CLERMONT, Fla. - The UTC softball team dropped a 10-0 decision after five innings to North Carolina on a windy Saturday morning at Dot Richardson's National Collegiate Invitational in Clermont, Fla. It was a day after the Lady Mocs opened the season with two victories and proved that the young team still has a lot to learn on the season.

“There was a couple of innings that we had runners on base, but left them, so we are young and have to learn from it.,” said head coach Frank Reed. “The thing that concerned me the most is that we took our struggles offensively onto the defensive side.

If it takes having a game like this to make us better down the road sometimes that is what you have to go through. Hopefully tonight, we will be better.”

Chattanooga faced Tar Heel-ace Lori Spingnola in the circle who kept the Lady Mocs off balance for the majority of the game notching 12 strikeouts in the complete-game three-hit victory.
Senior Michelle Fuzzard (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and freshman Taylor Deason (Clarksville, Tn.) combined in the circle to register four strikeouts, giving up five earned runs.
The Lady Mocs totaled three hits on a double by junior second baseman Sara Poteat (Thomaston, Ga.) in the third and singles in consecutive innings by junior first baseman Kasey Tydingco (Fairfield, Calif.) and senior catcher Vivian Morimoto (Sao Paulo, Brazil). Seven base runners were stranded including the bases loaded in the fourth and two runners each in the first and fifth, showing that a couple more base hits could have opened the game up for Chattanooga.

With the wind blowing 15-20 miles per hour and gusts approaching 40 to left field, North Carolina spent no time in using the wind to its advantaged as Kelli Wheelers, Ali Foulks and Logan Foulks blasted back-to-back-to-back home runs. The first and last barely cleared the fence as the wind pushed the high-fly balls over it.

After the round trippers, Fuzzard settled down allowing just a single before retiring the side with a strikeout and two groundouts.

Chattanooga drew back-to-back walks to start the game, but was unable to move the runners as Spingola fanned the side.

Both teams would go down quickly until the third as Poteat finessed a pitch over the glove of the third baseman and alertly took second as the ball barely left the infield. She was stranded though as Fuzzard was plunked with a pitch before North Carolina retired the side.

Blowing the game wide-open were the Tar Heels to start the fourth as it plated five runs on three hits and an error as the Lady Mocs had a couple of mental miscues that were capitalized upon. Deason entered during the frame and had an opportunity to learn in the circle by pitching to an experience team.

Leading off the bottom-half was Tydingco with a single into center field and after freshman right fielder Nicole Osterman (Kissimmee, Fla.) walked, it appeared like the Lady Mocs had an opportunity for a big inning. Consecutive strikeouts by Spingola changed that around, but sophomore pinch hitter Stephanie Rieck (Chandler, Ariz.) drew a walk to load that bases before the fame ended.

Padding the lead was North Carolina in the fifth with two runs to extend the advantage to 10-0.
The Lady Mocs were able to put a runner on-base as a throwing error by the shortstop enabled Fuzzard to reach first. Sophomore Layne Rainey (Clarksville, Tn.) came in to pinch run for her and advanced to second on a Morimoto single down the right field line. Chattanooga was unable to move the runners to third before the Tar Heels ended the game.

Chattanooga continues play later today against UCF with a scheduled meeting at 5 p.m., which will more than likely be pushed back to a 6 p.m. due to preceding games. Live stats and free audio with the Voice of the Lady Mocs, Tyler Brown, can be found on the softball schedule page of GoMocs.com.