FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 4, UT Martin 3
@Southern Indiana 4, SIUE 3
SIUE 5, @Southern Indiana 3
Eastern Illinois 13, @Tennessee Tech 4 (5)
MOREHEAD STATE 4, UT MARTIN 3
MOREHEAD, Ky. -The Eagles rallied from three runs down to take a dramatic 4-3 victory UT Martin in the first game of the series.
Trinity Spear, Kirya Kingery, and Madeline Gailor all had two hits each, with Kingery matching a career-high three RBI in the contest. Erin Boyle and Kaytlyn Cripps also added hits, and the Eagles excelled in small ball, stealing two bases, and dropping four sacrifice bunts.
Madi Ogden came on in relief to pick up her fourth victory of the season. The sophomore allowed only two hits over 4.1 innings, while striking out three. Jessie Begley started the contest and matched a career-high in strikeouts for the second consecutive outing.
After a solo home run from the Skyhawks in the top of the first, Trinity Spear led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and a stolen base but was stranded on third to keep the score 1-0.
After a scoreless second, UT Martin added on to their lead with a two-run single, but Madi Ogden came on to get out of the inning and limit the damage.
The Eagles got onto the board in the bottom of the third after a Trinity Spear double and a Kirya Kingery RBI single. Kingery advanced to third, but was again stranded, keeping the score 3-1.
Ogden shut down the Skyhawks in the fourth and the Eagles rallied to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. Madeline Gailor and Erin Boyle had back-to-back singles to open the frame, and after a sacrifice bunt from Kaytlyn Cripps, Trinity Spear was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kingery came through again with a two-run single to knot the score at 3-3.
Ogden escaped a jam in the fifth and blanked the Skyhawks in the sixth to keep the score tied up heading into the bottom half of the frame.
Gailor again led off the sixth with a single and advanced to second on a single from Cripps. A sacrifice bunt from Ilencia Lightbody moved the pair into scoring position, and Trinity Spear hit a hot shot that bounced off the glove of the UT Martin shortstop to bring home the go-ahead run.
Despite allowing a one out double, Ogden buckled down to retire the Skyhawks in the seventh and secure the win.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 4, SIUE 3; SIUE 5, SOUTHERN INDIANA 3
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - SIUE and Southern Indiana will battle for the series win Saturday after the two Ohio Valley Conference squads split a doubleheader Friday at USI Softball Field.
SIUE, 16-22 overall and 3-9 in the OVC, won game two 5-3 after dropping the opener 4-3 to Southern Indiana, which is 16-18 overall and 9-7 in the OVC.
Rylie Pindel came out of the bullpen to collect the victory in game two for the Cougars. She tossed 3 1/3 innings without an earned run and yielded just one hit while fanning four batters.
SIUE's offense unleashed three runs in the first inning off Southern Indiana starter Raegan Gibson.
Hayley Palm doubled home Lexi King and Emma Neuman. Palm then scored on an RBI single by Piper Montgomery. The Cougars had five of their nine hits in the first inning.
Madisyn Webster put SIUE ahead 4-1 in the third inning with an infield single that brought home Micah Arps.
Arps would drive home a run herself in the fourth after Neuman reached on a Southern Indiana error and moved to second and third on wild pitches.
In game one, Southern Indiana jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first inning.
Sorden said he was happy the Cougars answered quickly in the top of the second.
SIUE and Southern Indiana exchanged one run each before the Screaming Eagles used a seventh-inning walkoff single by Kennedy Nalley to collect the win.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 13, TENNESSEE TECH 4
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -Eastern Illinois softball’s offense jumped out early as the Panthers scored in the opening four innings during a 13-4 win over Tennessee Tech on Friday evening.
Lindy Milkowski had the big bat for the Panthers going 3-for-3 with five RBI and two home runs. Milkowski hit a solo home run in the opening inning and then added a three-run home run in the third.
The Panthers jumped out to 3-0 lead in the first as they added one run with Rachel Kaufman scoring on a wild pitch and Kendall Grover stealing home on a double steal.
EIU extended its lead to 5-0 in the second as Denaed Santini stole home as a pinch runner and Grover added an RBI double. Grover was also 3-for-3 at the plate.
Milkowski’s three run home run in the third helped EIU increase its lead to 9-0 before adding four more in the fourth to lead 13-0.
Olivia Price (10-3) pitched 4.1 innings of shutout softball to pick up the win. Gracelyn Woollen (0-9) suffered the loss for TTU.
The Golden Eagles would score four unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth as Meaghan Houck delivered a three-run home run. Carmen Betts drove home the other run finishing as one of three TTU players with two hits.
EIU improved to 22-15, 10-2 in the OVC. TTU fell to 3-35, 0-13 in the OVC.