Lady Mocs Rally from Five Down to Top WCU

4/2/2010 9:00:00 PM | By: GoMocs.com

Courtesy: Jeff Hurndon

Junior Lyndsey Stiles touches home plate to give the Lady Mocs a 6-5 lead after senior Kaiti Kelley's single to right.

Western Carolina at Chattanooga
April 2, 2010

Chattanooga, Tenn. (Frost Stadium)
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
WCU (4-23, 0-8)	0	0	1	4	0	0	0	5	9	1
UTC (24-9, 7-0)	0	0	0	0	3	4	0	7	11	6

WP - Kandice Irwin (5-0) LP - Amber Steinhardt (3-7)

Game Notes:
- Junior Tia Blosser went 3-for-4 on the night tying a career-high and setting a new season mark for hits adding her six double of year and two RBI.
-Junior Lyndsey Stiles had her third multi-RBI game of the year notching two, while recoring three hits improving her season batting average to .378.
-Junior Kandice Irwin registered her fifth victory of the season, all coming as a reliever.
-Freshman Kasey Tydingco had two key extra-base hits, a double and triple, that extended the inning fifth and six innings for the Lady Mocs. It was the first triple of the Fairfield, Calif., native's career and the third this season for Chattanooga.
-Junior Lauren Flores went 1-for-3 to extend her hitting streak to seven games, while Lynleigh Hurndon has hit safely in six-straight contests now.
-A typically stout Chattanooga defense had a rough start committing six errors in the contest that unofficially tied a team-high dating back to 1996 when the Lady Mocs had that many against Georgia Southern (4/14) and Furman (4/5) both on the road.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A two-run go ahead single from senior Kaiti Kelley (Chattanooga, Tenn.) in the sixth inning helped seal the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team's comeback 7-5 triumph over Western Carolina. Senior Tia Blosser (Knoxville, Tenn.) lead the way going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and two RBI as the Lady Mocs overcame a five-run deficit after four.

"I felt like they intentionally walked Lyndsey Stiles just to get an easy situation for their defense," said Kelley after the game-winning single. "I knew then that I was going to prove them wrong. They were trying to make an easy play because they expected a slapper to hit the ball into the dirt, and only in the dirt. Typically I hit closer toward the middle, so all they were going to do was tag second. I used it as motivation stepping up to the plate."

Staring in the circle for Chattanooga (24-9, 7-0 SoCon) was senior Brooke Loudermilk (Locust Grove, Ga.) going 3.1 innings, giving up six hits and five runs, only one of them earned, and striking out five. Junior Kandice Irwin (Knoxville, Tenn.) came in and shut the door on Western Carolina (4-23, 0-9 SoCon) only yielding three hits while striking out five to finish the contest.

Scoring the first run of the game was Chelsea Shaffer for the Catamounts coming in on a groundout by Jordan Fulton. WCU followed it up with four runs in the fourth thanks to four errors committed by the Lady Mocs in the frame to take a 5-0 lead.

"There is a difference in coming to play and being your best every day, and I am just stumped on what I need to do to get the girls to step up," said head coach Frank Reed. "I'm not sure what buttons to push. Sometimes, I don't have to push any buttons at all. All I know is that we need some of the upperclassmen to step up and challenge the team."

UTC's bats came alive in the fifth inning beginning with senior Lynleigh Hurndon's (McDonough, Ga.) bloop single into the outfield down the first base line. Freshman Kasey Tydingco (Fairfield, Calif.) followed with a double over the right fielder's head to advance Hurndon to third.
On a 0-2 pitch, junior Lyndsey Stiles (Hixson, Tenn.) beat out a groundball to the shortstop driving in Hurndon and advancing Tydingco to third. On the next pitch, Stiles stole second base and advanced to third on a passed ball, which also allowed Tydingco to score the second run for Chattanooga.

Two batters later, Blosser single to the second baseman allowing Stiles to cross the plate for the final run of the inning cutting Western Carolina's lead down to 5-3.

Chattanooga continued the rally in the sixth starting with junior Lauren Flores (Fort Ogelthorpe, Ga.) singling to right centerfield. Freshman Sara Poteat (Thomaston, Ga.) reached base on a fielder's choice, and was driven in by Tydingco's first career triple that the centerfielder misjudged.

"I knew that none of their pitchers could throw it by me," said Tydingco. "I knew that if they threw it close that I was going to swing hard and get on base. We needed base runners so that we could score."

After an intentional walk and the second stolen base of the game by Stiles, Kelley singled to right to drive the runners in scoring position completing the comeback as UTC took a 6-5 lead. Blosser followed with a single on the next pitch through the left side to bring home Kelley and give the Lady Mocs a two run lead.

UTC continues the holiday weekend series against the Catamounts tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader. Game one starts at noon, with game two beginning 20 minutes after the end of game one. Also, fans of the Chattanooga softball team are welcomed to attend "Breakfast with Coach" at Wally's Restaurant beginning at 8:30 a.m. where assistant coach Brad Irwin will be the featured speaker during the interactive event.

GoMocs.com is the official website of the Chattanooga Mocs. The Mocs can also be followed on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ChattanoogaMocs , or on Twitter, www.twitter.com/GoMocs.

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