By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech softball team played its final games at home in 2015, ending the Cookeville slate with a pair of losses to Murray State. The twin bill featured its fair share of bedlam, highlighted by an 83-minute weather delay in the second game, on the heels of a nearly two-hour delay before the day's first pitch was even thrown.
The Racers (27-16, 14-7) seized the first game, 4-0, before capturing a 14-5 win in a chaotic second game that saw both clubs produce dramatic comebacks.
With Tech (26-23, 13-8) trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth of the second tilt, weather forced the nearly hour and a half delay that forced TTU to halt its promising rally. The Golden Eagles had runners on the corners with one down, before lightning in the area attempted to put a wrench in Tech's plans.
When the two teams finally came back on to the diamond, the real lightning struck. Murray State sophomore, Mason Robinson, would register the second out of the inning, but the Golden Eagles proved that the frame was far from over.
Junior Olivia Bennett laced a grounder up the middle that caromed hard off the glove of a diving Shelbey Miller at second, and all the way to the wall for a two-run triple that sliced the deficit to 4-2. Freshman Bayli Cruse followed the clutch knock with one of her own, legging out a slow roller towards third for an RBI infield single that brought Tech within a run.
A walk to junior Madison Taylor that put runners on first and second brought an end to Robinson's outing, as the Racers called on senior CheyAnne Gaskey (15-8), who had already tossed a complete-game shutout in the opener. Sophomore Kelly Kennedy greeted Gaskey with a twisting fly ball down the right field line, which could not be handled by the Murray State right fielder, resulting in an error that allowed two runners to score to give the Golden Eagles their first lead of the day.
When it was all said and done, Tech had plated five two-out runs following the 83-minute delay to take a 5-4 lead into the top of the seventh inning.
The Racers weren't fazed by the dramatic comeback, putting together one of their own that saw the club score 10 runs to go ahead 14-5. Murray State sent 15 to the plate in the inning, pounding out 11 hits in the process.
Four Racers (Mo Ramsey, Jessica Twaddle, Shlebey Miller, Maggie Glass) collected two hits in the inning, including Glass, who slugged her second home run of the day after going yard in the seventh inning of the opener. Twaddle's two hits gave the Franklin, Tenn. native six on the day after she went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI in the first game, and 4-for-5 in the second tilt.
Twaddle was also one of three Racers to register at least three hits in the second game, joining senior Mo Ramsey and junior Erica Howard.
CheyAnne Gaskey ended up seizing the victory in relief to put together a two-win afternoon, while senior Erica Tuck (4-2) was saddled with the loss.
Murray State used a pair of long balls and a strong effort from Gaskey in the opener to come away with a victory to help pave the way for the doubleheader sweep. Twaddle smacked a two-run home run in the top of the first, one of three RBI for the 5-foot-6 first baseman in the contest after she drove in a run in the top of the third with a bunt single to push the Racer edge to 3-0.
Murray State padded its lead with a seventh-inning solo home run by sophomore Maggie Glass to cap off the scoring at 4-0.
Sophomore Danielle Liberatore (14-9) was hit with the loss, going the distance and giving up four runs on five hits (three infield singles), striking out six as well.
The final six games of the regular season will all be on the road for TTU, starting with a three-game weekend-series at Eastern Kentucky. On Saturday, Apr. 25 Tech will lock up with the Colonels in a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. CT, before closing out the series with a Sunday single-game, also starting at noon.
