Chattanooga 4, Middle Tennessee 2
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs softball team (31-11, 11-3) secured its 20th non-conference victory of the year as the Mocs defeated the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, 4-2 on Tuesday.
Offensively, Chattanooga was led by Criket Blanco and Sarah Beth Roberts as they both notched to homeruns. Defensively, the UTC was paced by all three of its pitchers Cori Jennings, Taylor Deason and Kailey Palazzolo. Fanning out a game-high two strike outs, Jennings walked away with the victory while Palazzolo recorded her third save of the season.
After three scoreless innings, the Mocs were the first to draw blood in the top of the fourth with four hits and three runs. Roberts sparked the offensive push with her 10th home run of the season, a hit over the left center wall.
Nicole Osterman followed up with a walk while Blanco singled to center field. With two outs Jesslyn Stockard doubled to left center, driving in Osterman and Blanco for a Chattanooga 3-0 lead.
Blue Raider Megan Girffith fired back with a double to right center to drive in Samantha Nieves from second and cut Chattanooga’s lead to two runs. However, MT’s efforts were kept short as the next three batters fell in order.
The C-USA opponent would tack on one more run in the bottom of the fifth, before Blanco extended UTC’s lead to 4-2 with her sixth long ball of the season.
Keeping the Blue Raiders from capitalizing off of two hits in the bottom of the seventh, the Mocs would sustain their lead and took the game, 4-2.
Chattanooga will wrap up the Southern Conference regular season against Samford this weekend at Frost Stadium.
UNCG 8, Radford 3
UNCG 8, Radford 4
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG softball team scored eight runs in both games to sweep a doubleheader against Radford, 8-3 and 8-4 Tuesday night at the UNCG Softball Stadium.
The Spartans improved to 22-19 on the season and have won five-straight games. Radford falls to 12-32 with the doubleheader loss.
In game one, the Spartans scored six runs in the first two innings and held on to a 8-3 victory against the Highlanders.
Senior Dominique Madruga went 2-for-2 at the plate and junior Allison Geiner picked up two hits in the victory.
Freshman pitcher Alicia Bazonski threw five innings to improve to 9-8 on the season and allowed just two earned runs off eight hits. Taylor Asimakopoulos fell to 3-5 after allowing six earned runs off five hits and had four walks.
Radford took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning off two hits. Becky Mantel started the game with a infield single and moved to second off a sacrifice bunt from Megan Honaker. After a foul out, Kayla Bishton lined a RBI single to centerfield giving the Highlanders a 1-0 advantage.
UNCG answered in the bottom of the first as junior Lindsay Thomas blasted a three-run home run to centerfield to give the Spartans a 3-1 lead. Geiner earned an infield single to start the frame and stole second base. After a fly out, Geiner moved to third and junior Nicole Thomas worked a walk. L. Thomas launched her ninth home run of the season and her 39th of her career.
In the second inning, the Spartans added three more runs to take a 6-1 lead against Radford. Freshman Gabrielle Cubbage walked and Madruga singled to right center to start the inning. Geiner singled to centerfield to load the bases. After a out, Nicole Thomas earned a RBI walk to make it 4-1 UNCG. Sophomore Tory Wright came through with a two out two-run single up the middle giving the Spartans a 6-1 lead.
The Highlanders cut the lead to 6-2 after a solo home run from Mantel to leadoff the third inning. It was Mantel’s seventh of the season.
UNCG took a 7-2 lead after Wright picked up a RBI off a sacrifice fly. Nicole Thomas roped a leadoff double and pinch-runner Rachael McClaskey moved to third off a groundout. Wright earned her 22nd RBI of the season with the sacrifice fly. Redshirt freshman Sidney Grkman singled to start the inning. Freshman Alexis Overdiep pinch-ran and moved to second off a sacrifice bunt. Madruga singled to left field and moved to third after Overdiep was caught in a rundown at third base. The Spartans took a 8-2 lead after Madruga came racing home after a wild pitch.
In game two, Lindsay Thomas hit a go-ahead two-run blast in the sixth inning and Cubbage hit a two-run home run in the same inning to help propel UNCG to a 8-4 win against Radford.
Bazonski earns the win in relief after throwing five scoreless innings and had five strikeouts improving to 10-8 on the season. Kelsey Weddle took the loss falling to 3-13 after allowing four earned runs off nine hits in relief.
Lindsay Thomas went 3-for-3 with a triple short of the cycle and had a two-run home run. Senior Tatiana Alcala was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a triple.
UNCG took a early 4-0 lead off four hits and a Radford error in the second inning. Alcala tripled to right center to leadoff the inning. Cubbage earned a RBI sacrifice fly to put the Spartans in front 1-0. Madruga reached on a hit by pitch and moved to second off a sacrifice bunt from Overdiep. Geiner singled and Vega followed with a RBI single. After a walk, Lindsay Thomas lined a two-run double down the left field line to give the Spartans a 4-0 lead.
The Highlanders answered with four runs off six hits and a UNCG error. Megan Honaker singled and Whitney Davis doubled to start the rally. After a throwing error, Radford had the bases loaded when MacKenzie Blackwell singled home a run. Casey Burns cut the lead to 4-2 after a RBI single to left field. Maggie Rowe tied the game at 4-4 with a two-run single to right field. Bazonski came on in relief and limited the damage by keeping the game tied at 4-4.
The Spartans regained the lead scoring four runs off four hits in the sixth inning. Nicole Thomas doubled to start the inning and Lindsay Thomas blasted a two-run home run off the scoreboard to give UNCG a 6-4 lead. Alcala kept the inning going with a single and Cubbage smashed a home run to deep centerfield making it 8-4 Spartans.
In the seventh inning, Bazonski finished the game with a 1-2-3 inning and had a swinging strikeout to end the victory for UNCG.
The Blue and Gold head to Greenville, S.C. for a three-game conference series against Furman starting with a doubleheader Saturday, May 2 at 1 p.m.