PHOTO GALLERY
WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
#3 SIUE 4, #6 Eastern Kentucky 1
#3 UT Martin 1, #7 Tennessee Tech 0
#4 Eastern Illinois 6, #5 Murray State 5
#1 Jacksonville State 8, #8 Belmont 5
#3 SIUE 4, #6 Eastern Kentucky 1
OXFORD, Ala. - Tess Eby ripped a two-run homer in the fifth inning Wednesday as SIUE softball opened the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a 4-1 victory over Eastern Kentucky.
SIUE, now 39-11, advances to play the winner of seventh-seeded Tennessee Tech and second-seeded UT Martin. Game time is 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Eby took the first pitch over the fence in left-center field. She only made it to the batter's box because Talisa Morton reached on a two-out infield error.
Eastern Kentucky, 25-30, got started quick with a run in the first inning. Rachel Minogue doubled to the gap in left center, driving home Krislyn Campos.
SIUE tied the game in the third inning. Reagan Curtis singled past the shortstop for the first of SIUE's three hits for the game. Jane Smith pinch ran for Curtis and would score for the 25th time this season in 46 appearances. She eventually moved to third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alyssa Heren.
After Eby's homer in the fifth, Haley Chambers-Book added another run with a solo blast to right field off EKU pitcher Mollie Paulick in the sixth inning.
Chambers-Book collected the win, her 25th of the season. She allowed three hits and struck out seven, lowering her season earned run average to 1.18.
UT MARTIN 1, TENNESSEE TECH 0
OXFORD, Ala. - The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team posted a dominating victory over Tennessee Tech on the opening day of the Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championships on Wednesday afternoon. Behind a stellar shutout pitching performance from newly named All-OVC honoree Brooke Kennedy, the Skyhawks would post a 1-0 victory to remain in the winner’s bracket of the double elimination tournament.
The Skyhawks pushed its record to 37-16, marking the highest single season win total for the program in four seasons. The win would also mark the Skyhawks first win in the tournament field since advancing to the championship game in 2013.
UT Martin would look no further than its senior pitcher to carry the load in the opening game of the tournament. Kennedy would be electric on the bump, notching the program’s first shutout in the OVC Softball Championship since the 2011 season. The righty would allow just two hits on the afternoon while striking out eight in seven innings of work. The victory also marked Kennedy’s 21st of the season, ranking as the second-most wins by a Skyhawk in a single history.
Offensively the Skyhawks would tally four hits on the day for four different individuals. Senior lefty Carly Gonzales would extend her on-base streak to 29 games with a triple and a walk while swiping a pair of stolen bases to set a new single-season stolen base record by pushing her season total to 41. Junior Jodie Duncan would tally the game’s long run with a solo blast in the bottom of the second inning.
The Skyhawks nearly moved into the scoring column in the first inning after a leadoff walk by Gonzales to extend her on-base streak. The speedster would stay aggressive swiping second base to set the new single-season record before moving over to third with her second swipe of the inning. Despite reaching third, Gonzales would be stranded 60 feet from home.
After watching its scoring opportunity stall, UT Martin wasted little time getting on the board in the second. Fresh off earning All-OVC first team honors on Tuesday night, Duncan launched a solo home run down the right field line to take a 1-0 lead.
With one run on the board, that would be all the offense Kennedy needed. After allowing a walk in the first inning, Kennedy would shut the door on the Golden Eagle bats by retiring 13 consecutive batters before allowing her first hit in the top of the sixth inning. Despite allowing two hits on the day, Tennessee Tech would not advance a runner past second base before ending the game by grounding into a double play.
UT Martin will return to action against No. 3 seeded SIUE on Thursday, May 11. First pitch from Choccolocco Park is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 6, MURRAY STATE 5
OXFORD, Ala. - The Eastern Illinois softball team rallied late against Murray State to win their OVC Tournament opening game 6-5 over the Racers. With the win the Panthers move on to the second round of the tournament to face the winner of No. 1 seed Jacksonville State and No. 8 seed Belmont.
EIU recorded four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to overcome a 5-2 deficit and secure the victory.
Including today's win, The Panthers have now won their tournament-opener four of the past five seasons.
