CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Gold struck back Friday night to claim the final game of the 2024 Blue-Gold Series at Frost Stadium. Gold beat Blue 5-2.
 
Abby Orr set the tone with a lead off home run in the second inning. The Gold Mocs put up four runs in the inning after manufacturing a run in the first to take a 5-0 lead.
 
With a 2-0 lead and one out in the second, Lexi Cooley singled up the middle and stole second. She scored on a single up the middle from Izzy Carlyle to put Gold up 3-0. With bases loaded the Blue Team made a pitching change. Abi Pikas laid down a bunt to score the runner from third and Olivia Lipari's sac fly to right put the Gold up 5-0 through two.
 
Peja Goold led the Gold Team in the circle with nine strikeouts and combined with Riley Lamb for 12. Gold had eight hits in the game. Pikas was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Cooley went 2-for-3 and scored a run. Lipari, Bunt, Orr and Carlyle each had an RBI in the game.
 
In the first inning, Lipari took second on a ground rule double when her hit bounced over the fence in center field. Baileigh Pitts walked and Lipari moved to third on a steal. A liner to left field sent Lipari home on the sac fly for the game's first run.
 
Blue had six hits led by Camryn Cernuto who went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Alyssa Lavdis struck out two in 1.1 innings and Taylor Long fanned eight.
 
With two runners in scoring position in the third inning, Cernuto got the Blue Team on the board with a single to short, plating Alyssa Orlando to make it a 5-1 game. In the sixth, the Blue Mocs had runners at second and third. A run down between third and home took away the Blue's lead runner. Cernuto hit her second single of the game, this time to third, to drive in the second run for Blue.
 
Blue retains the series title with wins on Wednesday and Thursday.
 
Cernuto went 7-for-10, batting .700 through three games. She had a triple and drove in three runs. Kailey Snell went 5-10 with a double and an RBI and Shayna Glass went 4-for-8 with a double, an RBI and scored two runs.
 
Taylor Long struck out 16 in 12.2 innings pitched, walked three, gave up six hits and allowed just one run. She had a .154 opponent batting average. Alyssa Lavdis went 8.1 innings and struck out 11.
 
Pitts led the Gold Mocs with a .333 batting average. Pikas was 3-for-10 (.300) with a double and two RBI. Carlyle scored two runs for the Gold and went 2-for-7 with an RBI.
 
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