Third Inning's a Charm in Chattanooga's Series Win over Elon

4/21/2007 8:00:00 PM | By: GoMocs.com

Hardees Game Day Wrap-Up

Box Score

Elon, N.C. ? Seven Chattanooga runs on seven hits in the third inning propelled the Lady Mocs to the series win over the Elon Phoenix 7-3 Sunday afternoon.

Chattanooga tallied its 30th win this season, improving its record to 30-26, 11-4 SoCon, while Elon dropped to .500 with a record of 25-25, 7-10 SoCon. The Lady Mocs continue to have a share of the Southern Conference leading spot, tied with College of Charleston in conference play.

As a team, the Lady Mocs doubled its hits to runs with 14 and were perfect in the field with no errors.

Freshman pitcher Brooke Loudermilk (Locust Grove, Ga.) threw six strikeouts in her second complete game win of the weekend improving her overall record to 19-10, 7-1 SoCon.

Elon got on the board first as Melanie Helterbran found a hole for a single before Jaimie Rao picked up a pair of RBIs on her home run over left center to put the Phoenix up 2-0 after two.

But it wouldn't stay that way for long as the Lady Mocs came out in the third swinging. Senior left fielder Jeannie Cochran (Maryville, Tenn.) started off the offensive strike hitting a single before stealing second. Sophomore center fielder Ashley Cuticchia (Rising Fawn, Ga.) found another gap to advance Cochran to third before freshman shortstop Tia Blosser (Knoxville, Tenn.) sent Cochran home on her one-out double to right center.

Senior first baseman Alyssa Edwards (Geneva, N.Y.) nailed a sacrifice fly to right field for her 34th RBI of the season to score run number two. Sophomore third baseman Toni Hutchison (Madison, Tenn.) earned a single and a RBI to score Blosser before advancing to second on junior right fielder Tara Tembey's (Folsom, Calif.) single to right field.

Freshman catcher Brittany Eason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) walked to load the bases on a 3-1 count before senior second baseman Brittney Whittier (Scottsdale, Ariz.) cleared out a couple bases on her two-RBI single making the score 5-2.

Sophomore designated player Laci Upchurch (Madison, Tenn.) belted out a double to left center on her second at bat of the inning, scoring Eason, but was thrown out on Cochran's ground ball to the shortstop to close out the top of the third with the score at 7-2 with Whittier scoring before the out.

The Lady Mocs had a quick run on defense in the bottom of the third with two caught balls out of fair territory and a strikeout.

Cuticchia pushed the Lady Mocs hits number into double digits with her single in the top of the fourth. She advanced to scoring position on third on back-to-back ground outs but was left on as the game went into the bottom of the fourth.

Elon's Debbie Ziegler scored a run in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of Laurin Smith's sacrifice fly to left field after reaching on a short single, narrowing the margin to 7-3 after four.

Helterbran was charged with the loss dropping her record to 12-8. Carol Lilley and Sammi Schroeder also made appearances for the Phoenix in the circle.

Chattanooga has the week off before hosting its final home series of the 2007 season against Furman. The series begins on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. with a doubleheader at Frost Stadium.

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