By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
ATLANTA, Ga. – Offense was the story in Tuesday's non-conference doubleheader as the Tennessee Tech softball team and Georgia State combined for 34 runs in the pair of contests. The Golden Eagles (22-19, 9-5) ultimately found themselves on the wrong side of the offensive showcase, falling in both games with a 12-11 defeat in the opener, and a 12-1 loss in the night cap.
Tech started strong in the first tilt after spotting the Panthers (25-15) four runs in the bottom of the first, rolling out eight of its own in the top of the second to seize an 8-4 lead. Junior Sabrie Neeb started the barrage with a leadoff triple into right field, which was promptly followed by a Bayli Cruse RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-1.
The Neeb knock was one of four throughout the course of the day for the Front Royal, Va. native, who accounted for TTU's lone run in the second game with a fourth-inning solo home run. The round tripper was the second in the last three games and third in the last eight for the 5-foot-7 infielder, who has also hit safely in seven of the last eight games as well.
The Cruse run-scoring single was followed by a GSU error and a Cortney Fry infield single to load the bases, setting the table for the top of Tech's order that came through in clutch fashion two batters later.
Leadoff hitter Angi Sakamoto singled in a run to trim the Panther advantage to 4-2, before a two-run Hannah Eldridge base hit up the middle deadlocked the contest at 4-4. Junior Olivia Bennett kept the line moving with an RBI double to put the Golden Eagles ahead 5-4, before sophomore Alyssa Richards capped off the impressive inning with a three-run home run that pushed the TTU lead to 8-4.
Richards' seventh long ball of the season was one of three times that the Italy, Texas native reached base, thanks to a pair of walks as well, while Eldridge ended the opener a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored.
Georgia State responded to Tech's second-inning fireworks with two runs in the bottom of the frame, using a Lauren Coleman bases-loaded walk and a Mandy Blackwell sacrifice fly to chop the Golden Eagle edge to 8-6.
An inning later, Panther freshman Ivie Drake singled home junior Taylor Anderson to make it a one-run affair, one of three hits for the GSU No. 3 hitter that included a fifth-inning solo home run as well. In fact, the top of the Panther order went a combined 9-for-14 in the opener with Anderson, Drake, and senior Ashley Christy all collecting three hits in the tilt.
Tech bounced back from the pair of shaky innings with a run in the fourth and one more in the fifth to take a 10-7 lead. Bayli Cruse drove home Hannah Eldridge with an RBI groundout in the fourth, before Eldridge accounted for Tech's run in the fifth with a single up the middle that plated freshman Callen Griffin.
The momentum swung back towards GSU behind the Ivie Drake solo shot in the bottom of the fifth that trimmed the deficit to 10-8, before the Panthers mounted a two-run seventh inning comeback to send the game into extra innings. Georgia State loaded the bases with one down in the frame, ahead of scoring its first run on a wild pitch, and the second one on a Lauren Coleman RBI single.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Panthers walked off with the win, scoring two batters into the frame. Taylor Anderson led things off with a single, which was followed by an Ashley Christy tripled into right center that ended the game.
Sophomore Taylor Thorpe (13-3) earned the win in relief, tossing 4 2/3 innings of three-hit, one-run ball. Junior Hannah Weaver (6-8) suffered the loss in relief after pitching the bottom of the eighth. Thorpe would go on to win the day's second game, going the distance and surrendering one run, while Weaver was hit with the loss in the second clash in what was the 5-foot-5 righty's first start since Mar. 25.
Georgia State carried its strong offensive performance from the first contest right into the second one, posting crooked numbers on the board in four of the game's five innings.
The Panthers slugged four home runs in the tilt, including two off the bat of sophomore Megan Litumbe to push the Grayson, Ga. native's total to 14 on the year. Litumbe's two-run shot in the bottom of the first put GSU ahead 3-0, while her leadoff blast in the third was one of two runs scored in the inning to push the Panther advantage to 5-0.
Ivie Drake got in on the long-ball brigade with a solo home run as part of a two-run bottom of the fourth that padded the GSU lead to 7-1, before the Panthers ended the contest an inning later with a five-run fifth thanks in large part to a Callie Alford grand slam that capped the Georgia State scoring at 12-1.
The Golden Eagles jump back into conference action over the weekend, welcoming Jacksonville State to Tech Softball Field for a three-game series. The two schools will play a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. CT, before closing out the set with a Sunday single game, also at 1 p.m.
Admission to all Golden Eagle home regular season games is free.
