GREENVILLE, S.C. - Sophomore pitcher Brooke Loudermilk (Locust Grove, Ga.) was perfect through 6.2 innings in the opener and freshman pitcher Kaitlin Holloway (Chickamauga, Ga.) collected her sixth win in her last seven appearances as Chattanooga (33-15, 11-1) took the first two games of its series with Furman (19-24, 7-7) by scores of 2-0 and 2-1 Saturday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium in Greenville, S.C.
Loudermilk was nearly perfect in the opener, setting down the first 20 batters she faced before allowing a 1-2 double to the right-centerfield gap before retiring the side on a ground out for the 2-0 victory.
Dominant right from the very beginning, she set down the first 12 batters of the game without incident before junior third baseman Toni Hutchison (Madison, Tenn.) grabbed a hard line drive to third base off the bat of junior third baseman Abby Robertson to begin the fifth inning.
Loudermilk worked out of trouble to start the sixth inning as she went to a 3-0 count on junior left fielder Kate Termini. After a called strike to make it 3-1, the Locust Grove, Ga. native recorded another strike to work all the way back to a full count before inducing a fly out to left field. A pair of quick outs to shortstop and two to begin the seventh put Loudermilk within one out of a perfect game. After working the count to 1-2, junior shortstop Stephanie Cushing laced a well hit double to the right centerfield gap to end the suspense.
Two solo home runs by junior outfielder Laci Upchurch (Madison, Tenn.) in the second inning and redshirt-freshman infielder Tiffany Baker (East Ridge, Tenn.) in the fifth backed up that phenomenal pitching performance and locked up a 2-0 victory, Chattanooga's 16 in their last 17 games. Freshman first baseman Michelle Fuzzard (Huntington Beach, Calif.) finished the day 2-for-3 and added her team-leading 13th double.
In the nightcap, neither team was able to scratch a run over the game's first four innings as both team's pitchers controlled the game. That changed in the bottom of the fifth inning when freshman pitcher Kandice Irwin (Knoxville, Tenn.), who had gone four innings and allowed only four hits, gave up a leadoff double.
Kaitlin Holloway entered in relief and, following a single up the middle to put runners on the corners, proceeded to strike out the next batter and induce a ground out back to the pitcher for two outs. On that same play, a throwing error allowed the first run of the game to cross home plate for a 1-0 Furman lead.
The Lady Mocs responded quickly in the top of the sixth inning with a leadoff single by Fuzzard before Stiles pinch ran. Freshman catcher Katie Blevins (Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.) then followed with her 20th extra base hit of the season as she tripled to the right centerfield gap to tie the game at 1-1. Following a popup for the second out of the inning, Blevins brought home the go-ahead run from third on a wild pitch, making it 2-1.
In the bottom of the inning Chattanooga recorded the first two outs in short order before a walk and an error once again put runners on the corners. This time, UTC got out of it with a fly ball to centerfield to maintain a one-run lead. After going down 1-2-3 in their half of the seventh, the Lady Mocs made quick work of the Paladins, retiring the leadoff batter on a bunt ground out and striking out the final two batters swinging to secure the 2-1 victory.
Holloway pitched three scoreless innings of one hit ball with three strikeouts to earn her eighth win of the season and sixth in her last seven appearances to improve to 8-1 on the year while freshman Bethany Ullrich was the hard luck loser for Furman after allowing only the two runs and six hits over seven innings. She falls to 5-6 in 2008.
Blevins led the way offensively for Chattanooga, going 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI while Fuzzard continued her hot hitting with another 2-for-3 performance. It is her 16th multi-hit game of the year and fifth two-hit game in her last seven.
The Lady Mocs close out the series tomorrow afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch against Furman.
NOTES
With her sixth home run of the year, Laci Upchurch has now homered in three of her last five ball games and has hit 21 for her career. She is now tied with Ashleigh Bull (2005-06) for fourth place all-time on the Lady Mocs career home run list.
