Mocs Softball tops Western Carolina, 5-2

CULLOWHEE, N.C. (UTC Athletics) – Ashley Conner delivered a go-ahead, two-run double in the fifth inning to help lift the Chattanooga Mocs softball team to a 5-3 victory over Western Carolina in the three-game series opener on Saturday afternoon in Cullowhee, N.C.

Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 17-22 overall and has now won three-straight Southern Conference games, upping their league record to 3-4. WCU fell to 9-21 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

Projected inclement weather switched up the original schedule of a Saturday doubleheader into a single game. WCU and UTC will play a doubleheader tomorrow to close out the three-game set.

Starting pitchers Allison Swinford and Lily Hayes battled through three scoreless innings to begin the game. Both teams combined for four hits and two double plays during that span.

Chattanooga busted through for the game’s first runs in the top of the fourth. J.J. Hamill led off the inning with a single to right-center before Ashley Conner’s attempted sacrifice bunt turned into a two-base throwing error from WCU, leaving runners on second and third with no outs.

Brook Womack and Emma Sturdivant provided back-to-back sacrifice flies to score Hamill and Conner, giving UTC a 2-0 lead.

Western Carolina responded right back in the home half of the fourth with a one-out, solo homerun from Shaina Reed to cut their deficit in half, 2-1. The Catamounts rallied with two more runs, both with two outs, on an RBI single and a wild pitch to grab a 3-2 lead.

Chattanooga answered with three runs of their own in the top of the fifth, all with two outs. Conner laced a two-RBI double down the line in right before Womack followed with an RBI single through the right side to put the Mocs in front again, 5-3.

Those two runs would be all UTC needed to close things out. After entering the game with two outs in the fifth, Celie Hudson (7-10) tossed 3.1 innings of no-hit ball to earn her seventh win of the season in the circle. She retired the final ten WCU hitters. Swinford threw 3.2 innings and allowed just five hits and three earned runs while striking out one.

Chattanooga registered nine hits with only one going for extra-bases. It marks the third time in the last four games the Mocs have recorded at least eight hits.

Hayleigh Weissenbach and Hamill both went 2-for-4 with singles and combined for three runs scored. Womack continued her hot streak with a 2-for-3 performance including two RBI while Conner ended 1-for-3 with a double and two RBI.

» Up Next
Chattanooga closes out the three-game series at Western Carolina tomorrow with a doubleheader beginning at Noon.