PHOTO GALLERY
THURSDAY'S SCORES
#6 Eastern Kentucky 11, #7 Tennessee Tech 2 (5)
#3 SIUE 2, #2 UT Martin 1
#1 Jacksonville State 4, #4 Eastern Illinois 2
#8 Belmont 5, #5 Murray State 1
EASTERN KENTUCKY 11, TENNESSEE TECH 2
OXFORD, Ala. - With elimination on the line and her Colonel career on the brink, senior Krislyn Campos stepped up to lead the No. 6 Eastern Kentucky University softball team past No. 7 Tennessee Tech, 11-2, in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Thursday at Choccolocco Park.
Campos finished 2-for-2 with five RBI and two runs scored as EKU (26-30) used a big third inning to pull away from Tech (16-30) in five innings.
Campos got the Colonels going early, as she drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a base hit by junior Johnkyria Alston to tie the game at 1-1.
In the bottom of the second, Campos struck again, this time with an RBI double to center field to plate pinch runner Brooke Harrison and give EKU the 2-1 lead.
After TTU knotted it up with a run in the top of the third, Eastern exploded for six in the home half of the frame to put the game out of reach. Sophomore Hannah Clark started the rally with a leadoff solo home run to right field. Junior Paige Murphy then walked and went to second on a groundout by senior Amber Murray. Sophomore Brittany Oldaker followed that up with a double to center field that plated Murphy and made it 4-2.
After senior Kelly Wood drew a walk, Campos blasted a three-run shot over the wall in left to make it 7-2. Alston capped the inning with another RBI single, scoring freshman Mia Sanchez and making it 8-2.
The Colonels continued to pile it on in the bottom of the fourth to enact the run rule. With one out and the bases loaded, Campos lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Murray. Sanchez then put down an RBI bunt base hit, plating freshman Shelby Atzinger. The next batter, sophomore Rachel Minogue, pushed Wood across the plate with a base hit to right, making the score 11-2.
Oldaker went 3-for-3 on the day with an RBI and a run scored.
Freshman Mollie Paulick (13-11) earned the win in the circle, going 4.0 innings and surrendering only two runs on four hits.
Campos’ performance gave her sole possession of EKU’s single-season (48) and career (152) runs records.
EKU advances to play the loser of Thursday’s game between No. 1 Jacksonville State and No. 4 Eastern Illinois.
SIUE 2, UT MARITN 1
OXFORD, Ala. - SIUE softball advanced in the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, edging UT Martin 2-1 at Choccolocco Park.
That's the 10th time in her 29 years as head coach of the Cougars that Sandy Montgomery has reached the 40-win mark.
The Cougars next play in the winner's bracket against either fourth-seeded Eastern Illinois or top-seeded Jacksonville State at 3 p.m. Friday.
SIUE found itself behind for the second straight day. Alli Fulcher drove home Rachel Williams in the second inning with one of the Skyhawks' two hits.
The offense for the Cougars struck in the fourth against UT Martin starter Brooke Kennedy, who fell to 21-6.
Zoe Schafer opened up the inning with a four-pitch walk. Jane Smith pinch ran for Schafer and advanced to second on her 19th stolen base of the season. Allison Smiley then made it first and third with a single to left center.
Reagan Curtis put the bunt down on the first base side only to reach first on a throwing error by UT Martin first baseman Gracyn McBride.
Smiley moved over to third on the squeeze bunt and error.
Sarah Lopesilvero then picked up the eventual game-winning RBI with a bloop single over the UT Martin second baseman Savannah Dodson, driving home Smiley.
Haley Chambers-Book went the distance for the Cougars, yielding just two hits and striking out four. She is now 26-6.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
OXFORD, Ala. - It took until the bottom of the sixth to break through against Eastern Illinois' Jessica Wireman, but a 4-2 win over Panthers sends Jacksonville State in the finals of the winners' bracket of the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Wireman, fourth-seeded Eastern Illinois' ace held the top-seeded Gamecocks (38-10) without a hit through five innings before Anna Chisolm beat out an infield single in the bottom of the sixth. The infield single followed Emily Woodruff's hit-by-pitch and jump started a four-run JSU rally that set the stage for a showdown with SIUE on Friday.
Trailing 2-0 heading into the big sixth inning, Alexus Jimmerson singled to center to score both Woodruff and Chisolm to tie the game, and then Jamie McGuire's second homer of the tournament put the Gamecocks up for good.
The OVC's First-Team All-OVC catcher, McGuire followed Jimmerson's run-scoring hit by cranking a two-run, go-ahead home run through a steady wind blowing in from centerfield to cap the Gamecocks' scoring.
Until Chisolm's hit in the sixth, Wireman allowed only four base runners on the afternoon: Jimmerson's hit by pitch in the first, Sloan walk in the bottom of the fourth, Jimmerson's fielder's choice in the fourth and Woodruff's hit by pitch in the sixth. She struck out five Gamecocks up until that point.
In the circle, Whitney Gillespie, who wore senior pitcher Jordan Sims' No. 22 jersey for the second-straight contest, moved her season pitching record to 19-4 while lowering her earned run average to 1.06. She allowed two unearned runs, seven hits and only one extra-base hit. She struck out four and did not walk any of the 30 EIU batters she faced.
Eastern Illinois (28-20) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth when a pinch-hitting Jennifer Ames started a two-out rally with a single to left-centerfield. Kayla Bear followed with a second-straight single, moving Ames to second, before Taylor Monahan loaded the bases with an infield single. A fielding error allowed Ames to score, before a strikeout ended the threat. A Panther insurance run was added an inning later when Maria Devito drove home Mady Poulter on a two-out infield single.
BELMONT 5, MURRAY STATE 1
OXFORD, Ala. - Belmont jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back on Thursday in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Choccolocco Park. The No. 8 Bruins (35-21) rolled over No. 5 Murray State (35-18), 5-1, to earn the program's first postseason victory in the Division I era.
Belmont wasted no time in putting runs over the plate in the top of the first frame. Sophomore Baylee Cook (Lewisburg, Tenn.) smacked a single to left. A Racer throwing error helped freshman Bailey Sims (Flowery Branch, Ga.) to reach before sophomore Hayley Baker (Rockwall, Texas) laid down a sac bunt to move the pair into scoring position. Junior Lexi Rouse (Macon, Ga.) singled and senior Chelsey Deloney (Gardendale, Ala.) doubled to send two runners home to give BU an early 2-0 lead. In their half of the same inning, Murray State trimmed the Belmont lead in half but strong defense kept it from adding more runs, even with the bases loaded.
After a quiet second inning, Belmont went to work again at the plate. Baker reached on four balls before Rouse drove a single up the middle. Deloney knocked a ball that bounced off the top of the fence in right field for a double that scored one. Murray State changed pitchers but the Bruins kept surging. Sophomore Jordan Spicer (Hendersonville, Tenn.) was walked to load the bases and senior Kayla Wells (Bonney Lake, Wash.) singled up the middle to add another run and put BU ahead, 4-1.
Both teams were silent offensively through the next three innings. Finally, Belmont posted an insurance run, courtesy of a solo home run by Deloney over the left center fence to expand the team's lead to 5-1. The Bruins were able to quickly retire the MSU side to seal the program's first postseason win in the Division I era.
For the day, Deloney was flawless, going 3-for-3 at the plate, including an insurance solo home run late in the game.
Inside the circle, freshman Brooklin Lee (Burns, Tenn.) went the distance, ringing up four strikeouts.
Belmont returns to action on Friday, May 12 in the OVC Tournament. The eighth-seeded Bruins take on No. 5 UT Martin beginning at 12:30 p.m