The Chattanooga Mocs’ softball team got into the win column in its final of four games of the Natchitoches History District Development Commission Lady Demon Classic in Natchitoches, La. After falling to the Baylor Bears 10-5, Chattanooga shutout Arkansas Pine Bluff 17-0 in game two of the afternoon.
UTC moves to 1-3 this season. Baylor improved to 3-0, while Arkansas Pine Bluff dropped to 0-3.
Sunday’s game against Northwestern State has been cancelled due to below-freezing temperatures in the morning.
The Mocs return to Chattanooga to host the Chattanooga Challenge on Feb. 18-20. The Mocs’ first game is on Friday at 3 p.m. vs SIUE.
GAME 1 RECAP
Baylor got on the board in the top of the first with Emily Holt scoring on an infield single. In the bottom half of the inning, UTC’s first two batters found their way on base and then the tarp was pulled. The two teams went through a two-hour rain delay before continuing the first inning. Baylor’s starter allowed a two-out walk before getting out of a bases-loaded jam.
It was a one-run game until the fourth when Baylor scored five runs on five hits and a Chattanooga error to take a 6-0 lead. The Mocs plated their first run of the day in the bottom half with back-to-back sacrifice flies from Gracey Kruse and Kailey Snell. In the next half inning, the Bears got one run back on a sac fly of their own.
In the bottom of the fifth, Jayce Purdy plated one with a groundout. With two outs, Reagan Armour drove in two with a single down the right field line, cutting the Mocs’ deficit to two.
Baylor scored three more in the sixth to extend its lead to 10-5.
The Bears’ Rachel Hertenberger got the win in the circle, tossing 4.2 innings, allowing five runs, three earned on seven hits. She walked three and struck out four. UTC’s Hannah Wood picked up the loss. She allowed six runs, three earned, in four innings of work with two K’s.
GAME 2 RECAP
The Mocs began swinging out of the gates. Liz Rodebaugh began the scoring with a single to left, which drove in Coltharp and Lipari after an error by the outfielder caused the ball to go to the wall. After Kendall Forsythe doubled to right center in the next at bat, Purdy wrapped up the five-run first with a two-run blast, the Mocs’ first homer of the season.
In the second, the Mocs plated seven, led by a two-run single from Rodebaugh and a bases-clearing triple off the center field wall from the bat of Lipari.
The Mocs continued its offensive success in the third, beginning the inning with back-to-back jacks from Adison Keylon and Kendall Forsythe. After a Kruse double to score one, Skylar Berkhiser and Olivia Lipari both drove in one with singles to center field.
Forsythe and Lipari went 3-for-3 at the dish. The duo combined to score five runs and drive in six. Coltharp, Rodebaugh, Purdy and Kruse all had multi-hit games.
Brooke Parrott got the nod in the circle, picking up the win with three shutout innings. She struck out five, walking three and allowing one hit.