CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs softball team heads to Auburn, Alabama, for its second straight and 10th overall NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend.
Champions of the Southern Conference, the Chattanooga Mocs (35-13) find themselves in the Auburn Region of the NCAA Tournament, joining the host and nation's No. 4 seed, Auburn, South Alabama, and Tennessee Tech as the four squads that make up the lower left portion of the 64-team bracket.
Third-seeded UTC will clash with second-seeded, South Alabama (38-11) in the region's first game on Friday, going up against the Jaguars at 3 p.m. CT/ 4 p.m. ET from Jane B. Moore Field. Auburn and Tennessee Tech will conclude the day with a showdown at 5:30 p.m. CT. Gates will open at 1:30.
A Chattanooga win in the double-elimination format against the Sun Belt Conference Champion would move them into the winner's bracket final against the Auburn-TTU victor on Saturday at 12 p.m. An UTC loss in the opening day would push them to a Saturday, 2:30 p.m. elimination-game against the Auburn-TTU loser. Every game of the Auburn Regional will broadcast live on ESPN3.
Chattanooga takes its place on the national stage after a compelling run in the 2015 SoCon Tournament that saw the Mocs command the table with a 3-0 record to become the 13th UTC team to claim the championship title. As the No.1 seed in the field of seven, Chattanooga rolled off a win against No. 5 Western Carolina and two consecutive wins against No.3 Mercer
Earning a bye, the Mocs saw WCU on the second day of the tournament, where after battling back and forth in 10 innings; the Mocs clinched a 5-4 victory as they plated two in the bottom of the last frame.
In its second game of the tournament, the Mocs faced off against conference newcomer Mercer. Staying steady, Robles once again secured the win for UTC as she hit a three-run, two-out walk-off homerun in the bottom of the seventh for a 7-6 victory over the Bears.
In the championship finale against Mercer, Chattanooga rode the right arm of senior Taylor Deason she tossed a complete game, allowing just one run on four hits with three walks against six strikeouts. The Mocs also used hits from Sam Taylor, Nicole Osterman and Robles to scratch out a 3-1win against Mercer.
Deason, Robles and Osterman were all named to the All-Tournament team while Robles was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Scouting South Alabama
Series: The Mocs lead the all-time series against the Jaguars, 2-1. The two teams met earlier this season at the South Alabama Invitational where the Mocs snapped the host's seven-game winning streak with a 3-1 Chattanooga victory. Criket Blanco and Nicole Osterman both hammered out homeruns while Cori Jennings struck out five and gave up only one earned run to the Jaguars.
Jaguar Notables: Ranked No. 28 in the nation, South Alabama is sitting at 38-11. The Jaguars finished the regular season 16-4 with a 0.800 winning percentage in the league behind regular season champion No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette, which finished 20-3 with a 0.8700 winning ratio.
On a two-game winning streak, USA enters regionals batting .303 as a team with a .456 overall slugging percentage and .405 on-base percentage. The Jaguars have outhit their opponents 391-259, this year and have outscored them, 263-148. The South Alabama pitching staff owns a 2.60 ERA and is holding opposing batters to a .303 average.
Jaguar sophomore designated player Chloe Rathburn currently leads USA at the plate with a .381 batting average, 56 hits and 50 RBI. Freshman right-hander Kalen McGill (16-3) tops the pitching staff with a 1.97 ERA with 70 strikeouts for 121.0 innings pitching.
