By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – An early setback in the first game coupled with a Kentucky power outage in the second tilt proved to be the difference in Saturday's Wildcat sweep over the Tennessee Tech softball team in the 2015 home opener.
No. 10 Kentucky (13-3) plated five-first inning runs en route to a 5-1 win in the day's opening affair, before smacking four home runs in the second game to cap off the twin bill sweep with a 10-0 victory.
Tech junior Hannah Weaver (3-3) fell victim to a shaky start and some bad luck in the first inning of the opener, yielding five hits that resulted in a Wildcat five-spot in the frame. A bunt single, a pair of seeing eye knocks, and a couple of bloop hits led to the big inning, as Weaver wasn't hit all that hard to start off the contest.
In fact, the Corona, Calif. native would settle down after the ominous start, blanking the Wildcats over the next six innings while surrendering just three hits in the process as part of a complete-game performance.
UK got on the board thanks to a two-run Griffin Joiner single up the middle with none out in the opening frame. Four batters later after the Wildcats added a run on a Breanne Ray RBI knock to center, senior Kara Howard bumped the lead to 5-0 with a two-out, two-run single that plated both Ray and Joiner.
Joiner would go on to have a big doubleheader after a home run and three RBI in the second game to end the day with three hits, two runs scored, and five RBI.
Offensively, Tech (6-9) managed five hits in the first game, two of which came off the bat of senior Hannah Eldridge, who would end the double-dip with three total knocks after a 1-for-2 second-game showing. The 5-foot-5 infielder scored the lone Golden Eagle run as well, coming across on a two-out third inning RBI single by Sakamoto after Eldridge reached on a Wildcat error to begin the frame.
Eldridge would also play the role of catalyst in the bottom of the fifth, helping give TTU a look at the game late. The Fayetteville, Tenn. native began the inning with a single to left, which was followed by a Bayli Cruse base hit to left to put runners on first and second. Kentucky's Kelsey Nunley (5-1) would wiggle out of the jam though, retiring the next three Golden Eagles to escape further trouble. The junior right-hander got the call on a 3-2 pitch to strikeout junior Sabrie Neeb looking, changing the complexion of the inning.
Instead of bases loaded and no one out, UK quelled the Tech rally after senior Angi Sakamoto lined out hard to right field and junior Madison Taylor skied to left to end the TTU threat.
Nunley would wind up going the distance to notch her fifth win of the season, allowing only one unearned run while scattering five hits and punching out five as well.
Golden Eagle sophomore Danielle Liberatore (3-5) kept Kentucky off the board in the first inning of the second game, making it seven consecutive frames in which the Wildcats failed to score. The streak snapped in the top of the second though on the first of four UK long balls as freshman Rachael Metzger touched them all with a solo shot to left center to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
An inning later the aforementioned Griffin Joiner stroked a two-run shot to dead center, helping Kentucky take a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the third after Metzger notched her second RBI of the tilt with a run-scoring single down the left field line that brought home junior Darington Richardson with two down.
UK padded its advantage with two more in the fourth on a Sylver Samuel RBI triple and a Joiner run-scoring knock, before the Wildcats capped off their scoring with a four-run fifth inning that saw a pair of Kentucky round trippers. A pinch-hit two-run home run by freshman Haley Andrus bumped the lead to 8-0, while a two-run Christian Stokes long ball gave UK a 10-0 lead.
TTU had its opportunities to try and get back into the contest, but the Golden Eagles had a runner gunned down at the plate to end both the third and fourth innings. In the last of the third it was Sakamoto who came up empty trying to score on a Madison Taylor two-bagger, before pinch-runner Gabby Perez was thrown out in the fourth on a single up the middle by Hannah Eldridge.
Liberatore was tagged with the loss after giving up six runs in three and two-thirds innings, while UK sophomore Meagan Prince (7-2) recorded the victory with a five-hit shutout.
The Golden Eagles will be right back at it Sunday, welcoming in Northern Kentucky for a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. CST. Tech got the better of The Norse in the season-opener with a 10-0 victory back on Feb. 7 as part of the Kennesaw State University Kickoff Classic.
