The UTC Lady Mocs softball team (6-5) kicked off the 2013 Frost Classic with back-to-back wins over Eastern Kentucky (3-2) and Lipscomb (4-6) Friday evening at Frost Stadium.
The 4-3 win over the EKU Colonels came on seven Chattanooga hits while the Lady Mocs 1-0 win over Lipscomb came in the late innings of a seven-inning nail-biter.
Chattanooga 4 - Eastern Kentucky 3
Taylor Deason (Clarksville, Tenn) tossed a seven-inning, three-run gem over Eastern Kentucky to improve her record to 4-3 on the season.
The sophomore allowed just six hits and fanned six batters while walking one to lead UTC to a one-run victory.
Deason found run support from the Lady Mocs in the fourth inning after falling behind 1-0 in the third. A solo home run from EKU's Raquel Howes put the Colonels on top first but a three-run fourth gave UTC its first lead of the day. A walk issued to Sara Poteat (Thomaston, Ga.) and back-to-back singles from freshmen Sam Taylor (Chickamauga, Ga.) and Anyssa Robles (Hoschton, Ga.) loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly to center off the bat of Sarah Beth Roberts (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) brought Poteat home before a double from Kasey Tydingco (Fairfield, Calif.) cleared the bases to drive in two more runs.
Despite the two-run lead, a two-run sixth inning from Eastern Kentucky knotted the game up 3-3. Four hits allowed by Deason resulted in two runs scored before the Lady Mocs were able stop the bleeding, but a single from freshman Alyssa Taylorr (Orange, Calif.) that drove in junior Stehanie Rieck (Chandler, Ariz.), who got the inning started with a single to right, proved to be the winning run.
Tydingco was 1-for-3 with 2 RBI while seven more Lady Mocs recorded hits.
Chattanooga 1 - Lipscomb 0
Chattanooga's second win is credited to the combined four-hit pitching performance from Deason and freshman Kaisey Carsonon (Indianapolis, Ind.). The tandem allowed just four hits while walking just one batter. Carson dealt the first four innings, giving up three hits and a walk, before Deason came on in relief to hold the Bison scoreless through three innings.
A scoreless game until the sixth inning, Lipscomb was only able to board five base runners- all of which were stranded by the Chattanooga defense. The Bison's strongest threats came in the first and seventh when they were able to put two runners on.
The Lady Mocs took their 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning after Robles reached first base on an error. Junior Hannah Thurley (Nashville, Tenn.) was brought on to pinch run for the freshman catcher, and an error by the pitcher on a Roberts' batted ball put runners on two bags. In an odd sequence of events, Tydingco reached on a catcher's interference call, her second interference call of the season, to load the bases. In the following at-bat, Rieck was hit by a pitch to drive in the eventual game-winning run.
Deason was credited with the win, her fifth of the season, while Carson came away with no decision. Three Chattanooga batters- Poteat, Roberts and Rieck- came away with hits against Lipscomb.
Chattanooga goes back to action Saturday at 1:15 p.m. as the Lady Mocs take on Miami-Ohio before closing out the evening at 3:30 p.m. against Boston College. Both games will be played at Frost Stadium.
The Frost Classic begins at 11 a.m. with games on Field's 1, 2 and 3 at Warner Park and at Frost Stadium. Live stats for each game are available on GoMocs.com as well as video and audio for games played at Frost Stadium