St. Johns vs. Chattanooga Boxscore
Chattanooga vs. Nicholls State Boxscore
Baton Rouge, La. - Senior Tara Tembey (Folsom, Calif.) combined to go 2-for-5 with four runs and five RBIs as Chattanooga (4-2) dealt St. Johns (0-1) a season opening 11-5 loss and kept Nicholls State (0-4) winless with a 15-6 victory Friday afternoon at LSU Tiger Park.
Chattanooga got on the board quickly against St. Johns, capitalizing on three bases loaded walks and a hit batsmen to take a 4-0 lead with no one out in the first inning. A bases loaded triple by Tembey pushed the lead to 7-0 before she came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 8-0 after one inning.
After a pair of lengthy rain delays, the Red Storm got on the board in the third inning when sophomore catcher Brandy Reyes hit a fly ball to drive in junior outfielder Melissa Pilley and make the score 8-1. The St. Johns resurgence continued in the top of the fourth inning with a two-run home run by senior designated hitter Lisa Geer, an RBI double by senior short stop Danielle Estrada and a run scoring error put the score at 8-5.
The Lady Mocs responded quickly in their half of the inning as they loaded the bases with two outs. Junior outfielder Laci Upchurch (Madison, Tenn.) then laced a bases-clearing double to drive in three runs and make it 11-5. From there, freshman pitcher Kandice Irwin (Knoxville, Tenn.) threw 3.1 scoreless innings and allowed only two hits to move to 2-0 on the season.
Freshman pitcher Kat Lawerence took the loss for St. Johns, dropping to 0-1, while Geer finished at 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs. For Chattanooga, Tembey went 1-for-3 with two runs and three RBI while Upchurch drove in three runs on her lone double. Freshman catcher Katie Blevins (Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.) collected her first collegiate hit as she went 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI.
In the day's second game against Nicholls State, Chattanooga got off to a slow start, falling behind 2-0 in the bottom of the first on a single by senior outfielder Rachel Pugh. UTC then woke up offensively in top of the second inning as they pushed across five runs on two bases loaded walks and got three runs off a bases loaded double by freshman pitcher Michelle Fuzzard (Huntington Beach, Calif.) to make it 5-2.
The Colonels came right back in the bottom of the second inning, connecting for four runs on four hits to retake the lead, 6-5. Senior first baseman Amy Thibodeaux had the key hit with a two-run double while Pugh added another RBI single.
The back-and-forth affair continued in the third inning as the Lady Mocs drove in four runs with the benefit of only two hits to take the lead for good at 9-6. After a scoreless fourth, Chattanooga exploded in the fifth with six runs on five hits, including a two-RBI double from Blevins, to reach the final margin of 15-6.
Freshman pitcher Kaitlin Holloway (Chickamauga, Ga.) pitched 3.1 scoreless innings to improve to 2-0 on the season while senior pitcher Krystalin Ensminger took the loss for the Colonels.
Fuzzard added to her already impressive offensive numbers as she went 3-for-4 with a run scored and four RBIs while junior third baseman Toni Hutchison (Madison, Tenn.) finished with a 2-for-4 night with three runs and two RBIs. Freshman infielder Kristin Holloway (Chickamauga, Ga.) finished at 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs.
Fuzzard is now batting .467 with a team-high 10 RBI over her first six career games while Tembey is hitting .476 (10-of-21) with seven RBIs and is 2-for-2 in stolen bases.
The Lady Mocs return to action tomorrow with a 9:00 a.m. contest against Ball State and a 3:45 p.m. game with 2007 Southeastern Conference West Division Champion LSU.
NOTES
The victories over St. Johns and Nicholls State are the first in the program's 15-year history ... prior to today, the teams had never met ... Chattanooga will face first-time opponent LSU tomorrow afternoon.
