Tennessee Tech Tosses 7-0 Shutout of Liberty
3/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Tennessee Tech pitcher Danielle Liberatore tossed a one-hit shutout, striking out 13 batters in a 7-0 Golden Eagles win over Liberty, Friday at Tiger Park.
With the win, Tennessee Tech improves to 4-10, going into its matchup against No. 5/6 LSU tonight. The Lady Flames (7-10) split two games today, earning an 11-6, eight-inning victory immediately before tonight's loss to the Golden Eagles.
Liberatore (2-5) struck out 13 and walked four, holding the Lady Flames to one hit in the complete-game shutout.
Liberty starter Chase Cassady (4-4) drew the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking three in six innings. Chandler Ball allowed one run on one hit in relief, while Kenzie Friesen tossed a hitless inning.
Gabby Perez and Leigh Thomas both had two hits for Tennessee Tech, while Thomas and Sabrie Neeb drove in two runs apiece.
Rylee Reynolds recorded Liberty's lone hit, while four Lady Flames drew one walk apiece.
Perez drew a walk with one out in the top of the third. However, she recorded the third out when Alexia Taylor threw her out while attempting to steal second.
Katie Han led off the bottom of the third with a walk, before Liberatore retired the next three in order.
Thomas doubled to left center to start the fourth inning, breaking up Cassady's early no-hit bid. The Liberty right-hander kept the Golden Eagles off the board with two flyouts and a strikeout.
Liberty threatened to score in bottom of the fourth, after Tori Zavodny drew a leadoff walk. A Reynolds single gave the Lady Flames runners on first and second with one out. Liberatore fanned Kassidy McCoy and Deidra See, keeping the game scoreless.
With one out in the top of the fifth, TTU got five straight hits off of Cassady, including an RBI single by Neeb and a two-run base hit by Thomas. Ball then entered in relief, giving up an RBI single to Bayli Cruse and a walk to load the bases. After Cassady re-entered, the Golden Eagles added two more runs on a sacrifice fly and a Liberty fielding error.
Tennessee Tech added one tally on a sacrifice fly by Neeb in the sixth frame.
McCoy drew a walk with one out in the bottom of the seventh, breaking a stretch where Liberatore retired nine Lady Flames in a row. The TTU lefty struck out the final two batters to finish off the shutout.
Liberty will play twice tomorrow, starting with a 10:30 a.m. Eastern matchup against Memphis. The Lady Flames will then finish their stay in Baton Rouge by facing No. 5/6 LSU at 6 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow evening.