The third-seeded Chattanooga Mocs’ softball team advanced to the Southern Conference Tournament Semifinals with a 4-0 victory over the second-seeded Samford Bulldogs on Thursday afternoon at the UNCG Softball Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.
The Mocs earned their first shutout in the SoCon Tournament since May 9, 2014 when the Blue and Gold blanked Samford 1-0 in the semifinals.
Chattanooga improved to 27-25 and will move on in the winners bracket to face No. 1 UNCG at 10 a.m. on Friday morning. Samford dropped to 32-18 and will face No. 5 Mercer in the losers bracket later tonight.
After Chattanooga and its first opponent didn’t score until the ninth inning yesterday, the Mocs didn’t wait long to score on day two. After Emily Coltharp and Kailey Snell both reached to start the game, Acelynn Sellers started the scoring in the first inning with a two-run double. Two batters later, Kaili Phillips drove in Sellers with a fielder’s choice to shortstop.
In the second, Adison Keylon belted the first pitch of the inning over the center field wall for Chattanooga’s first home run of SoCon Tournament. She gave the Mocs a 4-0 lead through two.
After the second inning, Brooke Parrott retired 11 straight in the circle. She faced two two-on, two-out scenarios in both the sixth and seventh frame but got out of both jams. The junior righty ended the seventh with back-to-back strikeouts to secure her second-straight complete game win.
Parrott tossed a three-hit shutout. She picked up her 13th win of the season allowing a walk and striking out five.
Olivia Lipari led the Chattanooga offense with a 2-for-4 game at the plate. Sellers and Keylon recorded the other Mocs’ hits.
Samford’s Sarah Squillace registered the other multi-hit game of the contest, going 2-for-3. The Bulldogs’ Jordyn Partain allowed four runs on four hits with four walks and one strikeout in the circle, moving to 10-8 on the year.