Lindenwood softball (23-21, 14-10 OVC) swept the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (16-32, 8-13 OVC) in their final homestand of the year to move into fourth place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with one series left before the conference tournament.
Game 1:
Game one of the Saturday doubleheader was dominated by the Lindenwood pitching. Ryleigh Owens and Avery Wapp combined to go 7.0 innings giving up only one run on four hits while walking one and striking out three.
Owens picked up her 11th win of the season in 5.0 innings of work, while Wapp got her fifth save of the year, pitching the final two innings.
Jolie McMinn was the offensive star for Lindenwood in game going 2/3 with 2 RBIs, both coming on a clutch two-out two-run single in the bottom of the third scoring Nicole Henson and Irelynn West after both were moved into scoring position on a deep fly out from Tori Hatton.
Lindenwood faced some trouble in the top of the sixth after Tennessee Tech got runners on first and third with nobody out but Wapp came in from out of the bullpen and struck out back-to-back hitters before getting Ella Bishop to groundout to end the threat.
Wapp would then work a perfect seventh to close out the 2-1 win.
Game 2:
Game two the Lions offense came alive exploding for a huge 7-3 win in game two of the Saturday doubleheader.
Molly Heidrick picked up her first of the season going 2.1 innings out of the bullpen giving up only one run on two hits. Wapp finished off the game again collecting her sixth save of the year pitching a perfect final two frames.
Henson and Teryn Brown each had two hits in game with Hatton collecting three RBIs including launching her team-leading sixth home run in the bottom of the sixth.
It was a back-and-forth game to start as Lindenwood plated a run in the bottom of the first before the Golden Eagles responded and plated two of their own in the top of the second to take a 2-1 lead.
The Lions however, would scratch across three in the bottom of the second on an RBI walk by Lauren Pelton, an RBI infield single from Henson and an RBI fielder’s choice from West to retake a 4-2 lead.
Tennessee Tech would cut the lead to one with a solo homer from Brooklyn Stewart in the top of the fourth but yet again the Lions would respond with two in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI hit-by-pitch from Hatton and an RBI walk from McMinn.
A solo bomb from Hatton in the bottom of the sixth would cap a 7-3 dominant game two win.
Game 3:
Lindenwood finished off the sweep on Sunday with a dramatic come-from-behind 4-3 win on senior day.
Lindenwood celebrated five seniors: Mya Bethany, Hanna Johanning, Irelynn West, Lauren Pelton and Theresa Snaidauf.
Wapp got the start in game three for Lindenwood but was chased from the game after 3.0 innings giving up three runs on three hits while also walking four and striking out a trio of hitters.
Owens and Samantha Roulanaitis stepped up out of the bullpen, combining to shut out the Golden Eagles hitters the final 4.0 only giving up two hits and walking three and allowing time for the Lions hitters to get going.
The Lindenwood hitters were held to only four hits and two walks the first six innings of the game before they came alive in the bottom of the seventh.
Johanning started it off with her first dinger of the season with one out. Hatton then came to the plate and whacked a two-out RBI single to right, scoring Anna Sanders, cutting the lead to 3-2. McMinn followed that up with her own RBI single to center, scoring West and tying the game at 3-3.
That brought the senior Bethany to the plate with two outs and the chance to be the hero. On a 1-1 pitch Bethany scorched a ball back up the middle that got into center field and allowed Izzy Wilcox to score the game winning run and send Lou Brock Sports Complex into a frenzy as Lindenwood completed the dramatic 4-3 win to cap the sweep and bring out the brooms.
Lindenwood will now travel to Evansville for a final three game series against the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles with game one on Saturday May 3, and a doubleheader on Sunday May 4 to close out the series.
