CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team racked up 12 runs on the day – including 11 in a five-inning victory over Valpo – as the squad opened its stay at the Frost Classic with a split on Friday.
The Skyhawks improved to 5-6 on the season after overcoming a 3-1 setback to Ohio in the morning matchup and then rallying in the following game to outscore Valpo 11-2.
UT Martin posted a .283 batting average in the twinbill while Avry Blume and Kaci Fuller tallied three hits each. Joining in the action was Kyrsten Brown and Anna Blanton who also posted multiple hits on the day while Fuller and Annie Gutierrez paced the Skyhawks with three RBIs on the afternoon.
Katie Dreiling was hit with the loss after allowing three earned runs in seven innings of work while striking out six. In Game 2, Brooklynn Linneman earned the victory after striking out three in three innings of action while Kiersten Nixon tossed two shutout innings of relief.
Game 10: Ohio 3, UT Martin 1
UT Martin jumped out to an early lead after Fuller jump-started an impressive day with a solo home run to left field for her 16th homer of her career to take a 1-0 advantage.
Ohio responded in the following inning as a single by CiCi Keidel scored both Shelby Westl and Emma Hoffner to take a 2-1 advantage.
While the Skyhawks spoiled a prime scoring chance in the third inning as they stranded three players on base, Ohio came back in the top of the fourth and capitalized on its chance as Brenna Farme padded the Bobcat lead with a sacrifice fly.
Game 11: UT Martin 11, Valpo 2 (Five innings)
Valpo was the first team to get on the scoreboard in the second game of the day as Carson Kuhlmann singled through the right side to score Lauren Sena and take a 1-0 advantage.
UT Martin charged back in the top of the third inning by scoring all 11 of its runs in the frame. Dreiling and Nixon drove in the team’s first two runs to take the lead before Gutierrez cleared the bases with a double to left field to take a 5-0 lead. After a flurry of substitutions, Brown tripled down the right field line and drove in a pair. A sacrifice bunt from Dylan Scott scored the team’s eighth run before Fuller tripled to center and pushed the team’s advantage out to 10 run. The big scoring inning finally concluded as Blume lofted a sacrifice fly into right field to put the Skyhawks on top 11-1.
The Beacons scratched out another run in the third inning, but the Skyhawks kept their opponent at bay en route to a five-inning victory.
UT Martin returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 24 when squaring off against Georgetown (9 a.m. CT) and Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (11:30 a.m.).
