After a long day of waiting following a near five-hour delay due to inclement weather, the Mocs and Tigers faced off.
Auburn scored in each of the five innings played, scoring nine runs on 10 hits. Senior Kaili Phillips picked up Chattanooga’s lone hit on the final out of the game. She drove a double to left field.
Catcher Jayce Purdy showed off her arm in the third inning, throwing out her 19th steal attempt when Auburn’s Thalia Martin tried to take third. On the next at bat, Rose Roach popped up toward the Tiger’s dugout. Purdy and Mocs third baseman Kaili Phillips both ran to the ball and Purdy’s dive into the wall proved productive as she came up with the catch despite ending up under her teammate.
Addy Keylon led off the third with a walk, but was called out on an interference at the plate as she went to steal second. Kaili Phillips was down to her final strike with two outs in the fifth when she made solid contact with the ball, driving it into left for a double.
Chattanooga seniors Phillips, Keylon and Kendall Forsythe all closed out their careers at UTC with a Southern Conference regular season title, two SoCon Tournament crowns and two trips to the NCAA Regional.
The Mocs finish the season 42-16 overall with a tournament sweep at Central Arkansas and claiming all five wins at the Chattanooga Challenge. UTC went 4-1 at The Spring Games in Madeira Beach, Fla., and swept four SoCon series.
Win streaks came often for the Mocs who had two seven-game streaks early in the season during tournament play. UTC’s longest win streak, 10 games, started on March 10 with a 9-1 win over Manhattan at The Spring Games and ended on April 6 against Wofford. The Terriers broke it with a win in the second game of the doubleheader. Chattanooga had a nine-game win streak that started on the road at Tennessee State with a 4-3 nine-inning win and wrapped up in the first game of the SoCon Tournament in a 10-1, five-inning win over Mercer.