The Chattanooga Mocs softball team couldn't push enough runs across the plate against the Southern Conference leading Furman Paladins as they fell 2-1 and 4-2 on Thursday afternoon.
With the two losses, Chattanooga falls to 13-36, 3-14 in SoCon play. Furman remains at the top of the Southern Conference, improving to 31-20, 11-5.
The regular season concludes for both teams tomorrow afternoon with a single game at 1 p.m.
Chattanooga got out to a hot start as Aly Walker belted her second homerun of the season, a solo shot over the left field fence with two outs to take an early 1-0 lead.
The game would turn into a pitcher's dual as the score remained 1-0 in favor of UTC until the bottom of the fifth.
The Paladins scored a pair of runs on a two-RBI single off the bat of Casey Bigham and took a 2-1 lead. The one run advantage would be enough for Furman to close the out the sixth and seventh innings.
The combined total of hits between the two teams was five with Furman registering three and the Mocs with two. Furman's starting pitcher Lindsey Bert earned the win as she went all 7.0 innings and allowed only two hits and one run while striking out 11.
Celie Hudson (4-9) took the loss for the Mocs in the circle despite tossing one of the best games of her career, going 6.0 innings while allowing only three hits, two runs and striking out six.
Walker finished 1-for-3 with a solo homerun. Halie Williamson notched the other hit, going 1-for-2 with a double to right field.
After a scoreless first inning, Furman opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second with an RBI double to center field with one out. A batter later, the Paladins used a sacrifice fly to left field to build a 2-0 lead. They would add a run in the bottom of the third and sixth with RBI singles, extending a 4-0 advantage.
Jesslyn Stockard cut the deficit in half at 4-2 with a two-run homerun deep over the right-center fence in the seventh. The Mocs would put runners on second and third with two outs, but the rally fell short after a strikeout ended the game.
Alex Connell (1-11) suffered the loss for Chattanooga as she went 2.0 innings and allowed three hits and two runs (both earned). Maddy Adams threw 4.0 innings of relief and allowed five hits, two runs (both earned) while striking out one and walking four.
The Mocs bats came alive in game two as they belted eight hits in the loss. The senior duo of Stockard and Katy Richardson both went 2-for-3 with a run scored as Stockard added a pair of RBIs on her homerun. Walker, Williamson and Brook Womack all went 1-for-3 while Hayleigh Weissenbach added a 1-for-4 performance.