The Chattanooga Mocs softball team earned a split after downing Quinnipiac 10-1 in five innings before falling to FGCU 2-1 in the nightcap of the Friday doubleheader at the USF Invitational in Clearwater, Fla.
After the split, Chattanooga moves to 13-15 overall this season. Quinnipiac fell to 6-14 while FGCU improved to an impressive 21-4 this season.
The Mocs belted out 14 hits against Quinnipiac while they laced eight against FGCU. Since arriving in Clearwater for their spring break trip, UTC has posted 85 hits in just eight games and is 5-3 during that span.
Chattanooga continues their play in the USF Invitational tomorrow with two games, the first coming against Army at noon before playing Elon at 2:15 p.m.
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FGCU 2, Chattanooga 1
Chattanooga took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Devan Brown laced a one-out RBI double to left field, scoring Kacie Lynch from second.
FGCU took the lead in the top of the sixth with a pair of runs. The Eagles began the inning with an infield single before an RBI double to the gap in left-center tied things at 1-1. They would take a 2-1 lead on a sacrifice fly to center with one out.
The Mocs couldn't piece a rally together against the NCAA saves leader in Taylor Bauman, who entered the game with one out in the sixth and ended up picking up her 13th save.
Allison Swinford (5-5) tossed a great game in the circle but suffered the loss. She threw a complete game and allowed just four hits and two earned runs while striking out three.
Chattanooga out-hit FGCU 8-4, marking the fifth time they out-hit their opponents in the last six games. J.J. Hamill led the way by going 3-for-4 with a double while Devan Brown chipped in with a 2-for-3 performance and picked up the lone RBI. Hayleigh Weissenbach, Amanda Beltran and Amy Lewis all singled in the loss.
Chattanooga 10, Quinnipiac 1 (5)
The Mocs got on the board early in the top of the first when Ashley Conner delivered an RBI triple to center field with one out before coming around to score on a wild pitch, giving UTC a 2-0 lead. Quinnipiac scored a run in the home half on an RBI single to cut their deficit to 2-1.
Chattanooga would add to its lead in the second inning with three runs on five hits. Conner singled in a run with one out before Emma Sturdivant and Brook Womack followed with RBI singles of their own to extend the Mocs lead to 5-1.
UTC added four runs in the third and one run in the fourth to gain the sizeable 10-1 lead. Hayleigh Weissenbach doubled to right field and later scored from second base on a wild pitch before Womack drove the first pitch she saw over the fence in left center for a three-run homerun. Sturdivant added the run in the fourth on an RBI fielder's choice to second base.
Quinnipiac loaded the bases in the home half of the fifth but couldn't push across two runs to fight off the mercy rule. Celie Hudson (5-8) earned the win in the circle after tossing all five innings and allowing eight hits and one earned run while striking out three.
Chattanooga kept the bats hot and belted out 14 hits in the win. Four different Mocs recorded multi-hit games while two went for three-hit days. Conner and Womack each went 3-for-4 at the plate and combined for six RBI. Sturdivant added a 2-for-3 performance with a pair of RBI and Weissenbach finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored.