FRIDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 6, Eastern Illinois 3
@UT Martin 15, Eastern Illinois 3
@Morehead State 7, SIUE 0
@Morehead State 4, SIUE 2
Southeast Missouri 3, @Austin Peay 2
@Murray State 8, Tennessee State 0
Belmont 5, @Tennessee Tech 1
Belmont 13, @Tennessee Tech 4
UT MARTIN 6, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3; UT MARTIN 15, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3
MARTIN, Tenn. -The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team proved to be unwelcoming hosts on Friday afternoon as the Skyhawks tallied 21 runs to sweep today’s doubleheader against visiting Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois by final scores of 6-3 and 15-3.
The Skyhawks (24-12, 9-4 OVC) made a habit of scoring early and often this afternoon, doing all of their damage in the first three innings of both contests. The home squad rattled off 22 hits on the day while each player in the lineup contributed to the team’s 19 RBIs. Plate discipline also proved to be a big factor in both contests as the Skyhawks drew 10 walks in the doubleheader – including seven in Game 2 alone.
Two players especially put on a show at the plate as both Shyanne Sheffield and Kaitlyn Kelley went 5-for-7 at the plate. Sheffield finished the day with two runs, a double, a home run and eight RBIs. Kelley added five runs, a double and a RBI in her eight plate appearances.
When everything was said and done, seven of nine Skyhawk starters tallied at least two hits in the twinbill. Along with the five-hit outings by Sheffield and Kelley, Kaci Fuller continued her impressive campaign by going 3-for-6 at the plate with a double, a RBI and a stolen base while pushing her on-base streak out to nine games.
Four different pitchers contributed to the two wins in the circle. Erin Gallagher (8-2, 1.77 ERA) pushed her winning streak to three games after earning the start in Game 1 and going 5.2 innings, allowing three runs while striking out two. Katie Dreiling appeared in relief and picked up a four-out save – her second of the season – after striking out four of five batters she faced. Game 2 saw Alexis Groet (9-6, 2.29 ERA) toe the rubber and pitch four innings before being relieved by Seeley Layne with the game well in control.
Game 35: UT Martin 6, Eastern Illinois 3
The series opened with the Skyhawks jumping out to an early lead as Fuller jump started the offense by using her speed to key the offense. Fuller singled to the shortstop out of the two-hole before moving into scoring position with her fifth steal of the season. Following consecutive walks to Kelley and Dreiling to load the bases, Sheffield laced a single up the middle to score a pair and take an early 2-0 advantage.
The Panthers quickly responded in the top of the second inning as the OVC’s top home run hitting squad launched a solo blast off the bat of Lindy Milkowski to cut the deficit in half.
UT Martin broke the game open in the bottom of the third inning with five runs to find separation. Three consecutive singles by Fuller, Kelley and Dreiling resulted in one run crossing the plate before a sacrifice bunt by Pickens moved a pair of runners into scoring position for Sheffield once again. After coming through with a big scoring opportunity in the first inning, Sheffield found that clutch hit once again in the third, this time with a three-run home run scorched over the left center wall to push the home team’s lead out to 6-1.
Eastern Illinois used the long ball to trim the margin again, this time in the top of the fifth inning. After a one-out walk to Hannah Cravens, Megan Burton jumped on the first pitch she saw and brought the score to 6-3 with a two-run homer to left field.
The Panthers tallied three more hits in the contest but their comeback attempt would stall there however as Dreiling later entered and shut the door with four strikeouts against the heart of the order to save the 6-3 win.
Game 36: UT Martin 15, Eastern Illinois 3
Much like in the first game of the doubleheader, the Skyhawks jumped on the Panthers early with five runs on two hits and a pair of miscues in the first inning. The first six batters of the inning reached base to start the half inning with the first two runs of the game coming home on a batted ball by Dreiling which resulted in an RBI and an error before a wild pitch on the next at bat scored the team’s third run. Following a walk to Pickens to put runners on first and third, Sheffield laced a double down the left field line to drive in a run before a sacrifice fly by Avry Blume plated the team’s fifth run.
