CHATTANOOGA – Early inning miscues and a slow day at the plate hampered the Chattanooga Mocs softball team during an 11-0 loss in the series finale at Frost Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
 
Following the loss, Chattanooga falls to 14-20 overall and 0-3 in SoCon play. Mercer improves to 22-10 and 3-0 in league action.
 
Mercer struck early and often to build an insurmountable lead over Chattanooga in the series finale. The Bears scored in all five innings including four in the first and three in the second.
 
Of the four first inning runs, only one of them went down as earned and they all came with two outs. Mercer's Quirisa Mauga belted a double to left field that allowed two to score, the second via an error at the plate. Emma Andrew and Allie Jones followed that up with RBI singles of their own to push across the third and fourth runs.
 
In the second inning, Mercer scored three runs on the help of a wild pitch, a delayed steal and an RBI single to build the 7-0 advantage. They would tack on one in the third, two in the fourth and one more in the fifth to claim a mercy-rule 11-0 victory.
 
The bats went cold as Chattanooga registered only one extra-base hit and four hits total in the loss. Aly Walker led the way with a perfect 2-for-2 performance including a double to left field while Brook Womack and Amanda Beltran added singles.
 
Allison Swinford (5-8) suffered the loss in the circle. Swinford tossed 1.2 innings and allowed seven hits and seven runs, but only four of the runs were earned. Celie Hudson and Heidi Hall added relief work for the Mocs.
 
Chattanooga picks up Southern Conference play next weekend in Birmingham, Ala., with a three-game set at Samford on Friday and Saturday. Game coverage links can be found in the schedule page.
 
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