FRIDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 6, @Jacksonville State 4
SIUE 4, @Jacksonville State 2
Eastern Kentucky 2, @UT Martin 1
Eastern Kentucky 6, @UT Martin 4
@Tennessee Tech 6, Eastern Illinois 4
Eastern Illinois 10, @Tennessee Tech 4
@Murray State 3, Tennessee State 1
Tennessee State 2, @Murray State 1 (16)
@Southeast Missouri 8, Morehead State 0
SIUE 6, JACKSONVILLE STATE 4; SIUE 4, JACKSONVILLE STATE 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - SIUE softball captured two Ohio Valley Conference road victories Friday, sweeping Jacksonville State 6-4 and 4-2 at University Field.
SIUE, 4-13 overall and 4-7 in the OVC, will play one more game at Jacksonville State Saturday with a 1 p.m. start time. The Gamecocks dropped to 5-16 overall and 4-7 in the OVC.
The long ball proved prevalent for the Cougars in both games.
Bailley Concatto blasted a two-run homer in the third inning of game one. Grace Lueke added a game-tying two-run homer in the sixth inning of game one. Alana Cobb-Adams added a solo home run in game two that was the eventual game winner.
In game one, the Gamecocks and the Cougars exchanged the lead twice over the first three innings. The Cougars took over in the sixth on Lueke's home run to right center.
SIUE would add the winning run in the top of the seventh when Concatto doubled home Ava Bieneman. Lexi King added an RBI single that drove home Cobb-Adams.
Sydney Baalman earned the victory for the Cougars. She struck out five and did not walk a batter.
In game two, SIUE jumped on JSU starter Alexus Jimmerson for a pair runs in the first inning. King tripled home Concatto. King would score on a single by Zoe Schafer.
Jacksonville State answered with single tallies in the second and third inning, but Cobb-Adams' blast to center field in the fifth inning helped put the game out of reach. Schafer added an insurance RBI in the fifth.
Emily Ingles picked up the win in relief of King. It was Ingles' first win of the season as she hurled four hitless innings, facing the minimum 12 batters.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 2, UT MARTIN 1; EASTERN KENTUCKY 6, UT MARTIN 4
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University softball team swept a doubleheader against UT Martin on Friday afternoon in Martin.
Eastern Kentucky (18-7, 10-3 OVC) took game one, 2-1, before winning game two of the doubleheader 6-4.
Sammi Miller got things started in game one with a leadoff walk in the top of the first. Carly Robinson followed with a walk of her own to put runners on first and second with one out. After Vianna Barron reached on an error to load the bases, Lou Bowers worked the third walk of the inning to bring home Miller and give Eastern the 1-0 lead.
Miller again walked in the top of the fifth to put a runner on first with one out. Robinson delivered in a big way with two outs, sending a 2-2 pitch into the right center gap to score Miller from first and give the Colonels a 2-0 lead.
That was all Tori Peterson needed.
UT Martin (16-7, 6-5 OVC) got a run back in the bottom of the fifth.
Kaci Fuller got things going for the Skyhawks on a bunt single with two outs. Fuller stole second and reached third on a wild pitch. Shyanne Sheffield brought home Fuller with an infield single to cut into the Colonel lead, 2-1.
Peterson (8-1) went the distance in the circle tossing seven innings, allowing four hits, one run and striking out two.
Robinson went 1-for-2 with one double and one RBI. Barron and Miranda Lopez each had a hit.
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In game two, the Colonels again scored in the top of the first without recording a hit.
Miller got things started with a walk and Kara Gunter got hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no one out. After advancing to third on a foul out, Barron brought home Miller with a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Colonels a 1-0 lead.
The Skyhawks got the run back in the bottom of the second with three singles to tie the game at 1-1 after two innings.
In the top of the third, Miller again got things started this time with a single to left center. After reaching second base via a ground out, Barron brought home Miller with a single to right center for her second RBI of the game.
The Colonels pushed two more runs across in the top of the fourth after a UT Martin fielding error and a sacrifice fly by Miller to take a 4-1 lead over the Skyhawks.
UTM cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run by Fuller.
In the top of the sixth inning, Miller and Ariyana Miranda hit back-to-back home runs to take a 6-2 advantage over UT Martin.
The Skyhawks cut the lead to two, 6-4, after a two-run home in the bottom of the seventh but could never get any closer.
