GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University softball team won the twin bill over the visiting Coker Cobras on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 18). Freshman Sammy Jimenez homered in both games, while senior Emily Sappington became the first pitcher in program history to record a 400th career strikeout.
Tusculum (15-16, 4-8 SAC) takes a break from conference action for the next two series, beginning with Young Harris on Wednesday (Mar. 22). The Pioneers and Mountain Lions are set to face off with a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
Game 1: Tusculum 5, Coker 0
Jimenez drove in three runs alongside a solo homer in her 3-for-3 start. Kallyn Newport and Hannah Hughes added two hits apiece to the effort, while Sappington pitched her 14th career shutout in the circle.
Hayley Lazo led off the second with a controversial infield single but was called out on Maddie McBride's fielder's choice. Hughes and Katelynn Hodges followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Newport lifted a pitch to the outfield for a sacrifice fly, scoring McBride as the first run of the game. Jimenez hit a bloop single to the left side to plate Hughes and Hodges was thrown out trying to make it 3-0.
Coker had a great scoring opportunity thwarted in the third. A hit and walk were bunted over, while an error loaded the bases with one out. A heads up play by Jimenez at third saved a run with her throw to Chloe Freischmidt at home. Sappington got the third out via strikeout.
The Cobras also had runners on the corners with two outs in the fourth, but the TU defense maintained the shutout.
Jimenez elevated a pitch over the fence in right center for her first solo shot of the day, the second of her career.
Hughes knocked a single back up the middle and Alyssa Suits was substituted in to run. She stole second and reached third on a Newport single. The duo executed a double steal to perfection, scoring a fourth run for the Pioneers. Jimenez continued her perfect day with a RBI single to plate Newport.
Coker threatened the shutout bid once again in the seventh. A single and two walks were alternated between strikeouts to load the bases with two outs. In true Sappington fashion, she struck out the final batter of game one.
Sappington (7-8) threw 131 pitches, allowing seven hits and four walks, while striking out 10. She surrendered just one extra base hit as the Pioneers stranded 11 Cobras on the basepath.
Game 2: Tusculum 3, Coker 2
Jimenez, Madison Watts, and Hodges drove in the TU runs, while the pitching duo of Keylon Reynolds and Ireland Cavanaugh kept the Cobras at bay.
Tusculum scored two runs in the opening frame. Jimenez belted her second homer of the say as the number two batter in the lineup. Claire Smeltzer and Sappington hit consecutive singles, moving up an extra 60 feet on the throw. Watts made Coker pay with a sacrifice fly to score the leading Smeltzer.
The Cobras got a run back in the top of the second, taking advantage of a pair of walks and an error.
In the fourth inning, Lazo singled to the outfield and was pinch ran for with Italia Kyle. She advanced to second on a groundout, followed by a Hughes single. Hodges dropped a squeeze bunt and the throw to the plate was not in time, scoring Kyle.
Coker narrowed the gap in the fifth on a RBI double.
Tusculum attempted to add some insurance in the bottom half. Sappington and Watts hit singles up the middle, followed by a Lazo walk with one out. However, the ball never left the infield.
The Cobras had two, two-out hits in the sixth, but no runs scored. Three-straight flyouts in the seventh clinched the sweep for Tusculum.
Reynolds got the nod, throwing 60 pitches across three innings. She relented just two hits with one unearned run scoring. Reynolds walked four but struck out three. Cavanaugh (6-6) picked up the win behind four innings of relief, with one run scoring on three hits, one walk, and one strikeout.
