Courtesy: Jeff Hurndon

Senior Lynleigh Hurndon broke out of an early season slump with four hits against the Bruins Saturday.

Chattanooga vs. Belmont March 20, 2010

Chattanoooga, Tenn. (Aquinas Field)
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
UTC (18-7)	0	0	2	0	4	0	2	6	9	1
BEL (2-19)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	4

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WP - Brooke Loudermilk (12-5) LP - Julie Harmon (0-7)

Chattanooga vs. Belmont March 20, 2010

Nashville, Tenn. (Aquinas Field)
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	R	H	E
UTC (18-8)	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	3	7	0
BEL (3-19)	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	4	7	2

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WP - Devon Schmidt (3-18) LP - Nikki Waters (3-3)

Game Notes:
-Junior Kandice Irwin registered her seventh save of the season, one shy of passing the SoCon record at eight held by Maureen Flynn (UNCG) in 2002.
- Senior Brooke Loudermilk struckout seven batters on the day raising her career total to 782 inching closer to leader Beth Alexander at 785.
- Junior Nikki Waters notched her fifth home run of the season. All of the have come in the last eight games.
- With a stolen bases and 14 this season without being caught, junior Lyndsey Stiles has 43 career stolen bags and needs one more to pass Leah Tucker (1998-01) with 44. The leader is Jeannie Cochran (2004-07) with 94.
- This was the first time that Belmont defeated Chattanooga in eight chances dating back to 2000.

After the day, Chattanooga record sits at 19-8, 3-0 in the Southern Conference, while Belmont has a 3-19 mark.

In the circle, senior Brooke Loudermilk (Locust Grove, Ga.) picked up her 12th victory of the season striking out eight on the day, while junior Kandice Irwin (Knoxville, Tenn.) registered her seventh save pitching 3.0 innings. Taking the loss was Waters in the second game surrendering a two-RBI double in the eighth after Chattanooga had the lead 3-2. She struck out seven and gave up five hits.

Registering four hits and driving in a run on the afternoon was senior Lynleigh Hurndon (McDonough, Ga.) to break out of an early season slump.  

Game One: Chattanooga 6, Belmont 0

The Lady Mocs registered six hits including two by junior Lyndsey Stiles (Hixson, Tenn.) and Hurndon to defeat Belmont, 6-0 at Aquinas Field. Driving in two RBI was senior Tia Blosser (Knoxvile, Tenn.) with a single to put Chattanooga on the board in the third. 

"I am coming out of my slump and I am very excited about it," said Hurndon. "I have just taken a different approach to the plate and not thought as much about pressing to get a hit. My hitting problems were mainly mental. I have been reading a lot of books on how to improve my hitting but other than that I haven't made many changes to my hitting approach."

Starting for Chattanooga and notching the victory was Loudermilk, who fanned six bringing her career total to 780 just five shy of the UTC record held by Beth Alexander from 2002-05.

Earning the three inning save was Irwin striking out one for her seventh of the season. The next save by Irwin would tie the Southern Conference save records held by Maureen Flynn (UNCG) set back in the 2002 season.

In the first, Belmont had an opportunity to put Chattanooga in an early deficit by loading the bases with a single and two walks, but Loudermilk pitched out of the jam keeping the Bruins off the scoreboard.

The Lady Mocs played small ball after freshman Kasey Tydingco (Faircfield, Calif.) walked, two infield singles by outfielders Stiles and senior Kaiti Kelly (Chattanooga, Tenn.) to load the bases in the third. Scoring the first two runs for the Lady Mocs was second baseman Blosser driving a pitch through the right side.

In the fourth, the Lady Mocs put two more runners on base with two walks to Tydingco and Stiles, but a hard line out by Kelley right at the second baseman and a foul out by Blosser ended the threat. Aquinas Field used to be a baseball complex, so Blosser's foul was caught just shy of the Chattanooga dugout about 40-feet foul of third base, which would have been out of play in most softball venues.

In the fifth inning all with two outs, the Lady Mocs put two on base thanks to a Belmont error and a single by Hurndon up the middle. A fly out to left ended the threat for Chattanooga leaving its ninth runner on base.

Starting off the sixth was pinch hitter Kristin Holloway (Chickamauga, Ga.) singling to left center and Stiles followed with a hit and run through the right side. Holloway scored when the first baseman picked up a bunt by Kelley and hit her with the throw allowing for two runners to be in scoring position.

After Blosser walked, the bases were loaded for Baker, who reached on a fielder's choice by the second baseman and two runs scored when the throw went wide of first making the score 5-0 Chattanooga. Waters reached when the shortstop bobbled a grounder and Hurndon made the Bruins pay with a double into the right center field gap giving the Lady Mocs a 6-0 advantage.

The Bruins got the first two outs in the inning quickly, but ran into trouble walking the next two Lady Mocs, but Chattanooga was not able to take advantage as Baker struck out.

Pitching since the beginning of the fifth, Irwin was effective, but the Bruins were able to scatter four hits on the hard-throwing righty. She pitched out of a couple of jams including with two runners in scoring position, Hurndon picked off a runner at third.

Game Two: Belmont 4, Chattanooga 3

With the sun breaking through in the second game, the Lady Mocs were unable to consistently come up with key hits as they left the bases loaded in the eighth after grounding into a double play. The Bruins scored the first two runs of the game and made Chattanooga pay with a walk-off two-RBI double to right center for the 4-3 victory in eight.

Waters took the mound for Chattanooga and struck out seven in 6.2 innings pitched. Coming on for an inning of work was Loudermilk, who surrendered a run and struck out two.

The Bruins scored their first run of the day when Grier got a hold of a Waters pitch and pulled it over the left field fence in the fourth. Belmont tagged reliever Loudermilk for another run in the fifth on a walk, sacrifice bunt and double, but the veteran pitcher was able to limit the damage.

After a walk to lead off the sixth by Baker, Waters delivered a key two-run home run that curled around the left field pole to knot the score at two and give the Lady Mocs a new life. The long ball was the fifth of the season for the Soddy Daisy, Tenn., native with all of them coming in the last eight games.

Coming back into the game was Waters in the sixth, Loudermilk was called for five illegal pitches in the one inning, but was also working on a modified delivery, where she dragged her back foot.

"I am working on my mechanics with my coaches," said Loudermilk. "Right now, I am moving my feet too much while I am standing on the rubber, so I have began to go ahead and turn my foot before I pitch to cut down on the movement. Without all of the movement, I can push straight off the rubber so that I have a cleaner delivery."

With Blosser on second for the international tie-breaker in the eight, Waters drove in a run to take a 3-2 lead with a single through the right side with one out.  Junior Lauren Flores (Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga.) continued the inning with a bunt single to third, and then Hurndon loaded the bases with a single through the left side. A double play to the pitcher ended the inning for the Lady Mocs.

Belmont knew that it dodged a bullet with the bases loaded and took advantage by moving the runner at second over to third with a sacrifice bunt for the first out. After a walk by Waters and with two outs, Ashley Smith, who was a replacement after Erin Grier was injured in the third inning, delivered a two out RBI double delivering the third win of the season for the Bruins.

Chattanooga now has the week off to regroup before heading back into conference play, when it heads to Samford for a three-game series starting March 27 at 2 p.m. EST from Birmingham, Ala. The Lady Mocs are back at the friendly confines of Frost Stadium on April 3-4 against Western Carolina.