Thomas blanks Skyhawks, 1-0 as Golden Eagles advance in OVC Tourney
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - For the second time in two weeks, Tennessee
Tech freshman Holly Thomas has pitched a complete-game, 1-0 shutout
over UT Martin.
This time, the clutch victory came Thursday in the first round of
the 2009 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Jacksonville State,
allowing coach Tory Acheson’s team to advance into the
winner’s bracket later in the day.
The fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (25-29) will challenge top-seeded
JSU at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
UT Martin, which came into the tournament as the No. 4 seed,
slipped into the loser’s bracket and will play Friday at 10
a.m.
Thomas (14-15), who was named Wednesday night to the OVC
All-Newcomer Team, limited the Skyhawks to six hits over seven
innings. She walked two and struck out two.
UTM starter Kara Harper (16-8) took the loss, going all seven
innings and allowing just one unearned run on nine hits. She walked
one Golden Eagles and struck out three.
Seven of the nine hitters in Tech’s lineup had hits in the
game, but the Golden Eagles could only scratch up one run, that
coming in the top of the fifth.
Thomas led off the inning with a single, but was erased at second
when Cassidy Skeen hit into a fielder’s choice. With two
outs, all-OVC sophomore Lacie Coquerille delivered a single to
center to put two runners aboard, and Kaleigh Gates reached on a
fielding error to load the bases.
Sophomore Callie Schmidt singled to the left side, scoring Skeen
for the 1-0 lead, and Thomas made it stick.
The Skyhawks threatened in their half of the fifth with a single,
wild pitch and walk, but Thomas got a fly out to end the
inning.
Each team left two runners aboard in the sixth inning. Harper left
runners on the corners with a groundout in the top of the frame,
then Thomas coaxed an inning-end groundout to strand Skyhawks at
first and second after the Skyhawks rallied with back-to-back,
one-out singles.
After Tech went 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, Thomas got two
ground ball outs to open the bottom of the inning. A walk put the
tying run on base, but a pop up to second bases ended the
contest.
The Skyhawks (33-21) had also threatened with a couple of hits in
the second inning, putting runners on first and second with nobody
out. A fly out was followed by a double-play grounder back to
Thomas to end it.
Sophomores Kaleigh Gates and Katie Betry had two hits each for the
Golden Eagles.
The game against JSU can be heard free on Teamline, either on the
Internet or telephone.
