SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 2, Tennessee State 1
@Morehead State 1, Belmont 0
Eastern Illinois 4, @UT Martin 2
SIUE 5, @Austin Peay 3
@Murray State 2, Southeast Missouri 1
@Tennessee Tech 7, Jacksonville State 6
EASTERN KENTUCKY 2, TENNESSEE STATE 1
RICHMOND, Ky. - Freshman Johnkyria Alston came through with an RBI single to center field in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Eastern Kentucky University softball team to a 2-1 win over visiting Tennessee State Sunday afternoon.
The win completed a three-game sweep for the Colonels (18-22, 8-6 OVC).
Sunday’s finale remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning when senior Katie Tackett tallied a two-out, run-scoring single through the middle of the infield.
It appeared the 1-0 lead was going to hold for Eastern as senior pitcher Leanna Pittsenbarger made it through the first six innings scattering five singles and striking out nine Tigers (9-28, 2-14).
However, TSU’s Lindsey Burgess equaled the game with a solo home run in the top of the seventh, her seventh of the season and second of the series.
In the bottom of the eighth, senior Shannon McQueen reached base with one out after getting hit by a pitch. McQueen quickly moved to second on her fourth stolen base of the season. After fouling off four pitches with two outs, Alston ended the game with a sharp single to center field. McQueen easily scored on the play allowing the Colonels to notch their second extra-inning win in 2015.
Junior pitcher Hayley Flynn (3-5) picked up the win thanks to tossing the final 1.2 innings. Tennessee State’s Taylor Green (5-12) pitched an effective game as she went the distance, allowing two runs on five hits.
MOREHEAD STATE 1, BELMONT 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Freshman right-hander Mackenzie Grossmann fired her first collegiate shutout to propel the Morehead State softball team to a 1-0 victory and three-game weekend sweep of Ohio Valley Conference opponent Belmont on Sunday afternoon at University Field.
The Eagles improve to 16-18 overall, 7-7 in league play and 7-4 at home. The Bruins, who have dropped five straight contests, fall to 9-27 overall, 4-12 in conference action and 2-10 on the road. MSU also closes out the three-game weekend set with a 9-3 scoring advantage.
Grossmann, who has won six of her last eight decisions, fired 95 pitches and went the distance for the 11th time in 2015. She improved to 10-6 by allowing just two walks and five hits while striking out five. The hurler has now tied the most wins by a Morehead State freshman since 2011.
MSU plated the contest's only run in the third inning. Freshman second baseman Hannah Murphy led off with a single, advanced on a sacrifice bunt by junior left fielder Lizzy Margagliotti, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by junior first baseman Dana Hutchins.
Belmont's best chance to score came in the seventh inning. Freshman third baseman Ally Bessette smacked the game's only extra-base hit -- a triple down the right-field line -- but was tagged out at the plate when the next batter was unsuccessful in executing a suicide squeeze.
Seven Eagles registered one hit apiece. Sophomore right fielder Amy Zeronian paced the Bruins by going 2-for-3. Junior right-hander Carolyn Snodgress fell to 4-7 with the defeat. She allowed no walks, just one run and scattered seven hits while fanning three in six innings.
SIUE 4, AUSTIN PEAY 3
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - SIUE softball capped off a three-game series at Austin Peay Sunday with a 5-3 victory at Cheryl Holt Field.
Haley Chambers blasted a three-run homer and the Cougars banged out nine hits to ran their overall record to 32-9. SIUE improved to 14-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
SIUE right-hander Baylee Douglass earned her 13th victory of the season. She allowed three hits and struck out nine Lady Govs.
Austin Peay, 8-26 overall and 4-11 in the OVC, opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning on a solo home run by Laurel Burroughs, her sixth of the year.
Chambers put the Cougars ahead in the third inning. After Haley Adrian and Jordan LaFave led off with back-to-back singles, Chambers sent an 0-1 pitch from Natalie Alaya over the right field fence.
Chambers agreed with her coach's assessment.
It was Chambers' seventh home run of the season. The junior left-hander had just one in her two previous seasons
SIUE added two single-run tallies that proved to be helpful in the end. Tess Eby singled home Rachel Keller, who led off the sixth inning by reaching on an infield error.
In the seventh inning, Maria Prete drew a walk and was pinch run for by Rebecca Gray, who re-entered the game. Allison Smiley then sent a ball to the gap in right center for a double. That drove home Gray.
Austin Peay added two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Douglass closed out the inning with a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 4, UT MARTIN 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois softball earned the regular-season series over Ohio Valley Conference rival UT Martin on Sunday (April 12), as the Panthers hit past the Skyhawks in a 4-2 rubber match win.
The win ups the EIU record to 14-21 and 9-8 in league play. The Skyhawks, meanwhile, drop to 21-18 and 9-7, respectively.
Panthers will return to action this coming mid-week with a 3 p.m. single-game at regional foe Butler on Wednesday (April 15), before hosting Tennessee State and Belmont in consecutive weekend twinbills.
After earning her first collegiate no-hitter in a Panther uniform in yesterday's 3-0 win over the Skyhawks, freshman pitcher Jessica Wireman followed with another complete game victory today to move to 7-10 overall.
