The Chattanooga Mocs softball team erased a 5-0 deficit in the sixth to defeat Army 6-5 before dropping a tough 4-3 decision to Elon at the USF Invitational in Clearwater, Fla., on Saturday afternoon.
After the split, the Mocs move to 14-16 overall this season. Army fell to 7-14 while Elon improved to 14-11.
UTC kept the bats hot on Saturday as they recorded nine hits against both Army and Elon. They have now registered 103 hits in ten games since arriving in Clearwater.
Brook Womack continued her blistering week in Florida as she finished a combined 4-for-6 with a homerun and two RBI.
Over the last ten games, Womack has recorded eight multi-hit games and is batting .575 (19-for-33) with two homeruns, 13 RBI and nine runs scored.
Paige Peterson picked up her first career pitching win in relief during the 6-5 win over Army. Allison Swinford earned her second save of the season.
Chattanooga closes out the USF Invitational tomorrow with a 9 a.m. matchup with LIU Brooklyn. Live stats link is available on the schedule page. Follow @GoMocsSB on Twitter for the most up-to-date information regarding Chattanooga softball.
Chattanooga 6, Army 5
Army started the scoring in the top of the first with three runs on five hits. West Point started the inning with three of their first four hitters recording singles, resulting in one run. They used another RBI single and an RBI ground-rule double to build a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth, Army plated a pair of runs on one hit and one Mocs error. It was a two-RBI double with the bases loaded that brought West Point's lead to 5-0. Paige Peterson entered out of the bullpen and pitched out of the fifth inning jam in relief of Heidi Hall.
Peterson held Army off the board in the sixth inning before Chattanooga put together a rally at the plate. In the home half of the inning, the Mocs scored six runs on six hits to take the late lead. Hayleigh Weissenbach, J.J. Hamill and Ashley Conner started the comeback with three-straight singles to load the bases with no outs.
Sturdivant followed with a two-RBI single to give UTC its first runs and cut the deficit to 5-2. Brook Womack followed with an RBI single before Katie Corumlaced a two-RBI double down the left field line to tie things up 5-5.
With one out, Chattanooga's Madison Harris was caught in a rundown between third and home after a failed suicide squeeze play. Harris appeared to be out at the plate, but it was ruled that the Army catcher had obstructed the base path, awarding the run and giving the Mocs a 6-5 lead.
Allison Swinford came in relief of Peterson in the bottom of the seventh to try and the save. Swinford retired the Army hitters in order and picked up her second save of the season. Peterson (1-0) earned her first career victory in the circle after tossing two innings while allowing just one hit and no runs.
Chattanooga out-hit their opponents for the seventh time in the last eight games by a 9-8 margin. Hamill and Womack both finished 2-for-3 at the plate while Womack recorded an RBI. Sturdivant finished 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI and Corum ended 1-for-1 with two RBI in her pinch-hit appearance.
Elon 4, Chattanooga 3
For the second-straight game, the Mocs allowed runs to the opposition in the first inning. Elon scored in the bottom half on a one-out RBI double down the left field line to take an early 1-0 lead.
Brook Womack stayed hot and belted a solo shot for her third homerun of the season in the top of the second to tie the game up 1-1.
The Phoenix scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the third to re-gain their lead, 3-1. Halie Williamson responded for UTC in the top of the fourth with a pinch-hit RBI single down the line in left to bring it back within one, 3-2.
Elon added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth that would prove to be the difference. The Phoenix scored on a two-out RBI double to left center to pull ahead 4-2.
Hayleigh Weissenbach started a seventh inning rally with a one-out single to right before J.J. Hamill grounded into a fielder's choice at second base. Ashley Conner followed that up with a single to put runners on first and second with two outs. Katie Corum knocked a pinch-hit RBI single to right to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Elon decided to intentionally walk red hot Brook Womack to load the bases. The Phoenix induced a soft grounder up the middle where the second baseman made a catch and glove flip to get the third out at second base.
Allison Swinford (5-6) tossed another great game in the circle, but suffered the loss. Swinford threw a complete game and allowed nine hits and only two earned runs while striking out a career-high six batters. She has allowed only four earned runs in her last 21 innings of work and struck out 15 during that span.
Chattanooga kept their bats hot with a nine hit performance at the plate with three extra-base hits and two different Mocs recording multi-hit games. Weissenbach finished 2-for-4 with a double while Womack ended 2-for-3 with a homerun and RBI. Hamill also doubled and scored a run in the loss.