By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech softball team rallied to take the lead in the sixth, but the valiant effort was dashed as Lipscomb tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, then hit a walk-off leadoff home run in the home half of the seventh to take the rubber game 6-5 on Sunday afternoon.
In all, Lipscomb (11-10) hit four home runs in the contest, accounting for five of its six runs in the contest.
The Golden Eagles (10-9) return to action on Friday as they return to Johnson City for the ETSU Classic as they take on Radford and host East Tennessee State.
Alyssa Arden took the loss to fall to 7-3 on the season. She worked six frames, facing one in the seventh, as she allowed six runs on seven hits with five strikeouts. Lipscomb starter Chloe Yeager went 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs – two earned – on eight hits as she struck out two. Katie Turner closed out the contest to earn her fourth win of the season, allowing just one hit with a strikeout over the final inning and two-thirds.
The storyline of the game was the four home runs as Presley Leebrick hit a solo shot in the first, then Kamrie Rich hit the first of her two homers with a two-run blast in the second.
Tech added a solo run in the fourth as Nicolle Nystead drove in Beth McCulley with a double to center field, but the Lady Bisons reclaimed the run in the bottom half of the frame as Turner had an RBI single to left for the lone non-homer scoring play.
An error in left field on Raleigh Lewis' batted ball allowed Sydney Love-Baker to score for a run in the fifth, then three hits and an error led to three Golden Eagle runs in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. A throwing error by the pitcher allowed Nysted to score, Chandler Caldwell came home on a wild pitch, then a Lowery triple pushed Love-Baker across.
Lipscomb tied the game in the bottom of the sixth as Hannah DeVault hit a solo home run to left center, then clinched the win with Rich's second home run of the day to lead off the bottom of the seventh, facing an 0-2 count.
