MARTIN, Tenn. - In front of a packed house at Bettye Giles field Thursday night, the No. 1 overall seeded University of Tennessee at Martin softball team opened play in the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference Championship with a dramatic 3-2 win over No. 4 Eastern Illinois. Junior Kate Vanderham hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to propel the Skyhawks to their opening round victory.

After the first two games on day one of the OVC Tournament went nine and 10 innings respectively, UT Martin waited until 8:50 p.m. to begin its game that was scheduled for a first pitch of 6:30 p.m. The wait ended up being well worth it as the Skyhawks improved their record to 46-9 on the year and now move on to face the No. 2 Gamecocks of Jacksonville State at 4 p.m. Friday.

"There is an old saying that you can live and die by the long ball, and for a majority of today's game it looked like we were going to die by it," commented OVC Coach of the Year Donley Canary. "But we have a really good team, and good teams just find a way to win, which is exactly what we did today."

Canary added that, "Paij [Lintz] pitched an outstanding game and even though we weren't getting the big hits we needed to with runners in scoring position early in the game, we kept going after it and finally got it when we really needed it."

The Skyhawks had an opportunity to take the early lead in the first inning after Megan Williams led the game off with a double. After moving to third, Williams attempted to tag on a deep two-out foul ball fly to right but was thrown out at the plate by Eastern Illinois' Denee' Menzione. That also quieted a raucous Skyhawk crowd of over 600 that was on hand for the game.

Eastern Illinois later took the early edge after it platted a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third inning. A two-out single from Jen Saucier ended the no-hit bid for Lintz, who was named OVC Pitcher of the Year last night, and the Panthers then capitalized on a very rare error from UT Martin's Megan Van Arsdale at third to put runners on first and second. Eastern Illinois then used a pair of bloop singles to push both of its runs across and take a 2-0 lead.

Jordan Garrett wasted no time in cutting that deficit in half when she led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run over the wall in left. The bomb looked as though it was going to be pulled back into the park by Eastern Illinois' Melise Brown, but it bounced off her glove and over the wall for the ninth homer of the year for the All-OVC Newcomer Team member and cut the Panther lead to only 2-1.

In the bottom of the sixth Van Arsdale led the inning off with a single to left then moved into scoring position after a Kalah Mathis sacrifice bunt. That brought Vanderham, the All-OVC First Team and OVC All-Newcomer Team selection, to the plate where she responded by hitting a first pitch rocket over the wall in right to put UT Martin in front for the first time all night at 3-2. The bomb was the eighth of the year for Vanderham and after the Skyhawk defense recorded three outs in the top of the seventh became her fifth game-winning hit of the season.

In the game Vanderham was one of five different Skyhawks to get a hit, while Van Arsdale led the way with a single and a double, while also scoring a run. In the circle Lintz improved her conference-best record on the year to 25-3, tossing her 19th complete game of the year with eight strikeouts and only five hits allowed.

In the opening game of the day, No. 6 Tennessee Tech upset No. 3 Morehead State 6-3 in nine innings. No. 4 Eastern Illinois then needed 10 innings to get past No. 5 Murray State 5-4 and earn the right to play the Skyhawks in the nightcap. In game three, No. 2 Jacksonville State cruised past No. 6 Tennessee Tech 10-4.

Day two of the OVC Tournament will begin Friday morning at 11 a.m. with a pair of elimination games. No. 5 Murray State and No. 6 Tennessee Tech will meet in the opening game, followed by No. 3 Morehead State against No. 4 Eastern Illinois. The winners to those two early games will later meet at 6:30 p.m., for the right to meet the loser of the 4 p.m. No. 1 UT Martin and No. 2 Jacksonville State game on Sunday morning.

THURSDAY, MAY 13
Game 1 - #6 Tennessee Tech 6, #3 Morehead State 3 (9)
Game 2 - #4 Eastern Illinois 5, #5 Murray State 4 (10)
Game 3 - #2 Jacksonville State 10, #6 Tennessee Tech 4
Game 4 - #1 UT Martin 3, #4 Eastern Illinois 2

FRIDAY, MAY 14
Game 5 - #5 Murray State vs. #6 Tennessee Tech - 11:00 a.m.
Game 6 - #3 Morehead State vs. #4 Eastern Illinois - 1:30 p.m.
Game 7 - #1 UT Martin vs. #2 Jacksonville State- 4:00 p.m.
Game 8 - Game 6 winner vs. Game 5 winner - 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, MAY 15
Game 9 - Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 winner - 11:00 a.m.
Game 10 - Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner - 1:30 p.m.
(if necessary Game 11 follows at 4:00 p.m.)


#SKYHAWKS#