LEXI RAY TOSSES PERFECT GAME AS SKYHAWKS SWEEP TENNESSEE TECH TO CLINCH OVC TOURNAMENT BERTH

Sunday, April 28

Cookeville, Tenn.

1 p.m.

UT Martin

28-24, 0

Tennessee Tech

18-26, 0

UT Martin

Tennessee Tech

LEXI RAY TOSSES PERFECT GAME AS SKYHAWKS SWEEP TENNESSEE TECH TO CLINCH OVC TOURNAMENT BERTH

4/28/2019 7:41:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 52: PDF Game 53: PDF

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With today marking arguably the biggest series of the season, the University of Tennessee at Martin softball team stepped up to the plate and surged past Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee Tech – outscoring its opponent 19-0 for a series sweep behind a complete team effort. With the pair of victories, UT Martin clinched a berth in the upcoming OVC Softball Championship.

The Skyhawks (29-24, 10-10 OVC) won in every phase of the game with tremendous pitching, spectacular defensive plays and timely hitting. One of the team's many highlights came in the form of freshman standout Lexi Ray (8-7) who was simply amazing, notching a perfect game with two strikeouts in five innings of work. The perfect game marked the third in program history and first since 2007. While Ray was perfect in the circle, junior Hannah Ridolfi (8-9) set the standard in Game 1 with a shutout of her own. Ridolfi scattered four hits while striking out a pair in eight shutout innings for her third of the season.

With the pair of outstanding pitching performances, the Skyhawk offense just needed to tally a single run in both games for victories but vastly exceeded that total. The Skyhawks would score 19 runs on the afternoon behind a team-leading four hits by Haylee Short while the speedster converted all five of her stolen base attempts. Freshmen Chelsey Gore and Kenna Garst each tallied three base hits while combining for three RBIs. Joining in the action was Shelby Woodard, Gracyn McBride, Alli Fulcher, Paige Clark, Aalia Bivens and Kallie Pickens who each tallied a pair of base knocks.

Game 52: UT Martin 4, Tennessee Tech 0 (Eight innings)
The first game of the day proved to be a pitching duel with Ridolfi allowing just one base hit until the bottom of the seventh while the game remained in a scoreless tie. That's when things began to become stressful for the Skyhawks.

With both teams fighting for one of the final spots in the tournament field, Tennessee Tech tallied a pair of singles to lead off the inning. A third single by Gabby LaSala almost tallied a walk-off single but a laser outfield assist from Bivens sniped the runner attempting to score at home to record the inning's first out. With the game continued for another at bat, head coach Donley Canary brought Gabbi Campbell off the bench and inserted her as a fifth infielder – playing straight up the middle with runners on first and second. As often happens, the ball found the new infielder as Campbell caught the ball on a line drive and rifled the ball back to first to record a double play to escape the inning and force extras.

With a new life, UT Martin sprung to action as Gore led off the inning with a single up the middle. After a sacrifice bunt, Bivens came through on the offensive side of the ball with the eventual game-winning single through the left side. With a run on the board, the Skyhawks continued to pile on as Garst singled to left field and a sacrifice bunt by Fulcher brought two runs home to score. The Skyhawks would add another run on a throwing error to take a 4-0 lead and set Ridolfi up for the eight-inning shutout to close out the victory.

Game 53: UT Martin 15, Tennessee Tech 0 (Five innings)
UT Martin would strike first in the game's second inning on a RBI single to left by McBride to take an early advantage.

The Skyhawks would begin to pull away in the fourth inning with a four-run frame. McBride would come through again in the clutch with her second RBI of the game to score Woodard before another throwing error on a stolen base and a single by Gore made it a four-run contest. After a total of three stolen bases in the inning, Bivens drove in the team's fifth run of the game with a hard-hit ball to third.

While already holding a five-run advantage, the Skyhawks put the game well out of reach in the top of the fifth. A home run by Fulcher marked her seventh of the season and 22^nd of her career to tally the team's first run of the inning. As a whole, the Skyhawks would score 10 runs on nine hits in the frame with RBIs coming from Clark, Garst, Woodard, Fulcher and Short to take a 15-0 lead.

Needing just three hits to secure the perfect game, Ray got a leadoff groundout to start the inning. From there Gore recorded a diving snag for the second out while Bivens came up in the clutch again on defense, as she fielded a ball hit through the right side and fired a strong throw to get the runner at first base to finish the perfect game.

UT Martin will close out the regular season on Friday, May 3 when playing host to Austin Peay in a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. with Senior Day Festivities slated for 12:45 p.m.