Golden Eagles keep tourney hopes alive, sweep two at Morehead

The Tennessee Tech softball team made a huge stride into locking up a spot in the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference championship tournament Sunday, beating Morehead State by scores of 3-1 and 7-3.

The Golden Eagles (22-27,9-11 OVC) now rank in sixth place, four games ahead of Tennessee State with just six conference matchups remaining.

The first game of the day picked up in the second inning after being suspended Saturday due to rain. After going hitless for the first three innings, Tech loaded the bases in the fourth on two singles and a walk. With two outs, junior Callie Schmidt singled to score fellow juniors Lacie Coquerille and Kaleigh Gates to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 advantage.

Morehead State was able to load the bases in the fourth, but was shut down by the Tech defense until the sixth inning when a pair of doubles cut the lead to just one.

The Golden Eagles were able to hold off and even added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Brittany Spalding hit her first career home run to left center field, sealing the game at 3-1.

Sophomore Holly Thomas picked up her 11th win of the year, striking out six and allowing four hits and one run in seven innings in the circle.

In game two, Tech jumped ahead early, scoring three runs in the first inning. With the bases loaded after a hit batter and two walks, junior Lacie Coquerille scored freshman Melody Christian from third on a sacrifice fly to center. Following her, an error by a MSU infielder allowed two more runs to score, putting Tech ahead 3-0.

The Golden Eagles added two more in the second, taking advantage of doubles by Coquerille and freshman Chanelle Spalding and another MSU error, putting them on top 5-0.

Pitching miscues allowed the Eagles to load the bases in the bottom of the third and set them up for a two-run single by Bianca Cardenas, cutting the lead to three.

After a lead off single in the fourth, sophomore Whitney Cummings doubled to left to put runners on second and third. An error by the Eagles' outfield on a fly ball by Coquerille allowed both runners to score, giving Tech a 7-2 lead.

That score held until the bottom of the seventh when Morehead State mustered one last run off of a single and double, ending the scoring at 7-3.

Schmissrauter got the win for the Golden Eagles, striking out three and allowing four hits in her 2.1 innings of work. Thomas entered the game in the third and struck out seven batters in 4.2 innings of relief.

Chanelle Spalding went 3-7 on the day and scored three runs.Coquerille was 2-5 with two RBIs and a run scored.

The Golden Eagles make a trip to Western Kentucky on April 28th before returning home for back-to-back OVC weekends starting May 1st against Eastern Kentucky.