Softball splits opening weekend tournament games

The Golden Eagle’s softball team went 2-2 in its opening weekend play at the Georgia Southern Classic.
Despite losing their first game of the season 9-2 against Akron on Feb. 9, Tech was able to come back and get a win later in the day over St. John’s. Coach Bonnie Bynum said, “I think we came out a little nervous the first game and it showed, but once we relaxed we played with everybody on the field.”
The team was able to keep its momentum going into Sunday’s games, starting the day off versus Akron again, and earning a 3-1 victory behind sophomore Taylor Ketchum’s one-hitter.
“The difference was that we had that first game behind us,” Bynum said. “I think we definitely got better as the weekend went on and people started getting comfortable and just playing.”
Ketchum pitched all seven innings and faced just 28 batters, only allowing one hit and one run to earn the win.
“We need to work on never giving up, staying strong and positive throughout the whole game,” Ketchum said. “Our hitting and defense was very strong and when we were playing together we were solid.”
Picking up the Adidas Ohio Valley Conference pitcher of the week, Ketchum said the team is still working on trying to become one unit on the field.
Heading into the afternoon, the Golden Eagles fell short to Georgia Southern from a solo home run, 1-0.  
The team is working hard preparing for the upcoming weekend with a tournament at Kennesaw State.
“For this weekend we’re going to work on being aggressive at the plate so we can have opportunities to hit the best pitch we can,” Kendall Hooper, junior catcher said. “We are a great team, so we need to make sure we come prepared to play like the great team we can be every game.”
The team will play Liberty and Mercer on Saturday and will end the weekend on Sunday against Ball State and host, Kennesaw State.