CLERMONT, FLA. --- The Chattanooga Mocs softball team earned a split in Saturday's slate of a doubleheader against Liberty and Morgan State on a warm sunny afternoon in Clermont, Fla., as part of the NTC Tournament.
The Mocs fell in the first game 11-2 to Liberty and picked up an 8-0 win over Morgan State in the second game. With the win, UTC picked up its first win of the 2017 season and now carries a 1-3 record entering tomorrow's final game of the tournament against Fairleigh Dickinson.
Game 1 | Liberty 11, Chattanooga 2 (6)
Liberty, playing as the visitors, opened up the scoring in the top of the first with three singles in the first four batters of the game allowing two runs to cross the plate.
Payten Price, the starting pitcher, struck out a batter with two on base to stop the threat.
With the Flames up 2-0, Chattanooga answered back in the bottom of the second in a big way as
Jesslyn Stockard belted a deep two-run homerun over the right field fence to knot the game up at 2-2.
The Stockard homerun would be the final runs the Mocs would push across as it was all Liberty from that point. After adding an unearned run in the third, the Flames would score four runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to amount an 11-2 lead over UTC.
Payten Price (0-2) took the loss for the Mocs after allowing ten hits, seven runs (six earned), four walks while striking out only a single batter in 5.0 innings of work.
Alex Connell came in relief of Price and tossed a complete inning, allowing two hits, four earned runs while striking out one.
Chattanooga only notched three hits in the contest, a Stockard homerun and a pair of singles from
Emma Sturdivant and
Aly Walker. Sturdivant was making her collegiate debut, the seventh for the Mocs in two days, and singled in her first at-bat. As a team, UTC went 3-for-21 at the plate.
Game 2 | Chattanooga 8, Morgan State 0 (6)
A difference from the first game on Saturday, the Mocs struck first and kept it all Chattanooga for the entire game. UTC started the scoring in the top half of the first as
Hayleigh Weissenbach led off the game with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then was driven home by an
Ashley Conner double down the right-field line.
The Mocs added another run in the second as
Brook Womack led the inning off with a base on balls and then stole second with one out. Womack advanced to third on a Sturdivant infield single and later scored on an
Amy Lewis sacrifice bunt to push UTC ahead 2-0. Chattanooga picked up another run in the third as they put two runners on via a single and walk, and later scored in consecutive illegal pitch calls on Morgan State, giving UTC a 3-0 lead.
The break-out inning for Chattanooga was in the top of the fifth when they scored four runs on three hits, all coming with two outs. Four walks in-a-row led to a run and a bases loaded situation.
Maddy Adams delivered with a three-run triple to the right-center gap opening up a 7-0 UTC Lead. Chattanooga added the mercy-run rule eighth run in the six on a Conner sacrifice fly to center.
Alex Connell (1-1) earned her first career win by throwing all 6.0 innings, striking out six and allowing only two hits. She had her no-hit bid broken up in the fourth with a Bears single to right field.
The Mocs out-hit the Bears 9-2 for the game and hit .409 (9-for-22) as a team, drawing eight walks and only striking out three times.
Amanda Beltran and Sturdivant led the way with two hits apiece while five others added a hit. Adams finished 1-for-3 at the plate and totaled a game-high three RBIs while Conner went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a walk. Weissenbach added a 1-for-2 performance, scoring and walking twice and leads the team with four walks drawn and three runs scored through four games.
Chattanooga finishes out the NTC Tournament tomorrow with a 10 a.m. game against Fairleigh Dickinson.
