After splitting the first two games in a double-header on Saturday, the Skyhawks fell to the Racers of Murray State 3-2 in game three.
“I’m proud of the way our girls competed today,” said UTM Head Coach Donley Canary.
“Even though we didn’t get the result we were hoping for, I thought we hit the ball much better than yesterday and continued to fight until the end. Our team is very young, and I hope we can use this feeling as a learning experience to get better and grow as a team.”
UTM (29-13, 10-6 OVC) totaled 10 hits that afternoon, with nine of them coming against Murray State (17-22, 8-8 OVC) pitcher Shelby Kosmecki.
The first run of the game came when Racer catcher Ellyn Troup homered down left field, but it didn’t take long for the Skyhawks to respond. First baseman Lauren Smith answered back with a home run of her own down the right-field line at the top of the second.
Both teams came out of the third inning scoreless, but Murray State scored another home run, this time from infielder Alexa Becker, giving the Racers a 3-1 advantage.
With no outs in the top of the fifth, the Skyhawks loaded up the bases. With Kenzi Tate on first, Kayla Wade on second and Leah Taylor on third, Smith came up to bat hoping to not only notch her second home run of the game, but bring in her teammates to jump ahead of the Racers.
Unfortunately, her hit got her to first base and brought Taylor home, but it also resulted in Wade being tagged out at third. Murray State forced two quick outs taking the game to the sixth.
Neither team scored a run in the six and Murray State tagged two runners out at first and fielded one hit to end the game in the top of the seventh.
The Skyhawks continue their stretch of home games Tuesday April 16 when they take on Middle Tennessee at 3 p.m.