Jessica Wireman recorded the complete game victory throwing seven strikeouts to tie her postseason high and improve to 16-11 on the year.
Murray State was able to take a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth following a two-run home run from Jessica Twaddle in the top of the inning.
EIU answered loading the bases off three of the first four batters. The Panthers scored on the next three at-bats thanks to a ground-out from Haley Mitchell followed by back-to-back singles from Amber Toenyes and Mady Poulter to tie the game 5-5.
Toenyes scored the winning run for EIU advancing from third base on a wild pitch from MSU's Mason Robinson to give EIU the 6-5 edge. That was Robinson's sole wild pitch of the game finishing with four strikeouts over six innings. The Panther defense kept the Racers at bay for the final two innings to secure the victory.
The Panthers opened Tuesday's game taking the lead in the bottom of the second inning as Poulter reached on an error eventually advancing to second on a wild pitch. Tori Johnson then struck a bloop single over the first baseman's head on the following at-bat to score Poulter and give EIU the 1-0 lead. Johnson advanced to second on the play as MSU attempted to throw out Poulter.
After advancing to third on a groundout, Johnson scored the unearned run as Maria DeVito reached first off another Racer error to extend EIU's lead to 2-0.
Wireman retired the first 10 batters for MSU before Kaylee Ranburger finally recorded Murray State's first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Ranburger came around to score off a double from MSU's Jocelyn Rodgers to put the Racers on the board 2-1.
After loading the bases, Murray State took the lead in the inning as Cayla Levins struck a ground ball to Wireman who attempted to get the force out at home. The throw would prove to be too high for Andrea Roberts at catcher hitting the backstop and allowing two unearned runs to score to give MSU a 3-2 lead at the end of the fourth inning.
MSU's Ranburger led all players going 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored followed by Twaddle who recorded two runs scored as well to go with two RBIs.
EIU finished the game with six total hits from six different players. The Panthers will continue tournament play We Thursday at 3 p.m.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 8, BELMONT 5
OXFORD, Ala. - Whitney Gillespie and Jamie McGuire both homered in an 8-5 Jacksonville State win over Belmont in the first round of the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Wednesday at Choccolocco Park.
Wearing senior pitcher Jordan Sims' No. 22 jersey to honor the team leader that was forced to sit her final year of eligibility because of an injury, Gillespie led the top seeded Gamecocks (37-10) by going 2-for-2 with the homer and a double. In the circle, she recorded every out and allowed just two earned runs to earn the win.
She grabbed a blue-collar win against the eighth-seeded Bruins (34-21) that were playing on adrenaline in the school's first ever Division I postseason appearance in softball.
After falling behind 1-0 after a solo home run by Belmont's Jordan Spicer, Gillespie tied the game when she sent a 1-2 pitch over the left-field fence in the bottom of the second. An inning later, the First Team All-OVC pitcher put the Gamecocks ahead by drawing a bases-loaded walk.
Hayley Sims walked in the next at bat and made it 3-1 by scoring Anna Snider, who pinch ran for Jamie McGuire.
In the bottom of the fourth, McGuire, who also earned First-Team All-OVC honors, blasted a two-run home run to extend Jacksonville State's lead to 6-1. Gillespie made it 7-1 when she scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the fifth, before Torre Roberts ran home on a wild pitch the following inning.
While Jacksonville State was putting together seven hits at the plat, Gillespie limited Belmont's offense to only two runs on five hits in the game's first six innings. Taylor West entered the circle to start the top of the seventh after Gillespie threw 89 pitches to 25 Bruin hitters before re-entering to close the door.
After surrendering a leadoff single to Baylee Cook to start the third inning, Gillespie went on to retire the next eight Belmont hitters until Bailey Sims doubled off the right-field fence on the first pitch of the top of the sixth.
Gillespie re-entered the contest to record the final three outs of the game after West surrendered three runs on a leadoff walk and two-straight singles. However, after Belmont scored three runs on four hits in the top of the seventh to inch closer, a double play by Cadi Oliver to Sims to Anna Chisolm sealed the Gamecocks' first victory of the conference tournament.
The Gamecocks advance in the winners' bracket of the OVC Tournament and will face No. 4 Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. Thursday.