CLEARWATER, Fla. --- Stellar performances from California natives Mariah Ramirez and Hayleigh Weissenbach lifted the Chattanooga Mocs softball team to a doubleheader sweep over Western Michigan and Central Connecticut State on the opening day of the USF Invitational at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla., Friday evening.

Chattanooga (15-3) downed Western Michigan (4-11), 2-1, in the first game of the day behind a complete-game performance from Ramirez.

Chattanooga (16-3) completed the daylong sweep with a 5-4 extra-inning victory over Central Connecticut State (4-2) in the nightcap. Weissenbach roped a two-out, walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to secure the win.
 
GAME 1 BOX » Chattanooga 2, W. Michigan 1
Western Michigan opened the scoring in the bottom of the third after both teams failed to have a runner reach base safely over the first two and a half.

The Broncos loaded the bases with no outs but were kept in-check by starting pitcher Mariah Ramirez. Ramirez surrendered just one run during the threat, a sacrifice fly to center, to limit the deficit to 1-0.

Chattanooga responded in the top of the fourth after Aly Walker sparked a two-out rally by drawing a walk. Emma Sturdivant followed that up with a double off the left field wall to advance Walker to third, who later scored two pitches later after a passed ball reached the backstop.

Halie Williamson provided an RBI line-drive single over the shortstops glove to put UTC ahead 2-1, a lead they would eventually hold on to for the remainder of the game.

Ramirez (6-0) successfully stranded six WMU runners in three of the final four innings to earn her the complete-game victory, her fourth of the season. Ramirez allowed just five hits and one earned run while striking out one and needed just 73 pitches to finish the job.

Chattanooga out-hit Western Michigan, 6-5, with five of the six hits going down as singles. Sturdivant's double off the wall in left was the lone extra-base hit of the game for UTC.

Notable Performances: Mariah Ramirez (CG W, 5H, ER, 73 pitches); Emma Sturdivant (2-for-3, 2B, R); Halie Williamson (2-for-3, RBI)
 
GAME 2 BOX » Chattanooga 5, Central Conn. St. 4 (9)
Chattanooga plated an opening inning run for the eighth time this season after Kacie Lynch led the inning off with a single up the middle and later came around to score on an Emma Sturdivant sacrifice fly to left to put UTC ahead 1-0.

Morgan Kazerooni ripped a one-out RBI single through the right side in the bottom of the fourth to give UTC a brief 2-1 lead after starting pitcher Allison Swinford allowed just one CCSU run over her first 4.1 innings, racking up a season-high five strikeouts during that span.

Celie Hudson entered in a relief role for Swinford in the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and one out. She induced a soft comeback ground ball and threw on to catcher Amanda Beltran at the plate to get the second out of the inning via the force play.
The Blue Devils, however, capitalized with a two-out, two-RBI single up the middle to pull in front 3-2.

Still trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth, Halie Williamson kicked-off the inning by reaching base on a fielding error at third base. Makenzi Grider entered as a pinch-runner and advanced to second on a wild pitch one batter later.

With two outs and Grider standing on third, Devan Brown came up big in a pinch-hit role with an RBI single inside the left field line to tie the game 3-3 after six full innings.

After a scoreless seventh inning for both teams, the game entered extra-innings and was played under the International tiebreaker rules. The Blue Devils pushed across an unearned run in the top of the eighth to take a 4-3 lead.

Beltran responded for the Mocs in the home half with an RBI single to left field, scoring the placed, pinch-runner in Taylor Chadwick to tie the game 4-4 and force a ninth inning.

Hudson proved to be the difference maker in the top of the ninth after not allowing CCSU to score its placed runner at second base. She surrendered a sacrifice bunt before a strikeout and pop-up to third base conclude the inning and left the game tied heading to the bottom of the inning.

Katie Corum was the placed runner at second base to begin the inning and later advanced to third with two outs after a failed sacrifice bunt and groundout put two outs on the board.

Hayleigh Weissenbach decided enough was enough and drilled an RBI-single to the gap in right center to walk UTC off with a 5-4 win in nine innings.

Hudson (6-3) earned the victory in the circle after relieving Swinford. She tossed the final 4.2 innings and allowed one hit and no earned runs while striking out four. Swinford was more than solid in addition, tossing 4.1 innings of three-hit ball with three earned runs allowed and a season-high five strikeouts.

Chattanooga belted eight hits during the victory, all singles, while stranding nine on base. Lynch and Weissenbach provided multi-hit games for UTC as the one and two hitters in the lineup. All five runs scored were from five different Mocs.  

Notable Performances: Celie Hudson (4.2IP, W, H, 4K); Hayleigh Weissenbach (2-for-3, Walk-Off RBI); Kacie Lynch (2-for-5, R); Amanda Beltran (1-for-3, RBI); Devan Brown (1-for-1, RBI)
 
CHATTANOOGA NOTABLES
- Chattanooga improves to 16-3 this season… pulls inside the top-20 across all NCAA DI in winning percentage (.842).
- Mariah Ramirez dazzled again in the circle to improve to 6-0 with a 2.72 ERA this season… earned her fourth CG victory of the season… allowed just five hits and one earned run in win over WMU… UTC has out-scored opponents 59-32 in games where Ramirez makes an appearance.
- Hayleigh Weissenbach lifted a walk-off RBI single with two outs in the ninth during 5-4 victory over CCSU… went combined 3-for-4 during Friday's sweep… 2-for-3 with RBI against CCSU… 1-for-1 as pinch-hitter in win over WMU.
- Kacie Lynch went 2-for-5 with a run scored and two defensive assists in her second start of the season.

UP NEXT
Chattanooga continues play in the USF Invitational tomorrow with a 2:30 p.m. matchup against UCF and a 5 p.m. matchup against Holy Cross. Live stats are available on the schedule page (subject to change). We ask fans to please check @GoMocsSB on Twitter for any link or game time changes.


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