RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University softball team moved to 5-0 in OVC action today thanks to sweeping a doubleheader over visiting Tennessee State. The Colonels won the opening game, 2-1, and finished the day with a 9-3 win. EKU improves to 15-7 overall while the Lady Tigers fall to 7-16 and 1-4.

Freshman Stacye Toups (5-3) pitched her third complete game of the year while holding TSU to one run on four hits in the opener. Senior Adriel Foxley put the Colonels ahead early with her fourth home run, a two-out blast to center field, in the first inning. Freshman Amber Lenz gave Eastern an insurance run with an RBI single in the fourth.

Toups held the Lady Tigers scoreless until the final inning. Three straight singles with two outs, capped by a run-scoring hit by pitcher Amanda Vaught, made the score, 2-1. However, Toups settled down and recorded her fifth strike out of the game to end the contest.

In game two, Tennessee State knocked EKU starter Kalyn Fox out of the game in the opening frame thanks to two runs on three straight hits and a walk. The Colonels responded in the second inning with an RBI single by junior Pam Webber. TSU regained its two-run cushion in the top of the fourth behind a Vaught run-scoring single through the right side of the infield.

Eastern Kentucky then broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth with seven runs. Twelve Colonels came to the plate in that inning, which was highlighted by sophomore Shyenne Hussey’s two-run single and three Lady Tiger errors.

Eastern’s pitching held Tennessee State in check the final three innings, allowing only two hits. Junior Jenn Bledsoe (3-2) went 5.1 innings in relief to earn the victory.

Hussey finished with three RBIs in the second game while Webber plated two Colonels.

The two teams will complete the series tomorrow, March 22, beginning at 12 p.m.