She limited UTM to just two hits and zero runs through the first six innings of work, before the host squad finally threatened a bit in bottom of the seventh with a pair of runs off three hits, including a solo homer. She fanned three Skyhawk batters and tallied five walks, while also stranding eight UTM base runners on the day.
Offensively, the Panthers were led by senior Hannah Cole's 3-for-4 day at the plate, which included a double, and a solo home run.
Junior April Markowski added her own bomb off a 2-for-4 day, with classmate Jennette Isaac also going 2-for-4.
Freshman Andrea Roberts got things going for EIU in the top of second inning, nailing an RBI single to left center to score Cole. Cole then crushed her solo shot over the left center field wall in the fourth frame.
Markowski followed with consecutive RBI shots for the ultimate game winners for Eastern, as she first tallied a single to right field to plate Wireman in the fifth, and then nailed her own solo home run, again over the left field fence, in the top of the seventh inning.
The host squad would finally get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a one-out home run and RBI single.
For the three-game series, Cole led all Panthers with an impressive 8-for-11 (.727) batting average, and included a double, a home run, 12 total bases, a stolen base, and zero strikeouts. Haylee Beck, Markowski and O'Dell each registered three RBIs over the weekend.
Wireman's two victories included eight strikeouts off 17-innings of work, a 1.65 ERA, and limiting the UTM bats to a low .145 average.
MURRAY STATE 2, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
MURRAY, Ky. - A third consecutive walk-off, and second in a row by Alexa Becker, helped lift the Murray State softball team to a three-game sweep of Southeast Missouri via a 2-1 win over the Redhawks on Sunday afternoon at Racer Field in Murray.
Murray State (25-14, 12-5 OVC) was able to produce five hits in the first six innings of Sunday’s finale, but were unable to push any of those across the plate. The Racers had three runners in scoring position during that span, including two runners at third, but the closest they were able to get to a run was Mo Ramsey being thrown out at home in the first on a botched steal attempt.
While Murray State had trouble producing runs, Southeast Missouri (10-21, 5-10 OVC) could not produce a hit off of MSU pitcher Haven Campbell in the first six innings. Campbell carried her no-hit bid all the way to the seventh, where it was broken up in heart wrenching fashion on a leadoff home run by Lindsey Patterson.
After Campbell retired the next better and the Racers allowed a base runner with an error, CheyAnne Gaskey came in to try and finish off the Redhawks and give her team a chance at the win. Gaskey, who advanced to 13-7 on the year with win, did exactly that and struck out the final two batters to send her team back to the plate.
Shelbey Miller led off the inning with single down the first base line and would go on to steal second in the next at bat. With one out, Kaylyn Zierke got on board on a walk and was followed by Taylor Odom, who reached on an infield single. Becker then closed the door on the Redhawks for good with a double to the left center wall that allowed Miller and Zierke’s pinch runner, Brianne Sanders, to score for the 2-1 win.
Cayla Levins led Murray State by going 2-for-3 on Sunday, while Becker, Ramsey, Twaddle, Miller, Odom each tallied one hit in the contest.
TENNESSEE TECH 7, JACKSONVILLE STATE 6
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech scored three runs in the seventh to walk-off with a 7-6 win and the series against the Jacksonville State softball team on Sunday.
The Gamecocks (26-13, 9-5 Ohio Valley Conference) scored six runs from the 4th-6th innings to build a 6-4 lead over the Golden Eagles (24-20, 11-6 OVC), but a walk-off sac fly from Madison Taylor scored Christian Gibbs and capped the three-run inning. The TTU win came a day after the two teams split a doubleheader to start the series.
Junior Cadi Oliver went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI to lead a JSU offense that racked up 10 hits, but the JSU pitchers couldn't keep TTU off the board. The Golden Eagles had 12 hits in the rubber game of the series.
Tech got off to a hot start, scoring a run in the first and two in the third to build a 3-0 lead before JSU could get its offense going. That came in the fourth, when back-to-back homers from Oliver and senior Melanie Steer cut the JSU deficit to just a run.
JSU tied the game in the fifth on sophomore Jamie McGuire's RBI single to right that scored senior Sara Borders, her first of two runs scored in the game. TTU answered quickly with a leadoff homer from Olivia Bennett that made it a 4-3 game to start the home half of the fifth.
The Gamecocks loaded the bases in the sixth before tying the game again when Oliver was hit by a pitch. Sophomore Stephanie Lewis then delivered a two-run, pinch-hit single up the middle that gave JSU a 6-4 advantage.
Freshman pitcher Whitney Gillespie loaded the bases to start the bottom of the seventh inning and gave up a two-run single to Bayli Cruse that tied the game with no outs. Sophomore Logan Green came on in relief and got Taylor to fly out to left, but Gibbs scored from third to earn the win for TTU.
Gillespie (8-4) was charged with the loss for JSU after allowing four runs on six hits in 3.1 innings of relief work. Sophomore Taylor West started the game and surrendered three runs on six hits in 2.2 innings, while Green got one out.
Hannah Weaver (7-8) earned the win in relief after allowing two hits in 1.1 scoreless innings. Starter and ace Danielle Liberatore gave up two runs on two hits in three innings, while Erica Tuck surrendered four runs on six hits in 2.2 innings in the circle.