, @Jacksonville State 6
Murray State 6, @Jacksonville State 5
UT Martin 11, @Belmont 5
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4, TENNESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee State softball sat through a rain delay for close to three hours before dropping an Ohio Valley Conference game against Southeast Missouri State at Tiger Field on Sunday afternoon. SEMO scored three runs in their first at bat after the delay as they went on to a 4-0 victory. TSU falls to 10-21, 1-4 in the OVC. The Redhawks improve to 10-15, 3-2 in conference.
After the delay, Shea Morris retired the first two batters in the top of the second inning before the Redhawks strung three hits in a row. With a runner on second, Brittany Smith popped a ball over the head of Shea Morris that found its way to the ground just a couple feet behind the pitching circle. The potential third out turned into a rally for SEMO as Chelsea Smith delivered a 2-2 pitch into right center for a triple and the first two runs of the game.
SEMO would add two more unearned runs, one in the second and another in the fifth to create the margin of victory. Morris completed the game with seven strikeouts while giving up seven hits. She is now 7-10 on the year.
The Tigers could only manage three hits off Taylor Cowan (6-8) on the day. Kacie Daugherty recorded a two-out single in the second inning, while Kiarra Freeman picked up a two single in the third.
Jennifer Givens tried to get the Tigers going on two occasions. She earned a walk in the first inning and then stole her 13th base on the season, but was stranded at third. In the sixth, Givens led off the inning with a single, but was forced out at second two batters later as the Tigers could not score for the second consecutive game.
MURRAY STATE 7, JACKSONVILLE STATE 6; MURRAY STATE 6, JACKSONVILLE STATE 5
JACKSOVNILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State softball team dug holes it couldn't get out of on Sunday afternoon, when the Gamecocks dropped a pair of one-run Ohio Valley Conference games to Murray State at University Field.
After trailing by five runs in each game to the Racers (11-14, 5-1 OVC), the Gamecocks (17-14, 4-3 OVC) battled back before dropping the first game 7-6 and the final one 6-5.
Freshman Ella Denes went 4-for-6 on the day, while senior Krystal Ruth drove in a pair of runs in her 4-for-8 day. Junior Amanda Martinez and sophomore Sara Borders also hit .500 in the twinbill, going 3-for-6 and 2-for-4, respectively. Borders homered and drove in two runs.
In the opener, junior Tiffany Harbin suffered the loss but struck out 10 batters to make a mark in the JSU record book. Her career total increased to 600, making her just the second player in school history to hit the 600-strikeout mark. Ann Shelton set the record of 635 in the 1995-96 seasons.
In the second game of the day, junior Savanna Hennings came in to pitch in the third with the Gamecocks trailing 5-0. Against a Murray State offense that had put scored a combined 12 runs on 17 hits in the first nine innings of the day, the Springville, Ala., native held the Racers to an unearned run on just one hit in the final five innings.
In the opener, the Racers built a lead that proved just enough to dodge a Gamecock rally. Both teams got two in the first, JSU's on a passed ball that allowed Krystal Ruth to score and the second on an RBI single from senior Kelci Johnston. The inning answered a two-run Alexa Becker homer in the top of the first and tied the score at 2-2, where it would remain until the fifth.
The Racers grabbed a pair in that fifth to take a 4-2 lead and then added three in a sixth inning that started with a Morgan Harrell solo homer and ended with a two—run single from Becker that put Murray in front 7-2.
The Gamecocks mounted a rally in the home half of the sixth, scoring four runs to cut their deficit to 7-6. Freshman Ella Denes singled in the first run and Ruth plated the second on a double in the left field gap. Jessica Guy then hit a shallow fly ball to left and, with the runners not trying to advance, left fielder Sarah Anderson launched a throw that rattled off of the backstop and allowed two runs to score.
MSU turned to CheyAnne Gaskey to pitch the seventh, and she retired JSU in order to earn her first save of the season. Shelby Kosmecki (5-9) earned the win after allowing six runs, four earned, on 10 hits in six innings of work.
Harbin suffered the loss for JSU, surrendering seven runs on 14 hits in a complete-game. She did record the 10 strikeouts and walked one batter.
Murray did the majority of its damage at the top of the order, with the Racers' top three hitters going a combined 9-for-11. Becker drove in five runs in her 4-for-4 game.
Ruth and junior Kalee Tabor each went 2-for-4 to lead the Gamecocks at the plate.
In the second game of the day. Murray raced to a 5-0 lead by scoring two in the first and three more in the second inning. JSU had trouble getting things going until a 29-minute rain delay seemed to help jump start the Gamecock offense.
The game resumed with Amanda Martinez standing at first with no outs and Denes, Ruth and Guy rattled off three-straight singles to score one, and then a Sara Borders sac fly and a Tabor single plated runs and cut the Racers' lead to 5-3.
