MARTIN, Tenn. – University of Southern Indiana Softball fell narrowly in a pair of one-run games at the University of Tennessee at Martin on Friday, coming up just shy 4-3 and 1-0 after the Skyhawks scored the game-winning runs in the late innings in both contests.
USI Softball (13-30, 10-16 OVC) received two stellar pitching starts and complete games on Friday, but UT Martin (33-18, 20-5 OVC) captured game one on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh inning and broke a 0-0 tie with the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning of game two.
In game one, the Skyhawks grabbed an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the second inning. The Screaming Eagles got one run back on a rocketed RBI double by sophomore third baseman
Jordan Mackey that scored junior outfielder
Kate Satkoski, cutting the lead in half, 2-1.
After UT Martin scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 3-1 lead and held the two-run advantage going into the seventh inning, USI answered. With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning, Satkoski delivered a two-RBI knock to tie the game at three.
UT Martin went on to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning before winning 4-3 on a walk-off single, finishing with 11 hits in the contest.
USI totaled 10 hits in game one, with Satkoski notching two hits and two RBIs. Senior outfielder
Caroline Stapleton and freshman outfielder
Katelyn Marx each had two hits at the top of the batting order.
Sophomore pitcher
Kylie Witthaus (3-10) gave USI a strong, gutsy outing, hurling a complete game and striking out three.
UT Martin used three pitchers in the series opener. Ashtyn Green started the game with one run allowed in 3.2 innings before handing the ball off to Natalie Kreuziger, who gave up two runs in 2.2 innings. Payton Harris (5-4) got the win after recording the final two outs in the top of the seventh inning.
The starting pitchers quickly set the tone in game two with a pitcher's duel. Harris came back out for UT Martin after her relief appearance in the first game, while USI had freshman pitcher
Elly Robbins toe the rubber. Both pitchers kept the game scoreless until the sixth inning.
With a runner at second base and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, UT Martin scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run on a ball into shallow right field, and a play at the plate was not in time. The Skyhawks closed out the game from there.
A fantastic start by Robbins (5-9) saw the left-hander go the distance, giving up just one run on only three hits with two strikeouts.
Harris (6-4) picked up her second win of the day with a shutout, striking out six and surrendering only two hits in the effort.
Through Friday, the Screaming Eagles remained in seventh place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, sitting only a game back of Tennessee Tech University in sixth place with only one game to go in the regular season on Saturday.
The Screaming Eagles and Skyhawks conclude their series on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The game will not be streamed on ESPN+. Additional coverage and live stat links are available on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.
