By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Five games remain for the Tennessee Tech softball team at its friendly confines of the Tech Softball Field for the 2022 campaign and they're all important games for the Golden Eagles as they try to lock down seeding in the OVC Softball Championship at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala.
The home action begins on Wednesday as the Golden Eagles host Morehead State in a twinbill starting at 3 p.m. Tech will then host conference co-leader Murray State with a doubleheader Saturday and a single game on Sunday. The team will recognize its three departing seniors – Sydney Love-Baker, Callie Piper and Shelby Penning – in the home finale as part of Senior Day festivities.
Admission to all games at Tech Softball Field is free to the public.
Morehead State comes into the midweek series with a 5-31 record, 4-15 in the Ohio Valley and 3-9 since the Eagles last took on the Golden Eagles. After sweeping SIUE on April 15 and 16, MSU dropped a three-game set at Belmont, including a perfect game for Belmont hurler Emma Summers with 16 strikeouts, 13 on swinging strike threes.
Tech, meanwhile, enters Wednesday's affair with a 30-14 record – the first 30-win season for the Golden Eagles since 2015 and the 14th most wins in a single season in program history with two weeks remaining in the regular season. Tech currently stands with a 12-8 mark in the Ohio Valley and is 8-5 since the last time the two teams met. The Golden Eagles dropped two of three at Austin Peay, swept SIUE, was swept by Belmont, then swept Tennessee State on the road since, with a road win at Chattanooga mixed in for good measure.
The last time the two teams faced, Tech won both games in run-ruled fashion, topping the homestanding Eagles 9-1 and 8-0. Tyler Erwin, who picked up her 12th win of the season after going 3-0 last week, held Morehead State to two hits in the opener. Tech hit five home runs in the doubleheader as Shelby Penning hit two in the first game, then Haeli Bryson, Abby Buettner and Love-Baker each went yard in the day's finale.
As a team, Morehead State is hitting .216, collecting 77 RBI and scoring 90 runs. Opponents are hitting .350 against them, while driving in 219 runs and crossing home 258 times. Madeline Gailor leads the team with a .303 batting average and 16 RBI, while Peyton Slayter is the only other player on the MSU roster with double-digit RBI with 11.
Lennon Spicer leads MSU in the circle with a 5.15 ERA and a 3-16 record, walking 43 and striking out 73. As a staff, the Eagles have a 6.31 ERA with 143 walks and 121 strikeouts.
The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are batting .289 with 225 RBI and 257 runs scored, while opponents are hitting .265, driving in 151 runs and scoring 163 times.
Bryson leads the team in batting average (.401), home runs (nine), RBI (36) and total bases (93), posting a .655 slugging and .456 on-base percentage. Mackenzie Fitzgerald is close behind with a .376 average, a team-best 46 runs scored and 59 hits, six home runs, 24 RBI, 88 total bases and a team-best 24 stolen bases in 26 tries.
Erwin, now at 12-2 on the season, has a team-best 3.38 ERA in 16 starts, walking 21 and striking out 40 in 78 2/3 innings. Bryson (5-3, 3.57 ERA) has walked 21 and struck out 46. Alyssa Arden, the team leader in wins with a 13-9 record and a 3.80 ERA, has walked 42 and struck out 88 across 129 innings.
Currently in the OVC standings, Murray State and Belmont are deadlocked at 16-4, while UT Martin (12-5) is in third by winning percentage and the Golden Eagles (12-8) are in fourth. Southeast Missouri (11-7) and Austin Peay (11-9) round out the double-digit game-winners, while Eastern Illinois and SIUE are tied at 6-14 to have a hold of what is currently the last two spots in the tournament field. Morehead State (4-15) and Tennessee State (3-17) are on the outside looking in.
Photo | Emily Armstrong
