May 14, 2022. A date that will live forever in Chattanooga Softball history.
The 2022 Chattanooga Mocs softball team found themselves down five runs with one out in the seventh inning of the Southern Conference Championship Game against the hosts and top-seeded UNCG Spartans.
Up 7-2, UNCG brought in a new pitcher to begin the seventh and she began the frame by getting a fly out to left.
Chattanooga was back to the top of the order as Emily Coltharp stepped up to the plate and singled to left center on a 3-2 pitch. Kailey Snell was next up and singled to left, putting two on with one out, while the Mocs were still down five.
The Mocs' three-hole hitter, who had hit one home run earlier in the game entered the box. Reagan Armour belted a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left field, bringing the Mocs within two, down 7-5.
"I got two strikes on me," said Armour. "And then I thought, well then is when I got to do it. It was a changeup, and I swung at it. It felt good coming off the bat, but I didn't know if it was going to go out, but it went out. I definitely think it sparked some momentum."
After a groundout to first, the Mocs were down to their final out. Olivia Lipari was up next. She watched the first three pitches of the at-bat and brought the count to 3-0, then Head Coach Frank Reed called her over to talk strategy.
"He said, 'you are going to watch these next two pitches," Lipari recalled. "You are capable of doing it with just one strike left and then Kaili [Phillips] is right behind you.' I said 'alright'."
She did indeed watch the next two pitches, both were called strikes, bringing the count full. Lipari did not swing at the 3-2 pitch. Reece Byrd's 3-2 pitch missed just below the knees as the freshman drew a crucial two-out walk.
"I didn't anticipate her taking that third pitch," said Reed. "And that third pitch was awfully close. She put it out there, we got the call and the rest is history."
Kaili Phillips, who hit a grand slam the day before off of Byrd, stepped up to the plate as the game's tying run. After watching the first pitch high for ball one, Phillips saw a pitch over the middle of the plate at the letters. She swung and put the 1-0 pitch over the wall in left, tying the game at seven.
"You know, rounding the bases, and coming to see everybody once I got home and knowing it wasn't for me, it was for them," Phillips stated while tearing up after rewatching her home run. "It was for God. I got in the dugout, got on my knees and just started praying. I knew at that point that we had it."
The Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year, UNCG's Morgan Scott, reentered the game in the circle and ended the top of the seventh inning two batters later without allowing another run.
After the most thrilling top of the seventh inning in SoCon Tournament history, the coaching staff had a decision to make… Who was going to go back into the circle for Chattanooga?
Pitching Coach Cheyanne Tarango had her sights set on Brooke Parrott, who was 3-0 in the tournament and originally started the game for the Mocs.
"We had multiple pitchers that were successful throughout the season," said Tarango. "Brooke had the hot hand. I told [Coach Reed] 'win or die with her.' When we tied it up, I said that we had to put her in. She has the rhythm, she knows what she needs to do and we can win with her on the mound."
In the bottom half of the inning, Coach Reed put Parrott back in the circle for Chattanooga. Parrott, who started the game for the Mocs, reentered the contest in the most significant moment of her career… without warming up.
"I hadn't even warmed up before I went out there," she said. "I was relying on what I had thrown for the start of the game. I was going to go out there and pretend like I was throwing a bullpen. Just keep calm and do what I do."
Parrott set down the top of the Spartan lineup in order to send the game into extra innings.
The Mocs began the eighth inning with the nine-hole hitter, sophomore outfielder Adison Keylon.
"When I stepped into the box, I was thinking that I haven't done my job this game," said Keylon. "I made an error in the outfield, I struck out, I got to do something right here. I have to step up for my team. I am not striking out this time."
Keylon swung at the first two pitches and was in a hole, 0-2, to start the frame. After fouling off a pitch and watching two pitches, the count moved to 2-2. The 2-2 pitch was right over the heart of the plate and Keylon put it over the scoreboard in right field.
"That's probably the best swing I ever had in my life, honestly," she said. "As soon as I hit it, I knew that was going over without a doubt."
The biggest home run of the season for the Mocs was also one of the hardest hit balls the coaching staff had ever seen.
"My first thought was, wow that went a long way," said Associate Head Coach Scottie Kilgore. "I knew at that point we had the lead. I knew Brooke was pitching well. I felt like we had the game won at that point."
Scott got the next two batters to ground out before Armour came back up to the plate with two outs and a one run lead.
"I think I turned to Kailey Snell and said, 'What if she hit another one,'" said Tarango. "'She's already hit two. There's no shot, right? Why would you even throw to her? They aren't going to throw to her.'"
Well, they threw to her.
The first three pitches to the All-SoCon First Team honoree missed as she faced a 3-0 count. Scott found the strike zone to keep the at-bat going. The 3-1 pitch was right in Armour's zone and she added an insurance run. She crushed the 3-1 over the left field wall, becoming the first player in SoCon Softball Championship history to hit three home runs in a tournament game. She was the only player in the nation to hit three home runs in a conference tournament game last season.
"It was the team," said Armour. "They give you the momentum to do it. They push you to be your best. The fact I could help contribute in some sort of way means the world to me. These girls deserve nothing more. We worked so hard for this."
Heading into the bottom of the eighth, Chattanooga was now just three outs away from the championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Parrott headed back into the circle and all that stood in between the team and the title was the heart of UNCG's lineup.
UNCG's Jordan Gontram led off the inning. Prior to this at-bat, she had one hit in the game, a two-run home run in the fourth. The battle to start the eighth felt like it was never going to end.
Through the first four pitches, Gontram had an advantage with a 3-1 count. Parrott was not going to begin the inning with a leadoff walk. She kept battling and so did Gontram, as the cleanup hitter fouled off the next six pitches.
"We tried everything," said Parrott. "I just kept trusting my pitches and what Coach Tarango was calling and I knew we would get her to put the ball in play and get the out."
Gontram put the 11th pitch of the at-bat in play and it was a fly ball to right. Keylon snagged it in the air for the first out of the inning.
Down to its final two outs of the season, UNCG found its first runner of extras with a four-pitch walk.
"I wasn't mad about the walk," said Parrott. "I think it made me more determined. It made me really bear down to finish the job."
Once of the best freshman in the league, Grace Loftin, stepped up to the plate as the tying run.
Parrott got her to fly out to left, bringing Chattanooga within one out of the title. Brooklynn Maxwell was all that stood in the way.
"I knew anyone in their lineup could hit a home run," Parrott added. "I was trusting Coach Tarango and the defense and was just trying to throw strikes."
Maxwell looked at a 1-2 count as the Spartans were down to their final strike. Parrott delivered the 1-2 pitch over the outside part of the plate and Maxwell could not hold back her checked swing. Parrott's fourth strikeout of the day sealed the largest comeback by a team in the seventh inning of a SoCon Softball Championship Game.
"There was never a game where we were down and I didn't think we could come back and win," said Coltharp, who just won her second SoCon title with the Mocs.
"This game probably ranks as one of the biggest highlights of my life," said Kilgore. "This game, being down five runs and watching these kids fight… For all of those kids to come around and step up, this took a total team effort. As a coach, that's exactly you want to see."
After overcoming a five-run, seventh-inning deficit, Chattanooga won its 15th SoCon Tournament crown and earned the program's 12th trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The team capped off its 30-27 season with Chattanooga's first NCAA Tournament win since 2011 as the Blue and Gold defeated Murray State 1-0 in eight innings in the Tuscaloosa Regional.
