FRIDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 2, Tennessee State 0
@SIUE 1, Tennessee State 0 (9)
Morehead State 11, @Austin Peay 0 (5)
@Austin Peay 7, Morehead State 1
Belmont 4, @Eastern Illinois 3
@Eastern Illinois 3, Belmont 1
MOREHEAD STATE 11, AUSTIN PEAY 0; AUSTIN PEAY 7, MOREHEAD STATE 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University’s Autumn Hanners took a shutout into the seventh inning versus Morehead State, Friday afternoon at Cheryl Holt Field, before coming away with a 7-1 Ohio Valley Conference victory and a split of their doubleheader after APSU dropped Game 1, 11-0.
The loss by Morehead State ended their 10-game win streak.
Hanners (3-6) scattered seven hits over six-plus innings, along with two walks and three strikeouts, before leaving the game after walking the leadoff hitter in the top of the seventh inning.
Austin Peay (11-15, 1-1 OVC) would take the lead in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI double by Kendall Vedder and extend that lead to 2-0 in the fourth on a Drew Dudley single.
Vedder would record two hits, while Dudley was 1-for-1 with two walks.
The Govs would blow the game open in the fifth inning, scoring four runs, with two runs coming in on a home run by Danielle Liermann, one on a solo shot down the left field line by Carly Mattson and the final run scoring on an illegal pitch.
Liermann recorded three hits to lead the Govs, while Mattson picked up two hits.
APSU’s final run came in the sixth inning, on an RBI single by Liermann, with the Eagles (17-8, 1-1 OVC) breaking up the shutout in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Allison Rager.
Robyn Leighton and Ellen Barrett led the Eagles with two hits each.
In Game 1 it was all Morehead State, as they blasted four home runs – including two by Rager – to account for nine of the Eagles 11 runs.
Leighton and Barrett had the other two homers for Morehead State.
Those runs were more than enough for Eagles starting pitcher Chelsea McManaway (10-3), as she limited the Govs to one hit – an infield single by Kacy Acree in the bottom of the third inning – and walks to Christiana Gable in the second inning and Eric Inagaki in the third, while striking out 13.
SIUE 2, TENNESSEE STATE 0; SIUE 1, TENNESSEE STATE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Powerful pitching carried the surging SIUE softball team to a sweep of Tennessee State in its Ohio Valley Conference debut Friday at Cougar Field.
Haley Chambers-Book threw a no-hitter and struck out 18 in a 2-0 game one victory. Then Emily Ingles tossed a four-hitter and fanned 16 in a 1-0, nine-inning second-game win.
SIUE improved to 24-5 overall and has won 13 of its last 14 games. The Cougars, 2-0 in the OVC, welcome Belmont in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Sunday. Tennessee State, which was limited to four hits and struck out 34 times in 16 innings, dropped to 8-17 and 0-2.
Chambers-Book pointed the Cougars in the right direction. The senior left-hander struck out a season-best 18 hitters in registering her first no-hitter of the season. It was the fifth, including two perfect games, of her collegiate career.
She was so dominant against the Tigers that they hit only two fair balls the entire game. And only one of them made it to the outfield. Another out was on a foul pop-up to first baseman Schafer. Chambers-Book struck out the side in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh innings.
The Cougars had only four hits in the first game against Tennessee State's Lauren Powell. However, they proved resourceful in scoring twice without a hit in the third inning.
Page Clinton was hit by a pitch to start the inning. She stole second before Alyssa Heren walked. Clinton used her speed to advance to third base on Chambers-Book's fly-out to left field.
Clinton then scored on a wild pitch for the Cougars first run. Heren moved to third base on the play. Schafer, the next batter, bunted into an out, but the Tigers made a wild throw on the play at third and Heren scampered home.
Those two runs were all Chambers-Book needed in lifting her record to 12-4 and recording her third shutout of the season. The Tigers couldn't catch up with her pitches, particularly her darting rise ball, in a snappy 92-minute game. Kalei Kaneshiro's 2-for-3 outing paced the SIUE offense.
Then it was Ingles' turn to excel.
The freshman right-hander, coming off a one-hit shutout of Northern Kentucky, maintained her magic. She didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning and struck out six consecutive batters, and 10 of 12, from the second through the fifth innings.
Tennessee State didn't get more than one runner on base until the ninth when the Tigers had two on with two outs. Ingles then logged her 16th strikeout, giving the Cougars an opportunity to win it.
And that's what they did, thanks to Schafer. She came through in the clutch with two outs in the ninth.
Heren stirred things by stroking a one-out single and stealing second base. One out later, Schafer lined a single to right center and Heren scored the winner. Schafer, who also had a first-inning double, was 2-for-4 to lead SIUE's five-hit attack.
BELMONT 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3; EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, BELMONT 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Late game rallies shaped Eastern Illinois softball's home opening doubleheader against Belmont Friday evening as the Panthers were able to pick up a win in their nightcap game.
EIU fell to Belmont 4-3 in game one Friday after the Bruins recorded two runs in the top of the seventh. The Panthers answered back in game two winning 3-1 and scoring all three runs thanks to a home run in the bottom of the sixth from Amber Toenyes.
Following the split the Panthers remain at .500 on the season with a 15-15 record now standing at 1-1 in the OVC. The Bruins leave Charleston 24-7 overall with a similar 1-1 conference record.
Jessica Wireman recorded both the win and the loss on the mound for EIU finishing Friday with six strikeouts over 8.2 innings pitched. Wireman is now 6-9 on the year after earning the complete game victory in EIU's nightcap.
The Panthers got on the board first in game one with a lead-off single from Haley Mitchell to open the fourth inning. After coming in to pinch run for Mitchell, Amber Matchett would come around to score from first base thanks to a double from Mady Poulter to give EIU a 1-0 lead. Poulter put EIU up 2-0 on the next at-bat as Toenyes recorded an RBI ground-out.
Belmont pulled one back in the following inning loading the bases off three singles. One more single from the Bruins' Kayla Wells made it 2-1 forcing Wireman to come in for relief replacing Michelle Rogers. Wireman was able to close out the inning with back-to-back fly outs to prevent any more damage in the inning.
Kayla Bear gave the Panthers back their two-run cushion in the bottom of the fifth after being walked. Bear went on to steal second and third base before scoring off an infield single from Taylor Monahan. Bear finished the day recording five stolen bases.
After an RBI double from Jordan Spicer in the sixth inning pulled Belmont back within one run, the Bruins would complete the comeback in the top of the seventh. Bailey Sims tied the game up blasting a triple down the right field line to score Sami Long from first and make it 3-3. Sims would score on a wild pitch to earn the final score of 4-3 and give Belmont the win.
Belmont's Wells finished the game 3-for-4 and was the only player to record multiple hits in each game going 5-for-8 on the day.
In the nightcap game the Bruins picked up right where they left off as a sacrifice fly from Chelsey Deloney scored a waiting Baylee Cook from third base to give Belmont a 1-0 lead at the end of the first inning.
The Bruin's Lexi Rouse and Wireman were locked in a pitching dual throughout most of the nightcap as each pitcher held both teams to a combined nine hits throughout the game.
It looked as if Belmont would get the 1-0 decision until the bottom of the sixth inning as Mia Davis hit a two-out single. Haley Mitchell followed suit with a single through the left side allowing Toenyes to step up to the plate and blast the game-winning three-run home run.
Wireman closed out the game striking out two of the final three batters to give EIU the 3-1 win.
Toenyes finished the day recording four of EIU's six RBIs over the two-game span. Toenyes along with Bear, Davis, and Mitchell all recorded at least one hit in each game.