Murray used two JSU errors in the fourth to get one run back, but singles from Savannah Sloan and Martinez set up a Ruth grounder that scored Sloan and made it a two-run game again.
Borders cut into the lead again in the fifth, thanks to an opposite-field home run to lead off the inning that made it a 6-5 game.
The Gamecocks had one last shot in the seventh and got a leadoff double from Johnston to put the tying run in scoring position, but a fly out to left and two ground outs ended the game.
Gaskey (6-5) threw all seven innings for the Racers to earn the win and allowed five runs on 11 hits in the process. She did strike out five JSU batters and walked two. Freshman Casey Akenberger (2-6) suffered the loss, surrendering five runs, four earned, on three hits and four walks in two innings before making way for Hennings in the third.
UT MARTIN 8, BELMONT 2; UT MARTIN 11, BELMONT 5
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team continued their hot hitting pace, registering 19 runs in two games to sweep Ohio Valley Conference East division rival Belmont by scores of 8-2 and 11-5 in the twinbill.
Game One: UT Martin 8, Belmont 2
In a game which saw over a two hour weather delay, the Skyhawks jumped on the Bruins early and often on their way to a series opening win over host Belmont.
UT Martin got on the board first in game one of the series as Mikala Torrence led off the game with a single into left field which was followed by a single by Kayla Wade into right. Senior Leah Taylor then stepped to plate just one day after suffering a finger injury, depositing a home run over the center field wall plating Torrence and Wade. Two batters later, sophomore Lauren Smith would not be outdone as the young power hitter blasted her sixth home run of the season into deep center, giving the Skyhawks the early 4-0 advantage.
Belmont responded in the bottom of the fourth when Kim Johnson tallied a two RBI double, plating Heather Turner and Ashley Hammer for the Bruins.
The Skyhawks added three insurance runs in the top of the fifth as senior Becca Williams made Taylor Moon pay for two earlier walks, scoring Taylor and Smith for the second time in the ballgame.
Taylor, a Skyhawk All-American, tallied her fourth RBI of the game in the top of the sixth as the senior singled to right scoring Wade to end the scoring output for either team.
Sophomore Casey Vincent (8-4, 2.08 ERA) posted yet another solid effort in the circle as the lefty posted her 10th complete game of the season while allowing just one earned run in seven innings of work. Vincent showed pin-point control as she tallied three strikeouts while issuing no walks on the afternoon.
Game Two: UT Martin 11, Belmont 5
In game two of the doubleheader UT Martin and Belmont exchanged leads four times in the contest before the Skyhawks tallied the knockout blow in the top of the sixth inning as UTM exploded for seven runs in the inning.
The Skyhawks got the scoring started in the top of the second inning as Jessie Britt motored for an RBI triple following a single by Smith.
Belmont took possession of the lead in the bottom of the fourth as Amanda Criscione reached on a single to left before Hammer nailed a home run over the right field fence, giving the Bruins their first lead of the series. BU added a well-placed single to score the baserunner from second to take the 3-1 advantage.
The Skyhawks saw the Bruins three runs and raised them four as UTM pushed seven runs across the plate in the top of the sixth inning. BU began the inning by issuing two walks to Wade and Taylor. Sophomore Kenzi Tate responded by driving an RBI single into right field which scored the speedy tandem of Wade and Taylor from third and second, respectively. Followed by a single and sacrifice fly by Williams, pinch runner Rachel Scrum scored to regain the 4-3 lead with two outs.
UTM was not done in the inning as Britt singled to center before classmate Deven Wilson doubled to bring in Britt. Rising sophomore Sam McClure was hit by a pitch and Torrence walked, setting up a bases loaded situation for Wade. Wade capitalized on the situation with an RBI single into left field as McClure and Torrence crossed home, bring the score to 8-3.
The Bruins threatened in the bottom of the inning as Tate plunked the lead-off hitter before consecutive singles to the left side and an RBI double trimmed the Skyhawk lead to 8-5. Vincent soon came in to relieve Tate with two out and runners on second and third. Vincent quickly extinguished the threat as the lefty force the BU hitter to ground out to end the inning.
The Skyhawks removed any doubt in the final outcome in the top of the seventh as Williams scored Tate on an RBI single to the left side. Jessie Britt picked up the RBI on a fielder’s choice to score Smith before Williams posted the final run of the game off a sacrifice fly from Wilson.
Tate (11-1, 2.66 ERA) picked up her career-best 11th win of the season in 5.2 innings of work. Tate struck out six, allowed three walks and surrendered five earned runs. Vincent earned her first save on the year in 1.1 perfect innings of relief, striking out one.