» By TRENT SINGER – tsinger@my.apsu.edu

In their first Ohio Valley Conference three-game series, the Lady Govs failed to pull out a victory against rival Tennessee Tech this weekend, Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11, at Cheryl Holt Field.

The Lady Govs fell behind early during Saturday’s first contest against the Golden Eagles, 2-0, and never managed to gain a lead throughout the game.

Perhaps the hardest loss came in Saturday’s second game, when redshirt junior Jessica Ryan’s three-run home run put her team ahead by as many as three runs.

The Golden Eagles responded by scoring three runs in the sixth inning to tie the game, 5-5, and scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning.

Tennessee Tech’s Holly Thomas came through for the Golden Eagles again, with two game-winning outs from redshirt junior Shelby Norton on a foul pop and sophomore Kayla Davidson on a strike out.

On Sunday, the two teams played into extra innings with the score tied, 2-2. After being scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings, the game entered the international tiebreaker — the last batter of the previous inning is placed on second base to start the inning. The Golden Eagles pulled away in the 11th inning with a 5-2 lead.

The Lady Govs added one run in the bottom of the inning as Ryan came to the plate with the potential tying run on base. Despite her success on Saturday, Ryan grounded out to second as the Lady Govs lost, 3-5. The 11-inning game was the most innings played since a 2005 matchup against conference rival Morehead State.

The Lady Govs will continue conference play on the road against SIU Edwardsville, March 17 and 18, and Tennessee State on March 21, before coming home to play Morehead State, on Saturday, March 24. TAS