SUNDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 4, Purdue 1
Eastern Illinois 6, Eastern Kentucky 3
Green Bay 12,
Morehead State 1 (5)
Bowling Green 5,
Morehead State 2
Tennessee Tech 5, East Tennessee 4
Tennessee State 5, Georgia State 4
Lipscomb 2,
Southeast Missouri 0
UT Martin 10, Memphis 3
SIUE 4, PURDUE 1
BOCA RATON, Fla. – The SIUE softball team closed out the FAU Tournament early Sunday with a 4-1 victory over Purdue, dismissing the Big Ten team for a second straight day.
Sydney Baalman went the distance for the Cougars, allowing three hits and fanning three batters.
Finigan said the Cougar defense was strong behind Baalman as she found the right rhythm against the Boilermakers, which scored their only run in the first inning.
SIUE, 6-9 overall, took over offensively in the second inning with a three-run rally. Jenna Herron started the rally with a single. She would later score on a two-out single by Lexi King. Katie Smith and King would score on another two-out single by Grace Lueke.
SIUE added an insurance run in the fifth inning, taking advantage of one of Purdue's two infield errors. Aerin Talley, who had a two-out single up the middle, would eventually score on an infield error off the bat of King.
With the loss, Purdue dropped to 8-13.
The Cougars finished with nine hits Sunday and completed the FAU Tournament with a 3-2 record. SIUE meets tournament host Florida Atlantic in a single game Tuesday outside of the tournament atmosphere.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 6, EASTERN KENTUCKY 3
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Eastern Illinois scored four late runs on Sunday afternoon as the Panthers closed out the Alabama State Black & Gold Tournament with a 6-3 win over Eastern Kentucky.
EIU trailed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth when the Panthers scored three runs in the inning to take its second lead of the contest.
Jaylen Prichard tied the game with an RBI single to right scoring Megan Burton and Marama Makea. Hannah Cravens closed out the inning with an RBI double.
The Panthers added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with Olivia Price scoring on a wild pitch. Price picked up the win in the circle for EIU improving to 1-3 on the season as EIU moved to 8-12 on the year.
Rachel Kaufman pitched the final two innings to pick up her second save of the season.
EKU scored first in the contest with the Colonels scoring on a Lou Bowers sacrifice fly in the top of the second.
EIU answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame on a two-run home run by Kaufman.
The Colonels scored single runs in the third and fifth on Carly Robinson RBI singles in both innings. Robinson was one of three EKU players with two hits. Kaitlyn Young suffered the loss for EKU falling to 0-2 as the Colonels dropped to 3-15 on the season
.
Burton and Makea both had two hits to lead EIU.
TENNESSEE TECH 5, EAST TENNESSEE 4
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - East Tennessee State made it interesting late, but the Tennessee Tech softball team was able to hold on Sunday afternoon, completing the three-game sweep over the Bucs, 5-4.
The Golden Eagles improve to 12-6 on the season and will prepare to host their own tournament this weekend as Quinnipiac, Bellarmine and Indiana State come in for the Golden Eagle Classic.
Tyler Erwin picked up the victory, her fourth of the season, as she allowed one earned run – three total – on eight hits, walking one and striking out four. Alyssa Arden came on in relief, allowing one run on five hits while striking out two in the final three innings to earn her first save of the season.
Tech’s defense was able to hold 11 ETSU baserunners stranded in the contest to preserve the victory.
Savannah Talley was 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run, while Mackenzie Fitzgerald was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Tech led off the game with a Fitzgerald double to right center, then Haeli Bryson, Nicolle Nysted and Kaylan Cole drew walks, the latter picking up an RBI on the bases-loaded free pass.
The Golden Eagles doubled their lead in the top of the fourth as Talley led off the inning with a home run to left field. Tech then added three more in the fifth as Carmen Betts led off with a single to right, Nysted moved her over to second on a bunt, then Cole hit a single into right. Sydney Dukes followed suit with an RBI single. Talley drew a walk to load the bases, then Fitzgerald roped a single up the middle to send Cole and Dukes home.
ETSU countered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth as a fielding error allowed two runs to cross, a sacrifice fly bringing in the other to make it a 5-3 game. In the sixth, a sacrifice fly brought ETSU within one.
In the home seventh, after yielding a single and stolen base, Arden was able to coax a pop-up to shortstop Sydney Love-Baker for the first out. Following another single, the runners advanced on a double steal, but Tech was able to close out the game on a grounder back to the circle, followed by a 1-4 grounder.
TENNESSEE STATE 5, GEORGIA STATE 4
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Tennessee State softball team capped off the weekend with a victory over Georgia State, 5-4.
TOP 4TH: Peyton Fointno led off the fourth inning with an infield single. Ryla Traylor reached on a fielder's choice as Fointno was out at second. After a single from Anayah Baker, Kayli Mothershed pinch-hit and laced an RBI single to give TSU the initial lead of the contest. || TSU, 1-0
BOT 4TH: With one out, Georgia State manufactured two baserunners on infield singles. Gabby Benson drove an RBI single up the middle to even the score for the Panthers. || TIED, 1-1
TOP 5TH: To lead off the inning, Jasmine Brown logged a bunt single and stole second. Mikayla Duke lined a single to left field and stole second base to give TSU two runners in scoring position. Fointno laced a single up the middle to score Brown, however, Duke was thrown out at the plate. With two outs, Lauryn Kinkle registered an RBI infield single to extend the lead. || TSU, 3-1
BOT 5TH: The Panthers began the fifth with back-to-back singles and advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. GSU's Emily Brown reached on a throwing error by TSU's second basemen which allowed both runners to score. Brown advanced to third on the error and scored on a bunt single from Bailee Richardson. || GSU, 4-3
TOP 7TH: With two outs in the final at-bat, Kinkle kept the Tigers alive with a double to left field. Kinkle scored on a throwing error by the GSU shortstop and Maggie Klug advanced to second on the play. Down to the final strike, on a 1-2 count, Lauren Farias blasted a triple to left center field to push TSU in front. || TSU, 5-4
Raven Loveless tossed her fourth complete game of the season, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits and struck out one.
