ATLANTA, Ga. – Junior Alyssa Coppinger homered twice and recorded another outfield assist, but it wasn't enough for the Chattanooga Mocs softball team as they fell 5-4 to Georgia State on the road Wednesday evening.
 
Following the loss, Chattanooga drops to 25-26 overall. Georgia State improved to 28-21.
 
Georgia State threatened early in the bottom of the first by loading the bases on two walks and a single through the first three batters. Starting pitcher Celie Hudson notched back-to-back strikeouts and induced a ground-out to third to keep the Panthers off the board.
 
The home team loaded the bases again in the bottom of the second, but this time with two outs. Back-to-back singles up the middle pushed two runners across, but center fielder Alyssa Coppinger picked up her eighth outfield assist of the season to nab a would-be scorer and limit the deficit to 2-0.
 
Coppinger continued her contributions for the Mocs in the top of third. She belted a one-out homerun over the left field fence for her second long-ball of the season to cut the GSU lead in half at 2-1. Aly Walker singled in the inning to extend her hitting streak to nine games.
 
In the top of the fifth inning, Coppinger struck again. The junior launched her second homerun of the game over the left field wall with one out and tied things up at 2-2. Chattanooga's rally wouldn't be finished quite yet.
 
Consecutive singles from Hayleigh Weissenbach and J.J. Hamill landed runners on first and second with one out. Walker followed up with a single through the right side to score Weissenbach and give UTC a 3-2 lead.
 
Georgia State rallied to re-gain a late lead in the bottom of the sixth with two runs. The Panthers tied the game up 3-3 on an RBI double to the gap in right center and took the lead, 4-3, a batter later with a successful suicide squeeze attempt.
 
The Mocs wouldn't go down without a fight. Down a run in the final frame, Weissenbach led the inning off with a walk and advanced to second on a Hamill sacrifice bunt. She went to third on a Walker ground-out and scored on a fielding error with two outs to tie the game up 4-4.
 
Georgia State's Arden Jobe launched the second pitch she saw in the bottom of the seventh over the left field fence to walk-off with a 5-4 win for the Panthers.
 
Four different Mocs recorded multi-hit games as UTC out-hit the opposition 10-8. The top three hitters in the lineup (Weissenbach, Hamill and Walker) all finished with two hits and combined for two runs scored and an RBI. Ashley Conner and Devan Brown added singles in the loss.
 
Swinford (9-11) suffered the loss in the circle during a relief role of Hudson. She tossed 4.0 innings and allowed five hits and three earned runs while striking out one. Hudson threw 2.0 innings and allowed three hits, five walks and two earned runs while notching a trio of strikeouts.
 
» Stats and Notes
- Alyssa Coppinger went 2-for-3 with two homeruns and two RBI … she now has three homeruns on the season … her first multi-homerun game of her career.
- Aly Walker finished 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and an RBI … improves her hit streak to nine games … has multi-hit games in four of her last five games … now batting .387 for the year.
- Chattanooga registered 10 hits in the loss … have out-hit or tied their opponents in the hit column in 13 of their last 15 games.
 
» Up Next
The Mocs will host SEC-power and nationally-ranked Auburn on Sunday, May 6^th for a season-concluding doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. Over 1,500 tickets have already been sold but a limited number of tickets still remain.
 
Fans can purchase tickets by going to the schedule page on GoMocs.com or by calling the box office at (423) 266-MOCS. (Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm).


Follow @GoMocsSB on Twitter for the most up-to-date information regarding Chattanooga softball.