Weather suspends half of Golden Eagles' doubleheader vs. UT-Martin
After just an inning and a half into the second game of the day, inclement weather moved in and forced play between Tennessee Tech and UT-Martin to be suspended. That game will resume from that point on Sunday at 1 p.m., followed by the regularly-scheduled game.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Playing ball wasn't the only thing on the mind of the Tennessee Tech softball team Saturday as the Golden Eagles hosted the first-ever Sharon Speiser Memorial Weekend.
Sharon Speiser was the mother of two former Golden Eagles and the aunt of two more. She was proud to be a part of the Tennessee Tech family. Sharon lost her battle with breast cancer in December at the age of 56, inspiring the Golden Eagles to take action.
Coach Tory Acheson and his team gathered donations and sold t-shirts to raise funding for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to further breast cancer awareness and research. Acheson spoke to the crowd following the first game and introduced Sharon's daughters Katie and Holly and her nieces Whitney and Lindsay Williams. He told stories of Sharon and encouraged fans to join the Golden Eagles in the fight against breat cancer.
With both teams donning pink on their uniforms, game one started out in Tech's favor. Senior pitcher Holly Thomas shut down the Skyhawks in the first two innings and allowed just one hit through the fourth.
In the bottom of the first, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases with back-to-back-to-back singles, but stranded all three after a pair of fly outs.
UT-Martin struck first in the third inning as Leah Taylor's triple scored a runner who reached on a Tech error.
The Golden Eagles threatened once again in the fourth, getting singles by senior Samantha Everett and freshman Angi Sakamoto. Once again, back-to-back fly outs ended the scoring potential.
The Skyhawks added three runs in the fifth off three singles, a double and a Tech error, making the score 4-0.
Freshman pitcher Taylor Ketchum took over to finish the game for Tech, but gave up a pair of insurance runs to UT-Martin in the seventh. After a single and a sacrifice bunt, the Skyhawks mustered a pair of singles to end the scoring at 6-0.
Thomas suffered the loss, giving up a pair of earned runs and five hits in her five innings of work. She struck out three and walked just one.
UT-Martin's Chelsea Jones picked up the win, her tenth of the year. She allowed seven hits and struck out three.
For the Skyhawks, Taylor and Kayla Wade combined to go 4-for-8 with three runs scored and three RBI.
The Golden Eagles were led by Sakamoto, who went 2-for-3 on the day.
After just an inning and a half into the second game of the day, inclement weather moved in and forced play between Tennessee Tech and UT-Martin to be suspended. That game will resume from that point on Sunday at 1 p.m., followed by the regularly-scheduled game.
