Tech softball played a three-game series against SIUE and won all three games.
They won Saturday, April 9, 4-0. On Sunday, April 10, they played a doubleheader and won their first game 12-0, and won their last game of this series 7-6. Tech took the three-game sweep against SIUE Edwardsville.
Nicolle Nysted, Tech’s catcher/first baseman, said, “I thought this weekend we fought very hard. It was a team effort to win! We never once quit even when we were down at the beginning of the game. This weekend showed us that we can beat any team when we are all playing for each other. It’s truly exciting to see what is to come. This team does not quit, and it showed this weekend. When you put all 19 of us together, we are truly unstoppable, and I believe we are going all the way this year!”
Tech had some great plays, as did SIUE. When Tech was up to bat, Mackenzie Fitzgerald Tech’s pitcher and infielder, and Sydney Love-Baker Tech’s infielder both hit home runs. Love-Baker homered to left field in the bottom of the 4th, and Fitzgerald also homered to left field in the bottom of the 5th inning. Fitzgerald and Love-Baker also had two RBIs. Haeli Bryson, Tech’s pitcher and infielder, and Sydney Dukes, Tech’s utility player, both got one RBI. Brooklin Richardson, Tech’s outfielder, had a sacrifice fly ball. And Tech had two fielding errors both by Love-Baker.
SIUE faced Haeli Bryson number 4 and Tyler Erwin number 23. The pitcher-strikes were Bryson 81-55 and Erwin 14-11. The pitchers pitched an average of 7.0, with five errors, five hits, one base on balls, eight strikeouts, and only allowed six runs, and two home runs. Hitting Tech had 28 at-bats, one base on ball, seven runs, nine hits, one strikeout, six runs batted in, two left on base, and two home runs.
Mackenzie Fitzgerald Tech’s pitcher/infielder said, ‘I thought we played well coming off a series of losses last weekend. We came out ready to compete. We fell behind in the games on Sunday but bounced back immediately. We had clinch hits when we needed them the most. I also think our pitchers and defense did well this past weekend. We were put in very tough situations the entire series but were able to work our way out of them each time!”
Tech faced SIUE pitchers, Kelsey Ray, and Sydney Baalman. Ray had 69-48 and Baalman 33-21 for pitching strikes. The pitchers pitched an average of 4.2 per inning, with nine hits, four errors, one based on balls, one strikeout, and only allowed seven runs, and two home runs.
For batting, there were two doubles hits: one by Bailey Concatto and the other by Grace Lueke. Two home runs were also hit by Lueke and Jenna Herron. Six RBIs were won by Concatto and Herron and four by Lueke. They had one sacrifice fly by Concatto. SIUE’s hitter had 29 at-bats, six RBIs, five hits, six runs, one ball on base, eight strikeouts, and two left on base. For fielding, they had two errors both made by Grace Lueke.
Haeli Bryson, Tech’s pitcher/infielder, said, “I thought our teamwork this weekend was amazing! We really strung together hits when we needed them, and we stayed calm and got the job done when we needed it!”
Tech’s next game is at home Friday, April. 15 against the Belmont Bruins. It is a three-game series. The first pitch will be thrown at 6 p.m.