Freshman Paige Peterson picked up her second save of the season and the Chattanooga Mocs softball team roped 11 hits during a 9-6 victory over Samford in the rubber match of a three-game Southern Conference series on Saturday afternoon.
Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 16-21 overall and 2-4 in SoCon action. Samford falls to 11-26, 2-3.
The defense stole the show early on for UTC. A pair of double plays were turned in the first and second innings. The first inning ended when a line drive to second baseman Ashley Conner turned into a double play after catching a Samford runner leaning off of second.
In the second inning, the Bulldogs popped-up a bunt attempt to starting pitcher Allison Swinford, who turned and fired to catch another opposing runner leaning off of the bag at first for the first and second outs.
The inning would end when Aly Walker gunned a Samford runner down trying to take second base on a single to right-center.
The Mocs started the scoring in the top of the first when J.J. Hamill and Conner reached base on back-to-back Samford errors, landing on first and third with no outs.
Brook Womack followed her fellow seniors with an RBI single off the top of the wall in left, scoring Hamill and giving UTC a 1-0 lead. Emma Sturdivant was next in line and roped a three-run homerun inside the left field foul pole to extend the Mocs lead to 4-0.
Chattanooga added a trio of runs, two earned, in the top of the fourth to build a 7-0 lead. Conner delivered a two-RBI single with the bases loaded before pinch-hitter Morgan Kazerooni drove in a run with a single to left.
Samford got on the board with a two-out RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring the score to 7-1. The Bulldogs would eventually load the bases and add three more runs on a walk and pair of RBI singles to cut their deficit to 7-4.
Hamill started off the sixth with a single to left field before advancing to second on a Conner sacrifice bunt. Walker and Devan Brown laced back-to-back singles to left field with Brown's producing an RBI to push the score to 8-4.
Samford loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth. After a walk from Swinford, Peterson entered the game needing two outs. She allowed a walk to the first batter she faced, but induced a pop-up to short and a ground-out to third, escaping trouble and keeping the Mocs aead 8-6.
UTC added a run on a throwing error from the Bulldogs' shortstop to take a 9-6 lead heading into the bottom half of the final frame. Peterson picked up where she left off and retired the Samford hitters in order to notch the save.
Nine different Mocs recorded at least a hit during the win. As a team, UTC finished with 11 hits while leaving ten stranded. Hamill (2-for-5) and Alyssa Coppinger (2-for-4) registered the lone multi-hit games and combined for five runs scored (Hamill, 4). Sturdivant ended 1-for-4 with a homerun and three RBI for the second-straight game. Conner (2), Womack (1), Kazerooni (1) and Brown (1) all chipped in with RBI.
Swinford (6-9) earned the win in the circle after tossing 4.2 innings while allowing seven hits and only two earned runs. Peterson threw a spotless 1.2 innings and allowed just one walk.
Chattanooga hosts in-state foe Austin Peay on Wednesday evening at Frost Stadium for a 6 p.m. non-conference showdown. Tickets can be purchased on GoMocs.com by visiting the schedule page.