WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Southern Illinois 5,
SIUE 1
Middle Tennessee 6,
@Belmont 5
Austin Peay 7, @Northern Kentucky 6
@Northern Kentucky 5,
Austin Peay 0
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 5, SIUE 1
CARBONDALE, Ill. - SIUE softball had its 10-game winning streak snapped Wednesday in a 5-1 loss at in-state SIU Carbondale.
The Cougars fell to 27-7 overall while the Salukis improved to 12-14-1.
SIUE held a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning Rebecca Gray tripled off SIU Carbondale starter Katie Bertelsen.
Alex McDavid singled home Gray for the Cougars' RBI.
Bertelsen improved to 10-7 and allowed just three hits. She struck out two. SIUE's Baylee Douglass took her third loss of the season and is now 10-3. She fanned 11 Salukis.
SIU Carbondale grabbed the lead in the fifth inning on a two-run home run by Lacey Newbold. The Salukis extended their lead with a three-run rally that included a two-run double by Sydney Jones.
Montgomery also announced that this weekend's Ohio Valley Conference schedule has changed due to expected rain Friday. SIUE's doubleheader with Jacksonville State will be Saturday starting at 1 p.m. The doubleheader with Tennessee Tech has been moved to Sunday starting at noon.
AUSTIN PEAY 7, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 6; NORTHERN KENTUCKY 5, AUSTIN PEAY 0
HIGHLANDS HEIGHTS, Ky. – Laurel Burroughs’ two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning of Game 1, Wednesday at Frank Grein Field capped a final-inning rally for Austin Peay’s softball team, as they edged Northern Kentucky 7-6 before falling in the second game 5-0.
Austin Peay (7-20) had enter the top of the seventh inning of Game 1 down 5-3, but got a lead-off single from Mel Pavel to get the rally started.
Rikki Arkansas reached on a bunt single, and out later, to put the tying runs on base, but Courtney Brower grounded out for the second out.
That brought up the Lady Govs hottest hitter of the past week-and-a-half in Chandler Groves, who ripped a 1-2 pitch down the left field line for a double – scoring Erica Inagaki and Arkansas to tie the game at 5-5.
Groves finished the game with three hits.
Burroughs would then give the Lady Govs their first led since the bottom of the second inning, when she crushed a 2-2 pitch high over the center field fence for her fifth home run of the season – while giving Austin Peay a 7-5 lead.
Burroughs, Pavel and Inagaki all recorded two hits in the contest.
Northern Kentucky (5-20) would get a leadoff home run from Dani Devlin, to cut the Lady Govs lead to one run, but Allie Blackwood came in to relieve APSU starter Sidney Hooper – getting the final two outs of the inning to pick up her first save of the season and seal away the 7-6 victory.
Hooper got the win, improving to 2-5 on the season, while tying her career high in strikeouts – with five.
Austin Peay had opened the game by getting off to a quick start; with Niya Sparks blasting a two-run shot over the right-center field fence – also scoring Burroughs – to give APSU a 2-0 lead.
But the Norse scored four runs on five hits in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead 4-2.
Brower would score a run for the Lady Govs in the top of the fourth inning, coming in on a wild pitch, but Northern Kentucky answered back with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning to put its lead back out to two runs, 5-3.
The Lady Govs were as fortunate in Game 2, with Norse starter Ashlynn Roberts limiting Austin Peay to just three hits and four total base runners in a 3-0 loss.
Groves would have two of the three hits – singles in the third and six innings – while Sparks accounted for the other hits with a first-inning single.
The only other base runner for the Lady Govs in the second game also came in the first inning with Christiana Gable drawing a walk.
Austin Peay did have one highlight in the nightcap on defense, setting a school single-game record by turning four double plays.
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 6, BELMONT 5
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont softball's rally fell short Wednesday evening at Rose Park as the Bruins were edged, 6-5, by Middle Tennessee (13-17).
Belmont (9-20, 4-5 OVC) returns to action Friday as the Bruins welcome UT Martin to Rose Park for a doubleheader starting at noon. CT.
More to come..