Chattanooga softball got the scoring early and cleared the fence four times to beat Manhattan 9-1 in six innings on the final day of The Spring Games at Madeira Beach, Fla.
The Mocs improve to 17-8 overall and Alyssa Lavdis picked up her fourth win of the season. She struck out 11 for the second straight game and walked one. She allowed just one run on four hits and faced 22 batters.
Kailey Snell got the game started with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Camryn Cernuto.
Baileigh Pitts drew a walk and Forsythe drove the first pitch deep to center field to put the Mocs up 3-0.
Kaili Phillips, in the next at-bat, took a 0-1 pitch over the fence in left center and Chattanooga was up 4-0 in the first.
Manhattan was not to be left behind and opened its half of the inning with a solo shot to left center to make it 4-1. That would be the Jaspers lone score of the day. Lavdis gave up two hits in the inning and struck out three.
Cernuto singled to short with two outs in the second inning, stole second and took third on a wild pitch. That set up an easy score on a single up the middle by Olivia Lipari for Chattanooga’s fifth run.
Manhattan went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the inning with Lavdis picking up two more strikeouts. She struck out the side in the third and closed the fourth with another.
Snell led off the top of the fourth with a double and Lipari hit the ball over the left field fence to make it a 7-1 lead for Chattanooga.
Manhattan sent just three to the plate in the fifth and Lavdis struck out two.
Chattanooga took an eight-run lead in the sixth and held off the Jaspers for the win. With two outs, Lipari singled through the left side and Pitts cranked the Mocs fourth home run over the game, clearing the fence in left.
In the bottom of the sixth, Manhattan opened with a pop up. The next batter drove the ball to left field, getting a triple when the Mocs outfielder Raven Jones hit the fence. She tried to take home on a ball that got away, but Kaili Phillips fired to Jayce Purdy and got her at the plate for the second out. A single gave the Jaspers hope, but the final out game on a grounder to Lipari and an easy toss to Forsythe at first.
Lipari was 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Forsythe was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer. Pitts was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs batted in and runs scored along with two walks. Kaili Phillips was 1-for-2 with a home run, RBI and two walks.