By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
ATLANTA, Ga. – Tennessee Tech Softball will head down to the Peach State this weekend as the Golden Eagles will get four games of action at the Bob Heck Classic at Georgia State.
Inclement weather has cleared Friday's first two games of the tournament, but the Golden Eagles (6-3) will take on Harvard and Winthrop on Saturday with the games starting at 9 a.m. Central time. On Sunday, Tech will face Harvard at 8 a.m. Central, followed by a 1 p.m. meeting with the hosts Panthers.
It's the final weekend of tournament action as the Golden Eagles will open Ohio Valley Conference play at home next weekend against Southern Indiana.
The Crimson enters the weekend with a 4-1 record. Alexa Wohr leads the team with a .462 batting average and six RBI. While Audrey Szollosi is hitting .429 with a team-best five runs scored. Sophie Sun has the team's only home run thus far this season.
In the circle, Nicolette Hunter and Riley Flynn both have two wins on the season with Hunter holding on to a flawless 0.00 ERA and Flynn a 0.66. Flynn leads the team in strikeouts with 10. As a team, Harvard has a 0.65 ERA, while hitting .248.
Harvard opened its season last weekend at the North Florida-Jacksonville University Classic, collecting two wins over Manhattan, as well as one over Jacksonville and Iowa, with the lone loss coming to North Florida.
Winthrop enters the weekend with a 7-8 record, going 0-5 last weekend at the Campbell Camel Stampede with two losses to the host Camels. Two to Saint Joseph's and one to the University of the Incarnate Word. That comes after the Eagles swept their own home event with wins over Binghamton, Le Moyne College, Mount St. Mary's and Appalachian State.
Reese Basinger leads the team in average with a .381 mark, while Ansley Lee and former Golden Eagle KaDedra Temple lead the Eagles in RBI with five. Lee and Temple also have the team's two home runs on the season. Paige Rivas leads the team in runs scored with 12.
In the circle, Basinger leads the team in wins with a 4-5 record along with a 2.56 ERA and 46 strikeouts. Mackenzie Smith has Winthrop's top ERA with a 2.10, while Megan Powell (3-2, 3.28 ERA) has 33 strikeouts.
After starting the season 4-0, the Golden Eagles went 2-3 last week at the Blues City Tournament in Memphis. Tech beat DePaul 8-4 in the opener before falling 13-0 in five innings to Indiana State. DePaul claimed a 10-5 victory on the second day, then the Golden Eagles chopped down the Sycamores with a seven-run inning to take an 8-5 win. The host Tigers edged Tech 2-1 in the finale.
Abby Buettner leads the Golden Eagles in average with a .474 mark, while Carmen Betts has nine RBI, Sydney Kirby eight and Abby Shoulders seven. Shoulders and Mac Fitzgerald have Tech's two home runs so far this season – Fitzgerald's a grand slam last weekend. Shoulders also leads the team in runs scored with 11.
In the circle, freshman Emily York has a 2-0 mark and two saves with a 1.07 ERA, striking out 13 on the season. Faith Rush (2.28 ERA, 14 Ks) has a 1-1 record.