Mollie Paulick (5-0) went the distance in the circle in game two, tossing seven innings, allowing two runs and striking out four.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 8, MOREHEAD STATE 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Rachel Anderson went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, a triple and home run as Southeast Missouri (12-10, 9-1) walked off with a 8-0 win over Morehead State
(6-15, 0-12) in five innings Friday night.
SEMO roughed up MSU for one hour and 20 minutes in its fastest game of the season.
Anderson was outstanding at the plate and in center field en route to matching her career-high in hits. In addition to her offense, she made a diving highlight-reel catch and broke her program's all-time career record in total bases.
SEMO wasted no time going to work against pitcher Lennon Spicer. With two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Ashley Ellis hit a three-run home run to put the Redhawks ahead. The home run was Ellis' sixth of the season and 40th of her career.
Two innings later, the Redhawk tacked on three more runs, including two on a triple by Anderson. The triple gave Anderson her fourth different SEMO career record this season. She broke the school's hits, walks and RBI records earlier in the year.
Ahead, 6-0, SEMO added their final two runs via the long ball.
Austine Pauley homered to left in the fourth inning before Anderson ended the game with her solo shot to left in the bottom of the fifth.
With plenty of run support, Rachel Rook again dominated inside the circle.
Rook (8-5) retired the first 11 hitters she faced and tossed a one-hitter with seven strikeouts and no walks in five innings. She cruised to her Ohio Valley Conference leading eighth win of the season.
Spicer (4-8) fell to her eighth loss of 2021. She gave up eight runs on 10 hits, walked six and struck out three in four innings.
SEMO notched 10 hits for its fourth double-digit hit effort in five games.
Kynzie Wrigley (2), Kaylee Anderson (1), Ellis (1), Karsyn Davis (1) and Pauley (1) accounted for the Redhawks other six hits.
OVC leading SEMO won its eighth-straight conference game and fifth in a row overall. Tonight's win was the Redhawks ninth in 10 contests, as well.
TENNESSEE TECH 6, EASTERN ILLINOIS 4; EASTERN ILLINOIS 10, TENNESSEE TECH 4
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois softball was held in check in the first six innings on Friday afternoon before finding some late momentum with its offense to pick up a doubleheader split at Tennessee Tech.
TTU won the opener 6-4 before EIU responded with a 10-4 win the second game. The final game of the weekend series is Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
EIU improved to 15-7 overall, 8-3 in the OVC. TTU is now 13-12 overall, 7-4 in the OVC.
In the opener TTU starting pitcher Alyssa Arden (7-6) scattered four hits allowing just one earned run to pick up the win.
The Golden Eagles scored in each of the first five innings with single runs in the first through fourth frames. Nicolle Nysted, Mackenzie Fitzgerald, Carmen Betts and Beth McCulley all drove home runs for TTU. Fitzgerald would drive home her second run of the game in the Golden Eagles two-run fifth inning that staked TTU to a 6-1 lead.
In the seventh, EIU’s bats started to wake up as they scored three runs to close out the game. Megan Burton connected for a two-run home run in the inning, the first of two blasts she would hit on the day. Burton now has ten home runs on the season. She was 2-for-4 in the opener.
Three TTU players had two hits as the Golden Eagles had 12 total hits scoring three earned runs against EIU starter Jade Montgomery (6-5).
In the second game of the day Arden again started in the circle for Tennessee Tech but this time EIU attacked from the start chasing the pitcher from the game after two innings.
EIU scored two runs in the first and added another two in the third to jump out to a 5-1 lead. Burton hit her second home run of the game in the first inning while Haley Mitchell hit a two run homer in the third.
The Panthers added solo home runs to lead off the second and fourth inning with Mia Davis and Amber Cieplinski adding to the damage.
Leading 7-4 heading into the seventh inning, EIU tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh. Mitchell drove home a run in the inning as the other two EIU runs scored on errors.
Olivia Price pitched five innings to improve to 5-2 on the season.
Mitchell and Burton both had two hits in the second game to lead EIU as Burton was 4-for-7 with four RBI and five runs scored on the day. EIU had ten stolen bases in the second game and 15 for the day.
Sydney Love-Baker was 3-for-3 for Tennessee Tech in the second game driving in a run in the second and fifth innings.
MURRAY STATE 3, TENESSEE STATE 1; TENNESSEE STATE 2, MURRAY STATE 1
MURRAY, Ky. - Recap coming soon.