By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
AUBURN, Ala. – It was a year the likes of which won't soon be forgotten. One that was filled to the brim with memorable moment after memorable moment, culminating in an Ohio Valley Conference championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight seasons. And even though that year came to an end Saturday evening in the Auburn Regional, it wasn't without another unforgettable showing on the diamond, and a piece of program history by the 2015 Tennessee Tech softball team.
Facing elimination, the Golden Eagles (33-28) rolled off an impressive 8-2 victory over Chattanooga (35-14) for Tech's first win in the NCAA Tournament since a 3-1 nod over California back in 2007. The win that featured TTU runs in five of the seven innings kept the season alive, before the magical run finally concluded with a 9-3 loss to South Alabama (40-12) to tie a ribbon on the 2015 season.
"I'm very proud of our team, not only for this weekend but this entire year," TTU head coach Bonnie Bynum said, following the end of an incredible campaign. "It definitely stings a little losing that way, but I couldn't ask for anything more. I think we left it all out on the field as a coach and that's the only thing you can really ask for. I'm proud of the heart and fight of our team. They gave me everything they had."
From the onset, Tech made it abundantly clear that they were not going to see its season end quietly, and it took one pitch to prove that point. In the day's opener against UTC, senior Angi Sakamoto took the contest's first offering over the right-center field wall for a leadoff home run, the Waipahu, Hawaii native's seventh of the season.
The leadoff shot kick started a Tech offense that would go on to pound out 12 hits in the tilt, scoring in five of the seven innings as well. The Golden Eagles padded their lead in the top of the third, using a two-run single off the bat of junior Sabrie Neeb to extend the Tech edge to 3-0.
Chattanooga would come back with a run in the bottom of the frame, but TTU rattled off three in the fourth, one in the fifth, and one more in the seventh to essentially put the game on ice with an 8-1 advantage.
In the top of the fourth after loading the bases with one out thanks to a pair of singles by junior Olivia Bennett and freshman Bayli Cruse, along with a walk to sophomore Kelly Kennedy, the Golden Eagles struck for three. Junior Madison Taylor drove in the first run with a bases loaded walk, before junior Corntey Fry collected an RBI single, and Angi Sakamoto drove in a third run with a sacrifice fly that pushed the Tech advantage to 6-1.
Bayli Cruse was responsible for driving in TTU's final two runs in the contest, singling home pinch-runner Amity Brown in the fifth, before drilling a seventh-inning solo home run to dead center for the freshman's fifth round tripper of the season.
Cruse would end the first game with a 3-for-4 showing, one of three Tech players to notch a multi-hit affair along with Fry, who went 3-for-4 out of the No. 9 spot, and Sakamoto, who wrapped up the tilt with a 2-for-3 clip that included two runs scored and two RBI.
Inside the circle, sophomore Danielle Liberatore (20-12) held up her end of the bargain, pitching her sixth complete game of the playoffs to lead the Golden Eagles to the victory. The 5-foot-10 southpaw gave up just two runs (one earned) on five hits, walking five, and striking out four. Senior Taylor Deason (15-7) suffered the loss after lasting 4 1/3 innings, surrendering seven runs (five earned) on eight hits.
The Golden Eagles mirrored a similar quick start in the day's second elimination game against South Alabama, plating three in the first two innings to grab a quick 3-1 edge.
The Jaguars christened the scoring with a run in the top of first, despite the benefit of a hit, but Tech came right back to knot the tilt in the home half of the frame. Angi Sakamoto whistled one through the right side for a single to lead off the inning, before the 5-foot-5 outfielder came around to score two batters later on a Hannah Eldridge run-scoring knock.
Olivia Bennett wasted no time in breaking the 1-1 deadlock in the top of the second, clobbering a leadoff home run to push Tech to a 2-1 lead. The towering blast, which went three quarters up the video board hanging high above the wall in left center, caps off a tremendous junior campaign that saw Bennett pace the Golden Eagles with 16 home runs.
Tech would go on to put the next two runners aboard, capitalizing on a Jaguar error on a ball hit by Bayli Cruse, before Cortney Fry singled to put runners on first and second with no one out. South Alabama freshman Kalen McGill nearly escaped the precarious position after retiring the next two Golden Eagle hitters, but the 5-foot-10 right-hander could not get out of the inning without giving up another run.
Angi Sakamoto was hit a pitch that loaded the bases, leading to a Sabrie Neeb RBI single that brought across Fry to give TTU a 3-1 lead.
Senior Taylor Ketchum, who was making just her second start of the season and first in nearly two months, secured the lead into the top of the fourth after yielding just one hit over the first three innings to the Sun Belt Tournament champions.
However in the top of the fourth, the South Alabama offense turned it on, starting a string of three consecutive innings in which the Jaguars threw up a crooked number.
It began with a two-run fourth inning that featured an Amanda Minahan solo home run, and a pinch-hit RBI single by freshman Haleigh Lowe that knotted the score at 3-3. Then in the top of the fifth, the weather reared its ugly head…again.
An almost seemingly staple of Tech's playoff run in the OVC and NCAA Tournament, the top of the fifth featured two separate rain delays that totaled 58 minutes with the tarp draped on Jane B. Moore Field. When the skies finally parted and play resumed, South Alabama added two more runs, scoring after the first delay on a strikeout that went all the way to the backstop to allow freshman Kaleigh Todd to touch up home, before adding a second run after the second delay on an RBI single off the bat of senior Blair Johnson.
The Jaguars capped off their scoring with a four-run sixth to give themselves enough breathing room with a six-run cushion. In the inning, South Alabama scored all four of its runs with two out, thanks to a bases clearing triple by Amanda Minahan, and a wild pitch that allowed the 5-foot-6 sophomore to come on home with the final Jaguar run.
Minahan ended the tilt with a home run, a triple, and four RBI, and was also one of three South Alabama players to score two runs, joining junior Emily Messer and Kaleigh Todd.
Despite a gritty performance in her swan song, Ketchum (1-2) was saddled with the loss after allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings in her first stint in the circle since May 2. Freshman Devin Brown earned the win in relief, retiring 16 of the 17 Golden Eagle she faced, including the last 15 to push the Jaguars to the championship game of the region against No. 4 Auburn on Sunday.
Offensively, Cortney Fry led the charge with a 5-for-9 showing in the Regional, and made a slew of highlight reel plays at the hot corner. In fact, her diving catch on a bunt attempt in the sixth inning was featured on Saturday evening's SportsCenter Top 10, coming in as the No. 9 play of the day.
Tennessee Tech wraps up a 2015 season that saw the program earn its seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament after capturing its seventh OVC Tournament championship. The Golden Eagles went undefeated in the conference tournament, becoming the first Tech squad to run the table in the OVC tourney since 2006. The club also enjoyed its best conference record, and most wins in a season since the 2007 campaign.
"We've taken great strides from the beginning of the season to where we are now," coach Bynum claimed on what was a remarkable 2015. "I told the team that nobody counted us at top of our conference much less being in a regional and competing for a place to play on Sunday. From where we started to where we ended up, I couldn't be more proud."