SUNDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 8, @Eastern Kentucky 0
SIUE 4, @Morehead State 3 (8)
@Southeast Missouri 3, Murray State 2
@Belmont 5, Tennessee Tech 3
Jacksonville State 5, @Tennessee State 0
Jacksonville State 5, @Tennessee State 3
EASTERN ILLINOIS 8, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Illinois softball locked up its second straight winning season as the Panthers beat Eastern Kentucky, 8-0, on Sunday afternoon in EIU's final road game of the season.
The Panthers received a strong performance in the circle from Jade Montgomery as she pitched six scoreless innings.
Hannah Cravens had a big day at the plate driving in a run in the bottom of the first inning that put EIU up 3-0 at the time. In the third she executed a double steal with Katie Nicholson that had Nicholson stealing home to put the Panthers up 4-0.
Following a Megan Burton home run in the sixth to push EIU's lead to 5-0, Cravens cleared the bases with a three-run triple to put the Panthers up 8-0.
Cravens, Nicholson and Burton all had three hits on the day with Burton hitting her 17th home run of the season.
Montgomery limited EKU to just four hits in the game with two coming from Sammi Miller. It marked the second straight series that Montgomery has pitched a complete game shutout to give EIU the win.
SIUE 4, MOREHEAD STATE 3
MOREHEAD, Ky. - SIUE softball tied Sunday's game in the top of the seventh and scored the eventual game winner in the eighth in a 4-3 extra-inning victory at Morehead State.
It was the seventh extra-inning game of the season and the second series sweep for the Cougars, which passed the .500 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time this season at 15-14. The Cougars are 15-21 overall and have won six straight games.
SIUE will close out the regular season next weekend with a three-game series against Belmont at Cougar Field.
Sydney Baalman improved to 8-9 for the season. She struck out seven and went the full eight innings.
The Cougars had plenty of key moments in the game. After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, SIUE chipped away at Morehead State, 11-27 overall and 3-23 in the OVC.
Ava Bieneman picked up an RBI in the third inning. Micah Arps scored on a heads-up play on a foul out to right field by BIeneman.
Morehead State made it 3-1 in the fourth before Amber Storer got SIUE within one run again with a solo home run, her fourth blast of the season.
Storer reached on an infield error. As Kylie Lane pinch ran, she moved over to second on a sacrifice by Rachael Quaritsch. Bailley Concatto then singled through the right side to drive home Lane and tie the game.
Zoe Schafer provided the eventual game winner in the eighth inning. She singled home Alana Cobb-Adams, who opened the inning with a double.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, MURRAY STATE 2
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Ashley Ellis broke Southeast Missouri's all-time career home run record when she hit a pair of long balls to lead the Redhawks to a 3-2 win over Murray State Sunday.
SEMO (24-14, 19-5) completed its fourth series sweep and seventh series win in Ohio Valley Conference play this season.
MSU (19-29, 16-15) took an early lead in the top of the first inning. Sierra Gilmore hit a two-out double to left and scored the game's first run on an ensuing base hit by Logan Braundmeier.
Ellis quickly tied the game when she led off the second inning with her record-breaking home run to center. Ellis surpassed SEMO's previous mark of 48 by Michelle Summers (2005-08).
Austine Pauley followed with a double to left center, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Chelsy Pena and scored on a two-out double by Kynzie Wrigley to give the Redhawks a 2-1 edge.
After the Racers scored to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning, Ellis drove a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall to secure the Redhawks second one-run victory of the series.
Ellis went 2-for-3 in her third multi-home run game of the season. She now has 50 home runs in her career, including a team-high 16 in 2021. The multi-home run game was also the eighth of Ellis' career.
Pauley joined Ellis with two hits as the Redhawks edged the Racers, 7-6, in the hit column.
Rachel Rook (16-8) was again magnificent in the circle striking out nine and walking none in seven innings, her 11th complete game of the season. Rook allowed two runs on six hits, as well. For the series, she went 2-0 with a pair of complete game wins, a shutout, one save and 20 strikeouts.
Hannah James (7-11) suffered the loss. James gave up three runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out eight in 5.1 innings.
SEMO ended the year with a 13-4 record at home.
BELMONT 5, TENNESSEE TECH 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - For the first time this season, Belmont Softball posted four consecutive wins after completing its three-game series with Tennessee Tech on Sunday. The Bruins defeated the Golden Eagles, 5-3, at Rose Park in the team's home finale of the season.
BU was first to score in the matchup, plating a run in the bottom of the first inning, thanks to a sacrifice fly by sophomore Abi Ledbetter (Livingston, Tenn.) after senior Cheyenne Cavanaugh (Spring, Texas) knocked her first triple of the day. Cavanaugh's second triple came in the bottom of the second frame, sending seniors Georgia McKee (Frisco, Texas) and Alicia Veltri (Clarksville, Tenn.) over home plate. With an early lead, BU leaned on its defense to preserve the run differential down the stretch.
The Golden Eagles threatened in the top of the sixth inning.
For the day, Cavanaugh went 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of triples.
Inside the circle, freshman Alex Clesi (Mandeville, La.) logged her sixth win of the season and senior Alicia Veltri (Clarksville, Tenn.) notched her first save of the year.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 5, TENNESSEE STATE 0; JACKSONVILLE STATE 5, TENNESSEE STATE 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Jacksonville State softball team picked up a pair of wins at Tennessee State on Sunday afternoon, sweeping a doubleheader with the Tigers to begin a three-game series.
JSU (21-21) improves its overall record to .500, but more importantly moves to 19-11 in Ohio Valley Conference play, strengthening its position within the top four teams in the league after 5-0 and 5-3 wins.
Senior Nicole Rodriguez pitched a two-hit shutout to open the day. She struck out 10 Tigers en route to guiding Jax State to a 5-0 victory. The Fort Myers, Fla., native, worked with a tight score for the majority of the game after an Alexus Jimmerson single that scored Shelby Newsome in the third stood as the only Gamecock run for the first five innings.
The Gamecocks got the first two batters of the sixth aboard, but it took a pair of two-out hits from Sidney Wagnon and Alex Howard to plate two big runs down the stretch. Wagnon doubled to right to bring home Karsen Mosley, who initially reached base on a fielder's choice. Howard then stepped in for a pinch hit up the middle that scored Wagnon.Mosley and Jada Terry would add RBIs in the seventh to extend the margin to four.
In game two, Reagan Watkins went the distance in the circle, scattering just three hits through eight innings with JSU and TSU still tied after seven. Megan Fortner's two-out, eighth-inning double pushed JSU back on top for the final time as Watkins retired the TSU side in the home half of the frame for the win.
Both squads scored a run in the first, but a two-run homerun from Terry in the top of the third put JSU ahead for the next few innings. Terry finished knocked in three runs total in game two, and four overall in Sunday's action. A two-out double in the bottom of the fifth for TSU scored one unearned run off Watkins, but JSU still led entering the final stanza. TSU evened the score with a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh, momentarily extending the contest for one more inning.
Newsome doubled and Terry walked to put the first two batters on base for JSU in the eighth, but a fielder's choice and a strikeout kept two on the bases before Fortner stepped to the plate with two-away leading to her winning double to left field.