Box Scores    Game 1  I  Game 2

RICHMOND, Ky. – In two Ohio Valley Conference softball games, Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee-Martin combined for 28 runs. The Skyhawks (19-11, 8-2 OVC) captured game one 8-7 before the Colonels (18-11, 5-5 OVC) won game two by a score of 9-4.

Game two remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning. Shyenne Hussey drove in a run with a single to left field and Raquel Howes scored on a throwing error to stake Eastern to a 2-0 lead. Larkyn Wood doubled the lead with a two-run double to center. A ground out by Nicole Heitz was enough to plate the fifth run of the inning.

After the Colonels added a run in the fifth, Kate Vanderham blasted a three-run home run in the fourth to cut the deficit in half for the Skyhawks. Leah Taylor’s RBI single down the left field line made it a 6-4 game.

Eastern added three more in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead to five. The first two Skyhawk batters reached base in the top of the seventh, but Kristin Perry retired three straight to end the game.

Diane Gallagher went 1-for-4 with a run and two RBIs for Eastern. Cassi Gibson finished 2-for-3 and scored twice. Wood was 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs. Perry (6-4) went the distance and earned the win for EKU. She allowed four earned runs on six hits, walked six and struck out three.

Jenny Bain was 2-for-2 with a run scored for UT Martin.

In game one, UT Martin scored in each of the first three innings and maintained control throughout the game. After scoring a run on an error in the first, the Skyhawks plated three in the second. Taylor started the scoring with an RBI triple and Jordan Garrett followed with a two-run home run over the left field fence.

EKU got on the board with Ashley Dollins’ solo home run in the bottom of the second. Amanda Brandenburg’s home run to lead off the top of the third gave UTM a 5-1 lead.

The Colonels cut the deficit to 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run home run by Howes. EKU brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the sixth but failed to score.

Bain hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh. UTM added another run and led 8-3 going into the bottom of the last inning.

Howes hit her second two-run shot in the bottom of seventh. Wood’s two-out RBI double brought the Colonels to within one. With a pair of runners on, Chelsea Jones struck out Cheyanne Pounds on a full count to end the game.

The two teams combined for 23 hits, including five home runs in the first game.

Howes finished 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs. Gallagher, Hussey and Wood each recorded two hits too.

Vanderham went 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Skyhawks. Garrett and Bain’s only hits of the game were their two-run home runs.

The two teams are scheduled to conclude the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.