Mercer's Meghan Rud beats the throw to first base Saturday afternoon in the Mocs 3-1 championship win over the Bears.
photo by Greg Davick
The top-seeded Chattanooga Mocs defeated the third-seeded Mercer Bears, 3-1, to claim its second straight SoCon Softball Tournament title and its 13th tournament title overall on Saturday in the 2015 SoCon Softball Championship game at Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Chattanooga advances to the NCAA Tournament and will learn their place in the 64-team field on Sunday night at 10 p.m. when the NCAA Selection Show airs on ESPNU.
Chattanooga (35-13) got an excellent pitching performance from Taylor Deason in the circle for her 13th win of the season.
Deason tossed a complete game and allowed just one run on four hits with three walks against six strikeouts to earn All-Tournament team honors. Offensively, Sam Taylor and All-Tournament player Nicole Osterman each recorded two hits and a run in the win.
Most Outstanding Player honors went to Chattanooga’s Anyssa Robles. She recorded a single and two RBIs in the championship finale and had a tournament-high six RBIs in three games.
Mercer (37-22) recorded two hits from Taylor Rogers with Natalie Shiver and Meghan Rud each adding a hit. Kirsten Stevens, coming off her no-hit performance on Friday, allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks against four strikeouts in a complete-game performance for the Bears.
Chattanooga’s three runs came on seven hits and one Mercer error. Mercer got one run on four hits and a Chattanooga error.
The Mocs wasted no time getting on the board with two runs in the top of the first. Taylor led off the game with a double to right center that fell just beyond on the outstretched glove of the diving centerfield. J.J. Hamill followed with a single to put runners on the corners, before Sarah Beth Roberts hit a sac fly to deep right center to plate Taylor from third. Osterman kept the inning going with a single through the left side and Criket Blanco walked to load the bases with one out. Robles then hit another sac fly to deep right center field to bring home Hamill and make it a 2-0 game. Stevens would get a fly out to end the inning.
In the third, Chattanooga would add to its lead with a single run. Roberts drew a lead-off walk and Osterman single to right field to put two on with no outs. A fielder’s choice to third would force out the lead runner to keep runners on first and second with one out. Robles then doubled down the left field line to plate Roberts and give the Mocs a 3-0 lead. Stevens bounced back to get a strikeout and a fly out to end the frame and strand two runners.
Mercer plated its only run of the game two frames later in the bottom of the fourth. Shiver recorded a lead-off single and Rogers singled past the third baseman to put runners on first and second with no outs. Following a strikeout, Kaylynn Sloat drew a one-out walk to load bases for Mercer’s best scoring chance of the game to that point. Quirisa Mauga then hit a sac fly to center to score Shiver and cut the Chattanooga lead to 3-1. Deason got a strikeout, though, to end the inning and curtail the Bears’ threat.
From there, Deason faced just one above the minimum over the last three innings, highlighted by a 5-4-3 double play to end the sixth.
The Mocs will make their second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and the 10th in the program’s history overall.
Most Outstanding Player
Anyssa Robles, Chattanooga
All-Tournament Team
Sieara Bishop, Furman
Kaylynn Sloat, Mercer
Kirsten Stevens, Mercer
Abbie Miranda, Samford
Caroline Wilder, Samford
Taylor Deason, Chattanooga
Nicole Osterman, Chattanooga
Anyssa Robles, Chattanooga
Jordan Garrett, Western Carolina
Courtney Price, Western Carolina