The Chattanooga Lady Mocs softball team (26-23) fell 3-0 in Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday evening to the UAB Blazers (34-14) at UAB Softball Field for its final non-conference game of the season.
Chattanooga’s offense went to work in the first inning and applied pressure to the Blazers early. Freshman Sam Taylor (Chickamauga, Ga.) reached on an infield single to extend her hitting streak to 14 games and senior Sara Poteat (Thomaston, Ga.) threw down a textbook-bunt, reaching first on the slow roller down the first baseline.
Freshman
Anyssa Robles (Lawrenceville, Ga.) fouled out down the first baseline, allowing Taylor to tag up and move to third, but the runners were stranded on the corners following a strikeout and fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Sophomore Taylor Deason (Clarksville, Tenn.) was handed the start for Chattanooga and ran into some early-inning trouble in the second after cruising through the first. The Blazers’ Megan McGrath led off with a single and a batter hit by pitch put two runners on with no outs, but Deason was able to record three straight outs – including two strikeouts – to end the inning.
Deason faced a similar situation in the third inning. UAB put two runners on and the sophomore was able to finagle two outs back-to-back. Despite being one out away from ending the inning with no runs scored, Blazer Kristen McGrath launched a home run over the left field fence to put UAB up 3-0.
Searching for a run in the fifth inning, Sam Taylor came up short with a fielder’s choice to second base to force out Alyssa Taylor, who reached first on a leadoff single. Poteat followed up with a fielder’s choice, as well, to force out Sam Taylor. Poteat was then stranded on first as Robles batted into a 1-3 groundout.
The Lady Mocs threatened again in the top of the sixth as Tydingco was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and sophomore Sarah Beth Roberts (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) reached on an error to board two runners with one out. Despite the fielding miscue and just one out, a 4-3 double play brought the inning to an end to keep Chattanooga scoreless.
Chattanooga was retired in order in the seventh inning by UAB starting pitcher Lannah Campbell, as the junior pitched seven scoreless innings and allowed just six hits en route to her 10th win of the season.
Deason was handed the loss, her 10th of the season, while giving up three earned runs on eight hits while striking out four over six innings of work. Junior Stephanie Rieck (Chandler, Ariz.) was a team-best 2-for-3 on the night with a couple of singles.
UTC forfeited the second game of the doubleheader. The Lady Mocs next head to Elon to wrap up the Southern Conference slate before traveling to Greensboro, N.C. for the SoCon Tournament.