By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
OXFORD, Ala. – The University of Tennessee at Martin softball team scratched and clawed throughout the Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship but came up just short in a pair of contests against Eastern Illinois (1-0) and SIUE (4-2) to see its season come to a close.
The Skyhawks finished the 2023 campaign with a 23-24 overall record while falling just one game short of an appearance in the OVC Softball Championship title game.
Entering the tournament field as the fourth seed, the Skyhawks looked to build upon its impressive day on Thursday in which the team knocked off five seed SIUE and top seed Southeast Missouri. The Skyhawks looked up to the task in the winner’s bracket championship, pushing two seed Eastern Illinois to the brink as both squads went toe-to-toe with a shutout heading into the top of the seventh inning before the Panthers finally broke through to pick up the 1-0 victory.
Then with just over 30 minutes to recalibrate following the gut-wrenching loss, the team had a rematch with SIUE for the second day in the consolation championship. SIUE jumped out to an early lead but UT Martin answered with a two-run double by Kallie Pickens in the fifth inning to tie the contest. The rally was unfortunately short-lived as the Cougars answered right back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs which ultimately proved to be the difference in the game with a 4-2 margin.
After an offensive explosion on Thursday in which the team scored 15 runs in two games, the Skyhawks were limited to just two runs on Friday night. UT Martin was shutout against the Panthers while Kaci Fuller tallied two of the team’s four hits in the contests. Then in the night-cap, the Skyhawks scratched out five hits with the big knock coming from Pickens while Anna Hazlewood also notched a pair of singles.
The pitching staff was anchored all week by junior Katie Dreiling who wrapped up the tournament by going 1-1 with a 0.97 ERA in 21.2 innings of work. She went head-to-head with OVC Pitcher of the Year Olivia Price in the first contest, allowing just one run in seven innings of work. Then she came back to start the finale against SIUE and allowed one runs in 3.2 innings before being relieved by Emily Brown and Jordyn Hustey who pitched the final 2.1 frames.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information