Tennessee Tech Box Score (PDF) | Tennessee Tech Box Score (XML) | ETSU Box Score (PDF) | ETSU Box Score (XML)

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State softball had mixed results during the opening day of the Tennessee Round Robin tournament hosted by Tennessee Tech Saturday (Mar. 12) at Tech Softball Field in Cookeville, Tenn.
 
Senior shortstop Missy Perkowski doubled twice and junior Logan Viers struck out six in five innings to lead the Owls (13-7) to a 6-0 victory over the host Golden Eagles (5-14) in the day's opening game.
 
Kennesaw State mounted a pair of comeback attempts, twice cutting a two-run deficit in half, but was unable to complete a comeback and fell 4-2 to East Tennessee State (8-5).
 
"All in all, I am proud of the kids, they played hard," head coach Tory Acheson said. "The first game was very much an example of how well we can play when we are clicking on all aspects. We ran the bases well, we got some clutch hits, made some clutch defensive plays. That was the high point. The second game we played hard, the kids really battled, but we made a couple critical mistakes that cost us.
 
"We are a team right now that has a small margin of error. If we make mistakes, we typically pay a big price for them," Acheson said. "So hopefully we can get to the point where our offense gets rolling where something happens, where somebody else picks up the load, but right now that's just not happening for us, so we need to clean up a few aspects of the game a little bit more."
 
Against Tennessee Tech, the Owls scored two unearned runs in the second inning and added single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and six innings to provide plenty of run support for Viers (6-1) and senior Morgan Sikes, who pitched two perfect innings of relief.
 
Four of Kennesaw State's five hits were doubles as junior Courtney Sutter and Megan Veringa also doubled for the Owls. Sutter doubled with one out in the fifth, and Veringa added a run-scoring double two batters later to drive in a run.
 
After surrendering two runs in the first inning against East Tennessee State, Kennesaw State made it a one-run game in the third inning, and following a run by the Buccaneers in the fourth, the Owls plated a run in the bottom half of the frame on a RBI single by Taylor Denton to make it a 3-2 game.
 
The inning started with a double by Chandler Griffin and a bunt single by Hannah Thomason ahead of Denton's RBI hit that advanced Thomason to third with Denton moving to second on the throw to third base.
 
The Owls looked as though they had tied the score when Rachel Dennis hit a sacrifice to left field. However, East Tennessee appealed that Thomason left third base early and she was called out by the umpires.
 
Kennesaw State had one more scoring threat as it put the tying runs on base, but ETSU left fielder Bethany Cowart made a nice running catch in left-center field on a line drive hit by Veringa to end the game.
 
The Owls are back in action on Sunday (Mar. 13) when they face East Tennessee State at noon (ET) and wrap up the day against Tennessee Tech in a game scheduled for 2 p.m. (ET).  
 
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State softball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsSB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.