April 1, 2012

Wild finish as Golden Eagles beat SEMO to take the series

Down to its final strike and down one run, the Tennessee Tech softball team needed some assistance to come back to beat the Redhawks Sunday.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Down by one with two outs and the bases loaded, junior Chanelle Spalding faced a two-two count. With one swing of the bat, she ended up on first and two runners crossed the plate, giving the Tennessee Tech softball team a 3-2 win over Southeast Missouri on Sunday.

A Redhawk error, their fourth of the game, and smart baserunning by the Golden Eagles aided senior pitcher Holly Thomas to her tenth win of the year. The victory also kept Tech (14-19, 8-7 OVC) in front of SEMO in the Ohio Valley Conference standings as the Golden Eagles are nearing the halfway point of their conference season.

The Redhawks (13-20, 6-8 OVC) loaded the bases in the first inning, but freshman Hannah Eldridge made a great play on a ground ball and flipped it back-handed to second to get Tech out of the jam.

SEMO scored first, however, as a walk, single and a triple by Evan Sallis gave the Redhawks a pair of runs in the top of the fourth.

The Golden Eagles cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the frame, as sophomore Cassie Garrett hit an RBI triple of her own to score Tyler Templet from first.

The Redhawks threatened again in the seventh, putting two runners in scoring position. Thomas was able to shut down the SEMO bats, forcing a pair of infield groundouts to end the inning.

After a pair of errors and a hit batter to open the bottom of the seventh, Spalding hit a bouncing grounder to third that was mishandled, allowing Christian Gibbs and Brittney Spalding to score and give Tech the 3-2 win.

Thomas struck out four and allowed eight hits and a pair of runs in her 13th complete game of the year.

Alora Marble suffered the loss, giving up six hits and one earned run while striking out three.

Sallis and Kaitlin Wallace batted in runs for SEMO while Tech's only RBI came from Garrett.

The Golden Eagles hit the road for a doubleheader at Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday before returning home to host Murray State in a three-game series Friday and Saturday.