KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – For the second straight day, the Tennessee Tech softball team was defeated in a pair of games at the Tennessee Invitational. The Golden Eagles lost 4-0 to Campbell in their first game on Saturday morning before dropping a 6-2 contest versus Liberty.
TTU finished the tournament with a 0-4 record and is now 8-14 this season. The Golden Eagles have lost eight consecutive games after being two games above .500 (8-6) to begin the month of March.
Campbell improves its record to 5-14-1 with the win, while Liberty moves to 10-5 after defeating Tech for the third time in four days.
Campbell 4, Tech 0
After three scoreless frames to begin the game, Campbell took a 1-0
lead in the top of the 4th inning on a solo home run
before tacking on three more in the 5th to move ahead
4-0.
Tech did not have a response as the Golden Eagles managed just three hits for the game. Holly Thomas, Kaleigh Gates and Melody Christian each finished the game 1-for-3, while Stacey Butts reached base twice on a pair of walks.
Thomas (5-7) started the game and pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits. She struck out three batters before being replaced by Whitney Cummings
Cummings allowed just one hit in 2.2 innings in the circle. She struck out two without allowing a walk.
Liberty 6, Tech 2
Claudia Harke (0-4) started TTU’s second game of the day and
went 4.0 innings with five strikeouts. She allowed four runs (two
earned) on six hits but did not allow a walk.
Christian finished 2-for-3 with a pair of singles, while Lindsey Umberger went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. Lacie Coquerille scored the other Golden Eagle run as she went 1-for-4 at the plate, and Stacey Butts finished 1-for-2 with the lone Tech RBI.
Liberty scored one run in the 2nd inning, three in the 4th and two in the 7th to take a 6-0 lead going into Tech’s final at-bat.
The Golden Eagles started quickly in their half of the 7th as the first four batters reached base. Umberger started the rally with a walk before Erin Cutlip, Coquerille and Butts each followed with singles, the last of which brought home Umberger to score the first TTU run of the day. Tech had the bases loaded with no outs but could only manage one more run, coming off a Liberty error.
Tech finished the game with nine hits, the teams most in 10 games since the Golden Eagles posted a season-high 12 hits against Western Carolina.
Tech returns to action on Tuesday when the team travels to UT Chattanooga for a game at 4 p.m.
