Lady Mocs Blast Phoenix 10-3; Will Play Doubleheader on Sunday

3/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | By: GoMocs.com

ELON, N.C. --- Thanks to 13 hits, including a career-high four from Lyndsey Stiles, the Chattanooga softball team defeated Elon 10-3 in Southern Conference play on Saturday. The win puts the Lady Mocs (15-14/6-1 SoCon) back above .500 for the season, while the Phoenix (8-13/0-4 SoCon) remain winless in the conference. Due to inclement weather in the Elon area, Game 2 of the scheduled doubleheader has been moved to Sunday. The twin bill is set to begin at 1 p.m. from East Field.

The Chattanooga bats once again came up big for the Lady Mocs as the team pounded out 13 hits. Eight of UTC's hitters recorded a hit in the contest, while six drove in a run, to give Michelle Fuzzard (6-5) her sixth win of the season. Fuzzard continued to be a workhorse for the UTC staff, throwing her third straight complete game. In seven innings the sophomore allowed five hits and gave up three earned while striking out a season-tying eight.

The Lady Mocs were able to break the game open thanks to a five-hit, six run second inning. The frame began with a leadoff walk to Toni Hutchison followed by failed bunt attempt by Jenni Martin. With one out and one runner on, the next five UTC batters would reach base successfully.

Brittany Eason began the streak with a double into right center. A Jessica Traxler walk would then load the bases when Lauren Flores then put the Lady Mocs on the board with a two-run single into centerfield. Lyndsey Stiles then put UTC up 3-0 with her second hit of the day, a single into centerfield. Kaiti Kelley then gave Chattanooga its third straight hit with a RBI single down the leftfield line, bringing in Flores.

The Phoenix would then pull starting pitcher Melanie Helterbran (3-6) in favor of reliever Erin O'Shea. O'Shea retired the first batter she faced, Fuzzard, on a fly out to rightfield for the second out of the inning. Tiffany Baker would continue her red-hot March though, with a two-run double to give UTC the 6-0 lead. In the inning, the Lady Mocs sent 10 batters to plate.

After a scoreless third for Chattanooga, Elon would break through with a single run in the third off a run scoring double by Ashlee Crewe.

Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth, but both teams were able to plate runs in the fifth. Chattanooga pushed one run across in its half of the inning off an infield single by Stiles to score Eason, putting UTC up 7-1.

In the bottom half, the Phoenix scored a runner thanks to a Fuzzard wild pitch and another on a sacrifice fly by Patti Weber. That would be all of the scoring for Elon however, as Fuzzard did not allow another hit.

In the sixth, Fuzzard helped her own cause with her fifth home run of the season to lead off the inning. The Lady Mocs plated another run in the inning off a RBI double by Traxler, who now has a modest three-game hitting streak.

Chattanooga placed one more run on the board in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Fuzzard as the Lady Mocs cruised to the 10-3 victory.

UTC will look to take the series in Game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader at 1 p.m.

Live stats will be available at GoMocs.com and streaming video is available, via subscription, through Elon's website, ElonPhoenix.com.

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