Facing an early hole, Eastern Illinois looked to trim the deficit in the top of the second inning. An infield single by Kendall Fields was followed by a sacrifice bunt to move her into scoring position. With two outs on the board, Riley Dittmar single to right field to drive in the run and put the Panthers in the run column.
The Skyhawks continued their offensive onslaught in the second inning with 10 runs to put the game away early. UT Martin sent 15 batters to the plate in the inning while tallying seven hits and drawing four walks – including three in a row by Emily Gilstrap, Clark and
Fuller with the bases loaded to tally RBIs. In total, Sheffield would tally two RBI singles in the inning while all nine players drove in a run in the second inning to hold an impressive 15-1 advantage.
The game’s score would remain the same until the Panthers added two run to their total in the top of the fifth inning on back-to-back RBIs by Cravens and Burton down the stretch.
MOREHEAD STATE 7, SIUE 0; MOREHEAD STATE 4, SIUE 2
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Despite outhitting its opponents 22-16 for the day, SIUE softball dropped a pair of road games Friday at Morehead State.
Morehead State bested the Cougars 7-0 in the opener and 4-2 in the nightcap.
SIUE's bats hit .355 for the day with four hits each from Bailley Concatto and Aerin Talley. Grace Lueke, Amber Storer and Lexi King each had three hits over the doubleheader.
The clutch hits, however, were not in the Cougars' favor.
Lennon Spicer collected the win in game one, scattering eight SIUE hits. Sydney Baalman took the loss for the Cougars, dropping to 4-7.
Madi Ogden outdueled SIUE's Mia Haynes in the second game. Ogden yielded 14 hits from the Cougars. SIUE's two runs came in a charge in the seventh inning.
SIUE is now 14-25 overall and 5-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Morehead State improved to 4-27 overall and 3-12 in the OVC.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, AUSTIN PEAY 2
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay lost a one-run decision in the open game of their three-game Ohio Valley Conference series versus Southeast Missouri, Friday afternoon at Cathi Maynard Park-Cheryl Holt Field, as the Governors fell to the Redhawks, 3-2.
The Govs (19-20, 6-9 OVC) jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Brooke Pfefferle’s two-run homer, her fifth of the season.
The score would remain that way until the top of the third when SEMO (21-15, 10-3) scored all three of its runs.
Sydney Dennis would get the inning going with a two-out walk, followed by a single by Abigail Rickermann.
That brought up Paige Halliwill, who laced a double into left-center field scoring Dennis and Rickermann to tie the game, 2-2.
Kaylee Anderson then gave the Redhawks the lead, 32, with an RBI single, scoring Halliwill.
Rachel Rook (12-7) got the win in relief for SEMO, going five innings, allowing one hit while striking out one, while Harley Mullins (5-5) took the loss, going seven inning and giving up three earned runs on six hits, while walking one a striking out two.
MURRAY STATE 8, TENNESSEE STATE 0
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State softball team maintained its lead atop the OVC standings Friday with an 8-0, six-inning win over Tennessee State at Racer Field in Murray, Kentucky.
Hannah James carried a no-hitter through 3.1 innings in the game, before eventually giving up a single to Lauren Farias in the fourth. James gave up just one hit over 5.0 innings of work with eight strikeouts, while Jenna Veber allowed no hits with one walk over the final inning of the contest for the combined shutout.
James struck out eight Friday inching her towards both her own single-season strikeout record and the program career strikeout record. The junior currently has 154 strikeouts on the year and 482 for her career. The current single-season record is 158, set by James herself last season, while the career record is 490 set by CheyAnne Gaskey, who played from 2012 to 2015.
The shutout was the 13th of the season for the Racers and marked the 10th time that MSU has ended a game early via the eight-run rule.
Murray State had five extra-base hits in the game Friday with doubles from Lindsey Carroll, Sierra Gilmore, Lily Fischer and Isabella Wilson and a home run from Sierra Glimore that ended the game in the sixth via the eight-run rule.
BELMONT 5, TENNESSEE TECH 1; BELMONT 13, TENNESSEE TECH 4
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.- Recap coming soon.