Lady Mocs Ready For NCAA Regionals

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. --- Chattanooga's roller-coaster ride through the 2003
softball season is on a big upswing at just the right time. The Lady Mocs
are in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season with a
Thursday night game against Stanford looming at 6 p.m. at the Alabama
Softball Complex.

Amid injuries, illnesses and inconsistencies, the Lady Mocs are right where
they have been ever since the Southern Conference started sending a
representative to the NCAA Tournament. Chattanooga is the only SoCon team
to ever represent the league in an NCAA Regional, making its fourth
consecutive appearance.

"We have suffered through a lot of adversity with three major knee
injuries," said Chattanooga softball coach Frank Reed. "We're capable of
playing very well at times, and we're capable of playing very bad at times.
The tournament tends to bring out the best in teams, so let's hope that is
what we see."

Chattanooga's challenge may actually be the toughest of any previous
tournament experience. Stanford is ranked No. 17 in the nation and is one
of eight teams from the Pac-10 Conference in the 64-team tournament. In the
previous three tournament's UTC's first-round match-ups were Mississippi
State, Michigan and Florida Atlantic.

"Stanford plays in the toughest conference in the nation," Reed said.
"East-coast teams don't get a chance to see the type of competition on a
daily basis that teams see out west."

Chattanooga's schedule was one of its toughest in recent memory, but it
pales in comparison to Stanford's. The Lady Mocs played 11 teams that made
this year's tournament and had five wins, the best being a 2-1 victory over
No. 23 Oklahoma State at the Speedline Invitational. Stanford, meanwhile,
faced 48 of the 64 teams in this year's tournament and it owns eight wins
over top 25 teams.

"We have prepared ourselves as well as we could," said Stanford coach John
Rittman. "Outside of the conference, we played a tough schedule."

Stanford went 7-14 in the Pac-10 and finished seventh in the league, but
its reputation and non-conference schedule were strong enough to earn a No.
2 seed in the Regional tournament.

Stanford has a veteran pitching staff, led by junior Dana Sorensen, who was
fourth nationally in strikeouts with 312 Ks in just 204 innings. She was
20-10 with a 1.13 ERA. Senior Tori Nyberg was 15-10 with a 1.78 ERA.

"We've battled through adversity at times," Rittman said. "We lost eight
one-run games in the conference and that can take its toll."

Likewise, Chattanooga has not fared well in close games. UTC is 5-10 in
one-run games and 9-9 in two-run games.

Lately, UTC has not had many close games. Having won seven of its last
eight games, Chattanooga outscored foes 4.8-0.6 in that span. Much of that
success can be traced directly to senior pitcher Awbrey Winckler, who has
not given up an earned run in her last 41 2/3 innings, and sophomore third
baseman Melissa Ramirez, who is riding a 14-game hitting streak with a .522
batting average.

The UTC-Stanford winner will advance to play Friday at 3:30 p.m. EDT
against the winner of Massachusetts vs. Southern Illinois. The UTC-Stanford
loser drops into the loser's bracket for a 10:30 a.m. tilt against either
UMass or Southern Illinois.