CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – After battling back and forth with the Western Carolina Catamounts, the top-seeded Chattanooga Mocs clinched a 5-4 victory with two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning on Thursday at the 2015 SoCon Softball Championship at Frost Stadium.
Advancing to Friday's semifinal matchup at 10 a.m. ET, the Mocs will match up against the Mercer Bears. Mercer took two out of the three games against UTC after severe weather pushed all three games to a Sunday triple-header. Mercer took game one of the series with a 5-4 walk-off homerun before dropping game two 8-2. The Bears bounced back in the series finale with an 8-0, five-inning shutout to hand the Mocs their first series loss of the 2015 campaign.
Chattanooga 5, Samford 4
UTC was led by Sam Taylor and Robles with two hits apiece. Jesslyn Stockard drove in two RBIs while Sarah Beth Roberts and Nicole Osterman reach scored twice for the Mocs. Eight of the nine hitters in the starting lineup recorded a hit. Taylor Deason tossed 5.0 innings in relief, allowing two unearned runs on six hits with no walks and one strikeout to earn the victory.
Chattanooga would get on the scoring started with a run in the third with all the action coming with two outs. After two groundouts to start the inning, Taylor and J.J. Hamill had back-to-back singles to put two on with two out. Roberts then recorded the third straight single to score Taylor from second and keep the inning going. Osterman followed with a walk to load the bases but Garrett got a foul out to left to end the inning with the Mocs leading 1-0.
Western Carolina got the run back in the top of the fourth. Daniels singled down the third-base line and moved to second on a bobble by the left fielder. Victoria Mariscal bunted Daniels over to third to put her 60 feet away with one out. Kara Salvo then lined out right at the right fielder but a slight hesitation by the fielder allowed Daniels to score and tied the game at one.
After Jordan Garrett retired the side in order in the bottom of the fourth, the Catamounts threaten to for more runs in the top of the fifth. Cyr single up the middle to lead off the inning and two batters later Harkey doubled to left center, putting runners on second and third with one out. Chattanooga would turn to Kailey Palazzolo in the circle. She walked the first batter she faced to load the bases but came back to strike out Mariscal for the second out. Salvo then earned her second RBI of the day, drawing a walk to score Cyr from third and give Western Carolina a 2-1 lead. Palazzolo would get a groundout to shortstop to end the inning.
Western Carolina had a chance to add to their lead in the top of the sixth but couldn't capitalize as Deason, who entered the game earlier in the inning to face Sigmon, got a 5-2-3 double play followed by a groundout to third to end the inning and maintain the current margin.
Chattanooga would grab the momentum and retake the lead in the sixth. Roberts and Osterman drew back-to-back walks to start the Mocs' half of the sixth. Blanco then put down a sac bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out. It would bring up Jesslyn Stockard, who singled to right to score both runners and give the Mocs the 3-2 lead.
Western Carolina would not go down without a battle. The Catamounts singled up the middle to lead off and moved up to second on a wild pitch. WCU moved the runner to third and ultimately brought in the RBI with consecutive sac flies, tying the score at three. The Moc would not tack on any runs in the bottom of the frame, sending the game in to extra innings.
Both teams had their lead-off batter reach in their respective halves of the eighth but neither were able to bring in a run.
In the 10th, the international tie breaker rule took effect, which places a runner on second base to start the inning. Salvo would start the inning on second for Western Carolina and Chastain would move her to third with a sacrifice bunt. Price then drove her in with a line-drive single off the glove of the third basemen to give the Catamounts the lead. Sigmon followed Price with a single before Cyr grounded out to short on a close play at first to put runners on second and third with one out. Deason would get a groundout to end the inning.
Chattanooga needed just one pitch to tie the game in the bottom of the 10th, as Nicole Osterman doubled to right center to score Roberts from second. Blanco then bunted Osterman to third with one out to put the game-winning run just 60 feet away. Two batters later, Anyssa Robles singled to left center to plate Osterman and give the Mocs the 5-4 victory to remain in the winner's bracket.
