Chattanooga swept Furman Saturday in a Southern Conference softball double header in Greenville, S.C. The Mocs claimed the first win 7-0 and came back with a 9-0 five-inning victory in the second to improve to 28-11 overall and 7-3 in league play. Furman drops to 13-28 on the year and 3-8 against the SoCon.
Peja Goold matched her career-high for strikeouts and Acelynn Sellers drove in five runs in the Mocs run-rule second game shutout.
The Mocs hit .283 for the day with 15 hits, a home run, two triples and a double with 13 RBI and 16 runs scored.
The pitching staff posted two complete game shutouts, a 0.00 ERA, 22 strikeouts in 12 innings and allowed five hits.
GAME ONE: CHATTANOOGA 7, FURMAN 0
Peja Goold struck out a career-high tying 14 batters, leading Chattanooga to a 7-0 victory in the opening game of a three-game series with the Paladins. She improved to 15-5 and recorded her sixth shutout.
She struck out four through the first three innings and then sat down the final three swinging after putting the first two on base in the fourth. She picked up two more in the fifth and another two in the sixth and all three outs in the seventh were by strikeout. She matched the career-high she set earlier this season against Stony Brook at the Gardner-Webb “Spring in the Springs” tournament.
Chattanooga got the scoring started early with two runs in the first. UTC scored another two in the second and fourth and added the seventh run in the sixth.
Kailey Snell led off the game with a double just inside the line in left field. She advanced to third on a sac bunt by Camryn Cernuto who reached on a fielding error. Cernuto stole second and Olivia Lipari reached on a fielder’s choice as Furman’s pitcher held Snell on third to load the bases with no outs.
Acelynn Sellers flew out to center field, driving in Snell on a sac fly and advancing the runners. Cernuto scored on a ground out by Presley Williamson to make it 2-0 after one inning.
Raven Jones singled down the right field line to lead off the second. Zoe Wright singled back to the pitcher with runners safe on first and second. Snell advanced the runners on a ground out to first and Jones scored on a wild pitch with Wright taking third.
Cernuto and Lipari each walked to load the bases and Wright scored on a fielding error on Sellers’ at bat for the second run of the inning.
In the fourth, Wright was hit to get on base. Snell singled to left field and Cernuto sacrificed both runners into scoring position. Lipari tripled to the fence in right field, driving in two more runs.
In the seventh, the Mocs added a seventh run. Cernuto led off with a single up the middle and stole second. She took third on a wild pitch and scored on the throw to second to get Olivia Lipari out.
Snell was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Lipari was 1-for-3 with two RBI. Sellers and Williamson each drove in a run in the win. Chattanooga had eight hits and drew three walks.
GAME TWO: CHATTANOOGA 9, FURMAN 0 // 5 INNINGS
It took a few innings to get the scoring started in the second game. Chattanooga put up five runs in the third, added three in the fourth and an insurance run in the fifth for a 9-0, five-inning run-rule victory.
Acelynn Sellers drove in five runs on two hits including a three-run homer. Kailey Snell was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Zoe Wright was 2-for-3 with an RBI and one run scored.
With one out in the third, Wright singled to the shortstop and scored on a triple to right center off the bat of Kailey Snell. A single by Camryn Cernuto to left field sent Snell home to make it 2-0. Olivia Lipari walked on four straight and Sellers tallied her eighth home run of the season to make it 5-0 in the Mocs favor.
Raven Jones led off the fourth with a walk and took second on a wild pitch. With two outs and Wright on third due to a tag up, Snell singled up the middle to drive her in. Cernuto reached on a fielding error to put two runners on. Snell stole third to put runners at the corners.
Lipari walked, loading the bases for Sellers. Furman changed pitchers and Sellers sent a 2-2 count to center field, driving in two more runs to make it 8-0 through four innings.
Jayce Purdy reached on a fielding error in the fifth that allowed her to get to second safely. She then tagged up to take third on a fly out by Jones. Wright drove her in with a single to left field to give the Mocs a 9-0 lead.
Furman put the first two runners on with a lead-off walk and a single, but Long struck out the next two and got the final batter to ground out back to the pitcher to end the game.
Taylor Long improved to 10-1 on the year and recorded her third shutout of the season. She struck out eight in the game including two in the seventh.