Peyton Fointno led the team with three hits, an RBI and a run scored.
Lauryn Kinkle logged two hits with a double, RBI, and scored the tying run.
Lauren Farias' first hit of the weekend was an RBI triple to drive in the go-ahead run.
Kinkle has recorded at least one hit in the last three games.
Tennessee State will continue its Florida road trip with a matchup against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday afternoon in Daytona Beach.
LIPSCOMP 2, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Emily Yakubowski threw a one-hit shutout to lead Lipscomb (7-12) to a 2-0 victory over Southeast Missouri (9-7) Sunday at the Purple & Gold Challenge.
SEMO won the three-day event with a 4-1 record, its first tournament win of the season.
The Redhawks had a hard time getting to Yakubowski, who retired 21 of the 22 hitters she faced and sat the Redhawks down in order during six of the seven innings. Only one Redhawk reached base against her when freshman Tori Bradley singled for SEMO's only hit in the fourth.
The Bisons offense gave Yakubowski a lead in the bottom of the third with a hit that didn't leave the infield. Amy Vetula scored Joie Giarrizzo on a hit to short to put LU ahead, 1-0.
A leadoff error helped LU get another run two innings later. Giarrizzo doubled to center and Elise Shewmaker touched home to cap the Bisons 2-0 win.
Yakubowski (2-3) struck out four, walked none and was one out away from a perfect game. She also recorded eight groundball outs and nine fly ball outs.
Paytience Holman (1-1) fell for the first time this year. Holman struck out one, walked one and allowed just two runs on two hits in 4.1 innings.
Rachel Rook struck out five of the six hitters she faced in 1.2 innings out of the bullpen.
LU finished with just three hits for the game.
SEMO heads to Lawrence, Kansas for the Jayhawk Classic Mar. 11-13.
UT MARTIN 10, MEMPHIS 4
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team eclipsed double-digits in the scoring column for the third straight game on its way to a 10-4 road victory over Memphis on Sunday afternoon to clinch a sweep of the Blues City Classic.
The Skyhawks (12-5) pushed their winning streak to seven games after scoring 10 or more runs for the third consecutive game in the Blues City Classic – including a 10-run performance against tournament host Memphis on Sunday. UT Martin scratched out eight hits on the afternoon and seven RBIs while using good situational execution to successfully capitalize on four sacrifice opportunities which led to big scoring innings.
The trio of Paige Clark, Katie Dreiling and Kallie Pickens each led the team with two hits each on the day. Pickens paced the team with a pair of doubles while Kaitlyn Kelley recorded a game-high three RBIs to bring her total up to 12 for the week. Along with the team’s work in the batter’s box, the Skyhawks also tallied four stolen bases with Clark leading the way with two to bring her career total up to 82 to move into a tie for third all-time in program history while Anna Blanton and Avry Blume each swiped one.
Junior pitcher Alexis Groet earned her fifth win of the season after striking out three and allowing zero earned runs in 4.2 innings of action in her seventh start. Dreiling appeared in relief where she allowed one hit and one earned run in 2.1 innings of work.
The Skyhawks wasted very little time getting on the scoreboard in the final game of the tournament by scratching across four runs in the top of the first inning. The game started with a single through the left side by Clark before she swiped second base to move into scoring position. After Dreiling drew a walk, Kelley brought the speedster in from second with a single down the left field line to put the road team on the board. The following play featured an error by the Tigers which resulted in two runs crossing the plate before Pickens continued her hot weekend by doubling to center for the team’s fourth run.
UT Martin kept up its offensive momentum in the second inning by doubling up the score and taking an 8-0 advantage. The frame started off similarly as the first inning with Clark and Dreiling both reaching base on singles before Kelley drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to right field. With pinch runner Blanton also advancing to third on the sacrifice fly, she came home to score on the next at bat as a sacrifice bunt by Hazlewood was once again misplayed resulting in the second run of the inning. Following Pickens’ second double of the game and a walk by Kaci Fuller, a costly errant ball plunked Shyanne Sheffield to score the team’s seventh run before a wild pitch on the ensuing at bat gave the squad an eight-run cushion.
Memphis finally broke into the scoring column in the bottom of the third inning to cut into the deficit. A double off the bat of Gracie Morton started the rally before scoring on a Skyhawk error. Then later in the frame, Taylor Smrt tallied the team’s first RBI with a single to left center to score Alexis Dale and bring the margin to 8-2.
The Skyhawks added two more run in the top of the seventh inning after a pair of walks to Sheffield and Clark put a runner in scoring position set up the frame. The big hit of the inning came off the bat of Dreiling who singled to right field to score Sheffield before Clark came home on the next play from a well-placed sacrifice bunt by Kelley to make the score 10-2.
While Memphis added two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning of a RBI groundout by E’Mya Munford and the Skyhawks’ second error of the contest – the game was well in hand as UT Martin earned the tournament sweep with a 10-4 victory.
UT Martin will wrap up the tournament portion of the 2022 schedule next week with matchups against Middle Tennessee and Illinois State on Friday, March 11 at the MTSU Invitational.