SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Sophomore first baseman Kasey Tydingco (Fairfield, Calif.) blasted two home runs and a grand slam to help the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team sweep the South Alabama Mardi Gras Tournament in Mobile, Ala. On Monday, the league office announced Tydingco as the Southern Conference Player of the Week.

It was the second straight week that a Lady Moc was acknowledged by the conference as senior Michelle Fuzzard (Huntington Beach, Calif.) was named pitcher of the week.

The Fairfield, Calif., native recorded a .375 average with eight RBI and her fist two collegiate home runs. She also added two doubles and a sacrifice fly converting on opportunities throughout the weekend.

"Kasey has some power and she has showed that in practice," said head coach Frank Reed. "We made an adjustment in her swing and expect more power from her to come. Kasey is an all out player and worked very hard offensively going into the season."

To open the weekend against Ohio State, Tydingco drove in the first run for the Lady Mocs cutting into the Buckeyes 2-0 lead with a single up the middle in the first. She extended a one-run lead for Chattanooga with a grand slam to straight away center field as the Lady Mocs took a 7-2 advantage in the second and would go onto an 11-7 victory.

"The bases were load and my approach at the plate was to make something happen," said Tydingco. "You have to score runs and hit it towards the right side. She just kind of laid one out there for me and I used my mechanics to extend through the ball."

She led off the fifth against Evansville with an infield single and later scored on senior Della Harrison's (Nashville, Tenn.) home run to left. The Lady Mocs run ruled the Purple Aces, 9-0, in six innings.

Against the host Jaguars, Tydingco drew a leadoff walk and scored on Harrison's double in to the gap in left center in the second. She provided the Lady Mocs with a 4-0 lead to begin the fifth with an opposite field solo homer to left center. It proved to be a big run as South Alabama added two runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Fuzzard reentered to secure the 4-2 win.

In the nightcap on Saturday against UT Martin, Tydingco drove in two of the three runs helping to rally the Lady Mocs. She delivered a two-out RBI double in the fourth after the SkyHawks took a 3-0 lead. She then recorded a sacrifice fly to center in the sixth to cut the deficit to one and setup a heroic game-tying pinch hit home run by junior Vivian Morimoto (Sao Paulo, Brazil) in the bottom of seven with one out.

Tydingco registered a double to left center against Southeastern Louisiana as the Lady Mocs earned the title at the South Alabama Mardi Gras Tournament with a 9-0 win.

This is Tydingco's first weekly award with the Lady Mocs. She was named to the SoCon Preseason Second Team as a utility player and took 2010 SoCon All-Freshman Team honors.

After two tournaments away from Frost Stadium, the Lady Mocs open their home schedule with the Frost Classic on Friday with a doubleheader against Toledo and East Tennessee State beginning at 2 p.m. IUPUI, Northern Iowa, Northwestern State, UT Martin and Tennessee Tech are also welcomed to the Scenic City for the three-day event.