After 12 days in Florida, Chattanooga returns to Jim Frost Stadium this week as they welcome Kent State and No. 2 Alabama for the Chattanooga Showdown on Wednesday, March 19. Kent State and Alabama will open play at 2 p.m. while the Lady Mocs will face the Golden Flashes at 4:00 p.m. and then take on one of the best teams in the country in the Crimson Tide at 6 p.m.
Team Capsules
Chattanooga Lady Mocs
2008 Record: 16-14
2007 Record: 35-31, 16-5
Southern Conference Regular Season Champions
Chattanooga returns to Jim Frost Stadium after going 5-6 over 11 days in Florida. While there, the Lady Mocs defeated Long Island 1-0, Central Michigan 5-0, Florida Gulf Coast 3-1, Dartmouth 2-0 and Liberty 3-2 in 10 innings. LIU made the NCAA Tournament a year ago and FGCU was 28-6 and had gone 24-1 over their previous 25 games before falling to UTC.
Chattanooga fell to 2007 NCAA Tournament teams Missouri 3-1 and Penn State 3-0 to bookend the trip and suffered losses to powerful teams such as Purdue, 3-0, Florida Gulf Coast, 4-2, Boston, 6-4, and fell 6-4 to Big East foe Villanova. Among the individual highlights of the trip were a 1-0 compete game shutout by Michelle Fuzzard against Long Island, a scoreless streak of 9.2 innings by freshman Kandice Irwin against Purdue and Central Michigan and 14 strikeouts by sophomore Brooke Loudermilk against Dartmouth.
Fuzzard continues to lead the team with a .402 average, eight doubles, 33 hits and a .462 on-base percentage and is second on the team with four homeruns, 20 RBIs and a .646 slugging percentage. Freshman Katie Blevins continues to lead the team with nine homeruns, 24 RBIs and an .850 slugging percentage while senior Tara Tembey is batting .333 with three homeruns, 12 RBIs and is 7-for-7 on steals for the year. Loudermilk leads the team with a 2.52 ERA, 104 strikeouts in 86 innings and seven complete games while Irwin has a team-high seven wins and a 2.57 ERA with 66 strikeouts.
Kent State Golden Flashes
2008 Record: 12-5
2007 Record: 31-19, 15-3
2007 Mid-American Conference East Division Champions
The Golden Flashes are clearly more than just a flash in the pan as they visit Jim Frost Stadium riding an eight-game winning streak. Kent State opened the season at 5-3, posting wins over George Washington, North Carolina State and Florida Atlantic while dropping a pair of games to East Carolina and a 6-3 decision to North Carolina before losing to Long Island and Missouri State to fall to 5-5.
At that point, the Golden Flashes began their current eight-game win streak with a 6-5 win over FAU before sweeping four games at the Charlotte First Pitch Classic and three games at Kennesaw State's Owl Classic. Among KSU's victories during this stretch are a 3-1 win over Charlotte on February 23 and a 2-0 victory over a 20-6 Kennesaw State team on March 16.
Outfielder Kim Hamilton leads the team with four homeruns and has posted 11 RBIs while Jessica Carmichael and Jessica Toocheck are the teams top two hitters with .365 and .358 averages, respectively. Each has two homeruns and have combined for 29 RBI this season. A strong pitching staff is anchored by Gabrielle Burns who is 5-2 with a 0.74 ERA while Kylie Reynolds is 6-2 with a 1.67 ERA and has 83 strikeouts in 58.2 innings.
No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide
2008 Record: 24-3, 6-2
2007 Record: 55-10, 21-6
2007 NCAA Super Regional Participant
Alabama has been one of the best teams in the country, racing out to a 24-3 record and earning the No. 2 spot in the most recent NFCA Top-25 poll. The Crimson Tide have been ranked in the top-5 all season long and reached No. 1 in weeks three and four and have maintained the No. 2 spot since.
Alabama opened the season by winning their first ten games before finally falling to No. 22 Washington 6-3 on March 1. After posting 8-0 and 13-2 victories over No. 4 Tennessee on March 8-9, the Volunteers got the better of the Tide, posting a 7-3 win before splitting a double-header with No. 4 Florida on March 12. After defeating the Gators 1-0 in the opener, Alabama dropped an 8-4 decision in the nightcap for their third loss of the season. They enter today's contest having swept Mississippi State this past weekend to move to 24-3 and 6-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
Outfielder Brittany Rogers leads the team with 45 hits and a .511 batting average while infielder Lauren Parker is batting .434 with a team-high six homeruns and 26 RBIs. Chrissy Owens leads the Tide's pitching staff with a perfect 8-0 record, 1.23 ERA and has struck out 57 batters in 57.0 innings and has posted four saves while Kelsi Dunne is 10-3 with a 1.31 ERA, three saves and 101 strikeouts in 80.1 innings. Charlotte Morgan is 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA in six appearances.
All-Time Series vs. Alabama
Alabama leads the all-time series with Chattanooga 6-2 and has won the last four meetings by a combined score of 31-10, including last years double-header by scores of 8-6 and 8-1. The Lady Mocs wins came on April 11, 2001, 5-4, and 9-5 in the first ever meeting on February 28, 1998.
April 11, 2007 ? No. 2 Alabama, 8-1
April 11, 2007 ? No. 2 Alabama, 8-6
February 28, 2004 ? No. 16 Alabama, 9-0 (5)
April 22, 2003 ? Alabama, 6-3
April 11, 2001 ? Chattanooga, 5-4
April 11, 2001 ? Alabama, 2-1 (9)
March 12, 1999 ? Alabama, 2-0
February 28, 1998 ? Chattanooga, 9-5
All-Time Series vs. Kent State
The Golden Flashes have won both meetings with Chattanooga. The last time the two teams met, Kent State came away with a 4-1 victory on February 27, 2005 and also won the first ever meeting, 1-0, on March 21, 1996.
February 27, 2005 ? Kent State, 4-1
April 11, 2007 ? Kent State, 1-0
