BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? A wild pitch by Austin Peay on an intentional walk attempt in the bottom of the eight inning allowed the Samford Bulldogs to complete a come-from-behind rally to defeat the Lady Govs 6-5 in the finale of their three-game Ohio Valley Conference.
Austin Peay (4-12, 1-2 OVC) was trying to load the bases in the bottom of the eight inning to set up a force play at home after the Bulldogs had opened the inning with back-to-back hits.
That was followed by a sacrifice bunt, putting the winning run in scoring position with one out, but the third pitch of the intentional walk by Lady Govs pitcher Ashley Elrod sailed over the outstretched glove of catcher Daniella Hooper allowing the winning run to score.
Austin Peay looked to have the game in hand as it led 5-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning and getting the first batter to ground out.
That's were things turned ugly for the Lady Govs.
Samford's Katie England then homer to center field to cut the lead to 5-2, followed by three straight singles to load the bases. A error by APSU shortstop Brittany Williams on a ground ball made it 5-3.
A groundout by Samford (10-13, 2-1 OVC) drove in the fourth Bulldog run, but also left Austin Peay needing one more out to hold on to the victory.
The Bulldogs Jeslyn Metcalf then hit a ground ball to Williams, whose throw was high to first baseman Ashley Alverson, but Alverson looked to have gotten back down on the base, with the base umpire calling the runner out giving the Lady Govs the win.
Ketcham asked for an appealed to the home plate umpire, who after talking with the base umpire, had the call changed to safe ? which tied the game 5-5.
Austin Peay opened the game with back-to-back hits by sophomores Ashley Taylor and Beth Carr -- and after on out ? took a 3-0 lead on Hooper's first home run of the season just inside the left field foul pole.
After Samford got the second out of the inning, Alverson and Williams singled and scored on a double by junior Krista Henke making it 5-0.
Austin Peay's offense would disappear after that, as the Lady Govs only managed a fifth inning walk to Carr and a seventh inning single by freshman Detra Farley over the final 7 1/3 innings of play.
Samford's only other run came in the bottom of the second.
