Mocs Softball Team Finally Makes Home Debut on Saturday

   Mocs outfielder Sam Taylor says getting on a bus and going to play tournament ball in Florida is fun, but the travel gets old.

"I’m really relieved. Just the fact of not getting on the bus again."

    Head coach Frank Reed admits his team showed signs for road weariness earlier this week.

"I sensed that Tuesday when we played Georgia State. We went out there in the first inning and gave up four or five hits and a couple of errors."

   The weather and travel has even prevented the Mocs from practicing at Frost Stadium for nearly two weeks.

Said Taylor,"You have to grind through it, especially for us outfielders because you can’t really take fly balls in this indoor facility. You’ve just got to prepare your mind to be like okay,I’ve done this before."

   Despite all the road trips, the Mocs are 17-8 with a win over 25th ranked Kansas.

But UTC is doing it all without pitcher Katie Henderson. The SoCon’s most outstanding player last year is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Said Reed,"Katie was injured right after the fall coming into the spring. She started experiencing shoulder issues. They thought it might be a six or seven week fix where she could rest. After that, they did some diagnostic stuff and decided she is going to need one or two surgeries before coming back."

   Chattanooga’s home opener is a big one since it will double as their SoCon opener as well against Greensboro.

"This is do or die time when we start playing the teams in our conference because we’re always fighting to get to the regionals and the super regionals. We’re always trying to push the program to the next level."
  Chattanooga and Greensboro will play a three game series starting with a doubleheader at 3pm on Saturday.