By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
OXFORD, Miss. – A two-run home run by Avry Blume proved to be the team’s biggest hit as the University of Tennessee at Martin softball squad went on the road and went toe-to-toe with Southeastern Conference foe Ole Miss on Tuesday evening before ultimately falling 8-3.
The Skyhawks (18-11) scratched out four hits on the evening – including the big two-run bomb by Blume in the top of the second inning to highlight the contest. Kaci Fuller also posted a nice day with her 11th multi-hit outing of the season by going 2-for-4 with an RBI while Kallie Pickens rounded out the offensive notables by notching her ninth double of the season.
Ole Miss improved to 25-7 on the season after pushing its current winning streak to four games behind strong performances by Abbey Latham and Mikayla Allee who both tallied a pair of base hits and three RBIs in the contest. Then in the pitching circle, Brooke Vestal entered in relief and pitched five innings en route to a victory.
The Rebels jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first inning. After the first two batters of the game reached base for the home squad, Ole Miss received RBIs on three consecutive at bats from the trio of Latham, Allee and Aynslie Furbush to take the early 3-0 advantage.
UT Martin fought right back in the top of the second inning as Pickens laced a double into right center with one out of the board. Blume would make sure her teammate would not be left stranded as she launched her fourth home run of the season over the left field wall to cut the deficit down to one run.
Unfortunately, the new margin would be short-lived as a pair of Skyhawk errors and two big singles proved costly in the bottom of the second. An error on the potential third out of the inning led to the bases eventually becoming loaded and resulting in back-to-back two-run singles by both Latham and Allee to break the game open and give Ole Miss a 7-2 lead.
With the Skyhawks later trailing the contest 8-2, UT Martin put another run on the board in the top of the fifth inning. Emily Gilstrap led off the inning with a walk before being joined on the basepaths by Katie Dreiling as she reached via a fielding error. As runners stood on the corners with two outs, Fuller drove an opposite field single into left field for the RBI-single and the game’s final run.
Skyhawk starter Seeley Layne (4-2) suffered the loss in the contest after pitching 1.2 innings. Erin Gallagher appeared in relief and pitched tremendously over 4.1 innings with eight strikeouts. Additionally, she allowed just two hits and zero earned runs against the Rebels to continue her strong season.
UT Martin will return to Ohio Valley Conference action this weekend when playing host to Belmont for a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 2 at 1 p.m
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information