Golden Eagles blank Murray State behind stellar effort from Thomas
Holly Thomas struck out a season-high 10 batters and the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles blanked Murray State, 4-0, Saturday afternoon to win the final game of the OVC series.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
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0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X | 4 | 9 | 1 |
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Holly Thomas isn’t quite
ready to let the sun set on the Tennessee Tech softball team in
2012. The senior pitcher slammed the door on visiting Murray State
Saturday afternoon as the Golden Eagles salvaged a 4-0 win in the
series finale.
The win kept Tech (15-21/9-9 OVC) in the thick of the chase to
reach the OVC Tournament in early May. Thomas was outstanding in
the circle to earn her 11th win of the year (11-10),
allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out 10 MSU
batters. It was her season-high for strikeouts and matched the
team’s best effort in the circle this year.
Thomas [in photo] retired the final 11 batters she faced and 15 of
the last 16 after the third inning; the lone MSU base runner after
the third inning reached on an error.
The Racers (15-13 /10-7 OVC) had claimed a pair of 1-0 wins on
Friday, but were stonewalled by Thomas, who didn’t allow a
hit over the final five innings. Shelby Kosmecki (7-7) who got one
of the Friday wins, took the loss Saturday. She worked 2.1 innings,
allowing two runs on four hits.
Thomas faced a dilemma right away in the top of the first
following a leadoff walk and a single, but got the next two batters
on strikes and ended the threat with a harmless ground ball.
The Racers also threatened in the second with a leadoff double by
Leslie Bridges and a two-out single from Sarah Anderson that put
runners on the corners. Another strikeout quelled that rally and
kept things scoreless.
The Golden Eagles rewarded Thomas with a couple of runs in the
bottom of the third, Tech’s first runs of the series. Melody
Christian opened the frame with an infield single and moved to
second on a sacrifice bunt by Kayla Floyd. Cassie Garrett singled
to put runners on the corners and Brooke Basten walked to load the
sacks.
MSU made a pitching change as Chelsey Sullivan took over for
Kosmecki. Kendall Hooper hit a long foul fly ball to right field
that served as a sacrifice when Christian tagged up and raced home
for a 1-0 lead. A bouncing single up the middle by Chanelle
Spalding made it 2-0 as Garrett trotted home.
As Thomas got stronger, the Golden Eagles tacked on single runs in
the fourth and fifth.
A single by Samantha Everett, a passed ball and a two-out single
by Floyd put two aboard on the corners, and a double steal worked
when the throw to second was mishandled and pinch-runner Tyler
Templet crossed the plate for a 3-0 lead.
Hooper singled in the fifth and eventually scored on an RBI single
by Brittany Spalding for a 4-0 Tech lead.
Brittany Spalding had two of Tech’s nine its as eight of the
nine batters in the Golden Eagle lineup delivered hits.
The Golden Eagles face a pair of mid-week single games this week,
playing at Chattanooga Tuesday at 5 p.m. in a non-conference
matchup before hosting Eastern Kentucky Thursday at 3 p.m. in an
OVC battle. Admission is free to all of Tech’s regular season
home games.
Tech visits Eastern Illinois for a three-game OVC set on the
weekend.
Photo Credit: Tony Goodwin
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