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2010 OVC Tournament Bracket
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State out-hit the visiting UT Martin softball team 6-3 Sunday afternoon, but the Skyhawks took advantage of an Eagle fielding error and got out of a couple of jams on defense as they defeated MSU 3-1 at University Field.
UTM finished off the three-game sweep of MSU and moved to 45-9 and 22-3 to finish the OVC regular season. Morehead State, meanwhile, fell to 27-22 and finished 14-9 in the league. The Eagles will be the third seed for this week’s OVC Tournament at Martin, Tenn., and MSU will face sixth-seeded Tennessee Tech in the first round on Thursday, May 13 at Noon EST. UTM gets a bye in the opening round and will face the winner of fourth seed Eastern Illinois and fifth seed Murray State who will play at 2:30 p.m. EST.
Two weeks ago, Tennessee Tech took two of three games from the Eagles in Morehead.
The Eagles threatened early in the first two innings. MSU got its first two hitters on base before a fielder’s choice forced leadoff batter
Elizabeth Wagner out at third. UTM pitcher Paij Lintz then struck out
Amber Riddle.
Rebecca Butler singled into left field to load the bases. With a 2-2- count,
Bethany Ellis appeared to either be hit by Lintz’ next pitch or the ball hit the end of the bat. Initially, Ellis was called out, but after deliberation, the umpiring crew determined it was a foul ball. Lintz froze Ellis on the next pitch for a strikeout to strand three MSU runners.
MSU had runners at the corners with only one out in the second, but once again Lintz coaxed a strikeout and a fly out to leave two more Eagle runners on base. MSU left eight on during the game.
The Skyhawks broke onto the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. With the bases loaded, Kalah Mathis’ grounder to short was misplayed, allowing Chelsea Cary to score. Kate Vanderham singled up the middle for the second run, and Laurie Lindow lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to stake UTM to a 3-0 lead with two of the runs being unearned.
The Eagles would not be shut out, however. Wagner led off the bottom of the fifth frame with her first career home run – a solo shot to straightaway center field. MSU again had runners in scoring position in the sixth but could not generate the timely hitting needed to decrease their disadvantage on the scoreboard.
Lintz tossed the first four innings, allowing all six hits but just the one run, to improve to 24-3 in 2010. Vanderham finished the game, allowing nothing but two walks in the final three to collect a save. Senior pitcher
Sarah Funston (12-11) was slapped with the loss despite allowing just one hit and one earned run in 3.1 innings.
Alex Gjevre finished out the game, giving up just two hits in 3.2 innings.
The game closed out the home careers of MSU seniors Funston, Gjevre, Ellis,
Ashley Archer,
Bianca Cardenas,
Brittany Scheer, and
Courtney Seiler. Butler and Wagner each had two of MSU’s six hits.
