SOUTH FORT MYERS, Fla. - Sophomore pitcher Brooke Loudermilk (Locust Grove, Ga.) pitched a complete game two-hitter and senior shortstop Tara Tembey (Folsom, Calif.) connected for her third homerun of the season as Chattanooga (14-12) split a pair of games with Florida Gulf Coast (29-7) Wednesday afternoon at the FGCU Softball Complex. UTC defeated the Eagles 3-1 in the opener before falling 4-2 in the nightcap.
After a pair of scoreless innings to start the opener, the Lady Mocs took advantage of a lead-off double from sophomore catcher Lynleigh Hurndon (McDonough, Ga.) and an infield error that gave them a 1-0 lead. Tara Tembey followed that play by driving the first pitch she saw down the right field line for a two-run homerun to make it 3-0. UTC was forced to settle for that lead as they were then unable to capitalize on back-to-back Eagle errors.
From there, Brooke Loudermilk (Locust Grove, Ga.) took over as she held FGCU hitless until the fifth inning and scoreless until the seventh before allowing an unearned run. She then closed out the game by inducing a fly out to lock up the 3-1 victory. That win not only snapped an eleven game winning streak by Florida Gulf Coast, it was only their second loss in their last 26 games and was their second at home, dropping them to 16-2.
Tembey led the way offensively for Chattanooga as she powered her third homerun of the season and drove in two RBIs while Hurndon doubled and scored. Freshman second baseman Breanna Kilgore (Dalton, Ga.) pinch hit and went 1-for-1 with a single while freshman infielder Kristin Holloway (Chickamauga, Ga.) scored a run. Loudermilk won her fourth straight decision to improve to 5-4 on the season while senior Rachael Edinger took the loss to drop to 13-3 on the year.
In the second game, Chattanooga jumped ahead early as a lead-off single and stolen base by Tembey set the stage for an RBI single by freshman outfielder Lauren Flores (Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.). That gave the Lady Mocs a 1-0 lead that they would stretch to 2-0 when freshman first baseman Michelle Fuzzard (Huntington Beach, Calif.) powered her fourth homerun of the season over the right center field fence.
That lead would hold up until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Eagles scored three runs behind a lead-off triple, a double and an error to pull ahead 3-2. FGCU added an insurance run in the sixth inning when sophomore Jessica Gary singled to third base to make it 4-2.
A two-out walk by Tembey and a single by sophomore outfielder Nicole D'Apice (Knoxville, Tenn.) put the tying runs on base but the Lady Mocs were not able to capitalize as the Eagles closed out the two-run victory.
For Florida Gulf Coast, Jessica Gary led the way with a 2-for-4 performance with a run scored and two RBIs while junior Cheyenne Jenks went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Michelle Fuzzard and Lauren Flores accounted for the two Chattanooga runs with an RBI apiece while D'Apice collected her first career hit. In the circle, freshman pitcher Kandice Irwin (Knoxville, Tenn.) pitched six innings and struck out nine batters while walking only one to drop to 6-5 on the season while freshman Morgan Campen went seven innings, allowing only five hits and two runs to move to 10-3 on the season.
Chattanooga returns to the field on Friday, March 14 when they take part in the USF Under Armour Showcase. The Lady Mocs will face Ivy League member Dartmouth at 11 a.m. before taking on Boston University at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, they will play Penn State at 11 a.m. and Liberty at 4:30 p.m. before beginning bracket play on Sunday, March 16.
NOTES
With her third homerun of the season, Tembey is now in sole possession of fifth place on the Lady Mocs all-time homerun list ... Florida Gulf Coast had won 24 of their last 25 ball games prior to today's 3-1 defeat ... FGCU had received one vote in this weeks NFCA Top-25 poll ... this was the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
