The Chattanooga softball team won its fifth straight game, fourth by shutout, in a 4-0 win over Tennessee State Wednesday night at Frost Stadium.
Chattanooga put up two runs in the first then added another two in the fifth and didn’t allow the Tigers across the plate. The Mocs improved to 31-11 overall while Tennessee State moved to 20-14 overall.
Kailey Snell tripled, her second three-bagger in four games, to lead off the bottom of the first inning. She was held at third on a hit her direction by Camryn Cernuto to put runners at the corners.
Olivia Lipari stroked a single to left, scoring Snell and Acelyn Sellers was hit by the pitch to load the bases.
Tennessee State made a pitching change with Baileigh Pitts up next. Her shot to short got Lipari out on a force play, but Cernuto scored to make it a 2-0 Mocs advantage.
Through the first four innings, the Tigers landed one on base and Chattanooga’s Peja Goold struck out five.
In the top of the fifth TSU got its first hit, a lead off walk. The next batter walked to put two runners on. The Tiger at the plate, was looking to sacrifice the runners over. However, she did not swing at the ball and the runner at second was in motion. Jayce Purdy snapped a throw to the hot corner to get the out and Goold struck out the final two of the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Mocs added another two runs. With one out, Cernuto hit a high chopper to short and beat out the throw to first. Sellers blooped a shot into right field and Cernuto flew around the base paths to third, putting runners on the corner for Pitts.
Her single up the middle into center field scored Cernuto. Purdy followed with a single to center as well sending Sellers home from second.
The Tigers got two more hits over the final two innings but were unable to score. Goold struck out the final batter for her eighth of the game and picked up her 17th win of the season. She walked two and gave up three hits.
Pitts was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Cernuto was 2-for-4 and scored two runs. Lipari and Purdy each had one hit and drove in a run.
Chattanooga hits the road for a three-game Southern Conference series at Wofford. Due to the holiday weekend, the Mocs and Terriers will play a Friday double header and wrap up the series Saturday. Games begin both days at 1:00 p.m. Follow all the action online at GoMocs.com for links to live stats and streaming video.