By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
PEORIA, Ill. – The regular season is in the books, now the Tennessee Tech softball team looks to add another Ohio Valley Conference championship in their trophy case.
There's still plenty of work to be done and it all starts Wednesday morning as the Golden Eagles take on Lindenwood at 10 a.m. at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria, Ill., to open the 30th OVC Softball Championship.
The games will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required) with Max Thoma and Kirsten Dell handling broadcast duties.
While this is Tech's first visit to the OVC tournament since 2022 and second since 2017, the Golden Eagles are no stranger to the postseason event, posting a 57-36 all-time record in the OVC Softball Championship with seven tournament titles – 1995, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2015.
The conference will announce its All-OVC honorees at a banquet on Tuesday night before the start of competition.
The crux of the matter is the Golden Eagles (22-22, 12-13 OVC) will have to find a way to take down the Lions to advance into the double-elimination portion of the tournament. Lindenwood vs. Tech and UT Martin vs. SIUE are single-elimination games, sending the loser back home after one contest.
Tech is 0-6 against Lindenwood (25-24, 13-14 OVC) in the two seasons the Lions have been members of the OVC. The games this season were close with Lindenwood taking a 3-1 win in the opener a 4-3 advantage in game two and a 9-8 decision in extra innings in the finale.
Carmen Betts had a monster weekend in the series, batting .667 – 8-for-12 – with three doubles and a home run, while driving in seven. Her performance that weekend helped her earn a share of the OVC Player of the Week back on April 1.
Sydney Kirby, who has been tearing up opposing defenses in the last three weeks, drove in two in the series, while Abby Shoulders and Sofia Carroll also drove in runs for the Golden Eagles. Tech batted .283 in the three games, outhitting the Lions 26-22.
It's hard to beat a team four times in a season, and the Golden Eagles are determined to power through in the tourney opener.
After all, this is a season where Tech is determined to erase the memory of the 2023 campaign, a year where the Golden Eagles went 6-44 overall and 2-21 in the conference. What a difference a year makes – Tech is in line for one of the best turnarounds in Division I this season with 16 more overall victories and 10 more conference wins.
As a team, Lindenwood is batting .236, collecting 55 extra-base hits – 39 doubles, eight triples and eight home runs. This is not a team that is going to be hitting for power, but they find ways to get the win. The Lions were eighth in hitting in conference play, batting .232 against OVC competition and driving in the third-fewest runs in the league with 74.
The top producer for the Lions has been Irelynn West, who has 19 RBI and come home to score 18 times to go along with her .259 batting average. No one on the Lindenwood lineup is batting over .300, but Mya Bethany (.292) is close. She has 20 runs scored and 13 RBI to accompany her team-best 42 hits.
Pitching has been a major part of their success. While Lindenwood was ranked sixth in the league based on earned run average, their staff mark of 3.03 in league play is a respectable number, while the Lions' 167 strikeouts were second in the conference behind only Southern Indiana at 172. Lindenwood averaged a conference-best 6.5 strikeouts per seven innings in league play. In the three games Tech played against the Lions this season, the Golden Eagles struck out 19 times.
Amanda Weyh leads the Lions with a 15-8 record and a 2.00 ERA, walking 38 and striking out 159. She has allowed 51 runs – 46 earned – over 161 1/3 innings of work. Avery Wapp (9-12, 3.07 ERA) has walked 26 and struck out 123, allowing 61 runs – 59 earned – in 134 1/3 innings.
In game one, Tech posted one run on Weyh as she went 5 2/3 in the opener, yielding four hits with two strikeouts. Wapp, in relief, gave up one hit and struck out two. In the second game, the pair flipped as Wapp started, allowing three runs on eight hits over five frames, striking out seven Golden Eagles. Weyh threw the final two innings, striking out four without allowing a base runner.
After Tech tagged starter Molly Berkey for six runs in the first two innings of the finale, Weyh threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with two strikeouts. Wapp came in for the final inning and a third, claiming the win as Lindenwood scored the game-winning run in the top of the eighth and shut the door as she retired all four Golden Eagles faced.
Tech, as a team, is batting .284, collecting 87 extra-base hits – 68 doubles, five triples and 14 home runs. Betts (.382), Kirby (.315) and Mac Fitzgerald (.308) are all hitting above .300 with Betts collecting 41 RBI on the season and 24 runs scored. Kirby has 34 RBI and 12 runs scored, while Fitzgerald has 13 RBI and 43 runs scored. Shoulders (.270) has driven in 22 and scored 29 times.
Fitzgerald ranks fourth nationally in stolen bases as she has gone 35-for-35 on the year. She ranks third in program history in career stolen bases with 81, needing eight more to tie Melody Christian at 89 and 50 to tie program leader Stacy Hughes at 131.
Betts, meanwhile, added her name to the career Top 10 with her 102nd RBI. She passed former teammate Sydney Love-Baker as Betts eclipsed the century mark. With a productive run in the tournament, she could rise as high as sixth with Candice Clark at 115.
In the circle, Tech has a 3.71 ERA, paced by Payton Wagner's 2.34 and Emily York's 2.38. Both pitchers have identical 8-4 records on the season. York also has seven saves to stand among the nation's top relievers, tying Bonnie Bynum Graham's program record of seven in 2005.
The winner of Wednesday's opener will take on Tennessee State at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The Golden Eagles won the first game 7-4 on Sunday and were leading the second game 3-0 when the contest was called in the fifth inning for weather and field conditions before it could be ruled an official game, erasing the effort.
