Donley Canary

The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team fell 5-4 in 10 innings after what turned into a marathon of an opening day at Bettye Giles Field on Saturday. After two previous tries at a home opener, the Skyhawks were able to do so after a 3 hour and 15 minute rain delay. When play finally began, UT Martin out hit Eastern Illinois by a 12-5 margin, including a towering fourth inning solo homer from Megan Van Arsdale, but it wasn’t enough to erase some costly defensive errors.
With two outs in the top of the 10th inning, a routine ground ball to short turned into the game’s defining moment. After fielding the ball, Skyhawk shortstop Greer Long hurried her throw to first in an attempt to gun down EIU’s speedy Ashley Robinson and sent the throw into the dugout, allowing the go-ahead run to score from third base.
In the bottom of the 10th, Blayn Bollman was placed on second to begin the inning in accordance with the international tie breaker rule. After back-to-back pop fly outs, Ashley Benbow was intentionally walked to bring Megan Williams to bat. Williams' shot to right was corralled on a running catch to end the game.
To open play, Eastern Illinois posted two runs in both the first and second innings, but UTM responded with a run in the bottom of the first. Chelsea Cary singled for the first of her three hits and advanced to second on a passed ball. Megan Williams drew a walk to put two runners on base. A wild pitch from EIU hurler Karyn Mackie allowed Cary to score from second and give UTM its first run.
UT Martin continued to chip away at the lead with another run in the bottom of the fourth when Van Arsdale connected on her second long ball of the season. The Skyhawks knotted the game at four runs apiece in the bottom of the sixth inning. After two singles to open the inning, Bollman pushed in Long from third with a RBI single. Benbow tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field, giving Van Arsdale time score from third.
The Skyhawks best chance to take a lead came in the bottom of the ninth. Laurie Lindow reached on an error and moved to second on a Savannah Roberts single. Laura Roberts then lined a single into left field and Lindow attempted to score from second but was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.
“This was a great college softball game to see today, I just hate that it turned out the way it did for us,” said Skyhawk head coach Donley Canary. “We were able to hit the ball well, but we can’t make those types of errors on defense and expect to win.”
Kara Harper took the loss, falling to 5-6 on the year. She tossed a 10.0 inning complete game, giving up only six hits and striking out five.