By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The regular season is complete and the Tennessee Tech softball team is on the road to Peoria for the start of the Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex, but there's still some hardware to hand out.
Tech senior pitcher Payton Wagner was named the OVC co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday afternoon to give the Golden Eagles their third OVC Pitcher of the Week honor this season after Addison Abell won the award on February 10 and Lainey Fitzgerald on February 24.
The highlight of Wagner's week was undoubtedly her five-inning no-hitter on Sunday as the Golden Eagles run-ruled Morehead State 8-0 in five innings to lock up the No. 7-seed in this week's tournament.
The Simi Valley, Calif., product went the complete game and was a walk away from throwing a perfect game. Wagner also whiffed a Tech career best eight batters in the victory.
Wagner finished the conference slate with the fifth best earned run average in the league, posting a 2.03 against the OVC. She was 3-4 in the conference with opponents hitting .229 against her.
The no-hitter was the 20th in program history, joining Heather Peterson (two in 1995), Katie Maroon (two in 1997, one in 1998), Brandy Henry (1999, 2000), Lori Bayless (2002, 2003), Bonnie Bynum (two in 2004, one in 2005, 2006 and 2007), Holly Thomas (2009, 2011) and Alyssa Arden (three in 2019) to accomplish the feat. It was the first since Arden's no-no against Jacksonville State on April 9, 2019.
Wagner shared the weekly honor with Eastern Illinois pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi, who recorded a 0.82 ERA with a 3-0 record and one save in four appearances as the Panthers went 4-0 with a sweep over Western Illinois and a nine-inning midweek win over Illinois. She struck out 12 over the four games.
The No. 7-seeded Golden Eagles (19-33) open the OVC Softball Championship with a first-round matchup against No. 6 Tennessee State on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. The winner will advance to a second Wednesday contest against Southeast Missouri at 3 p.m., while the loser will see their season come to a close.
