UTC softball in Athens Regional and other sports news

Monday, May 12, 2014

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team is heading to Georgia for regional play in the NCAA softball tournament. UTC will play in the Athens Regional beginning Friday against the Southeastern Conference tournament champion Bulldogs. Also competing in the Athens Regional are Alabama-Birmingham and North Carolina State. Coach Frank Reed and the team watched Sunday night's selection show at Buffalo Wild Wings in downtown Chattanooga. "We are excited," Reed said in an emailed statement. "It's great to be close to home. It's easy travel for us, and hopefully we can bring a good crowd." The Lady Mocs made the NCAA field by defeating UNC Greensboro 4-3 on Saturday in the title game of the Southern Conference tournament. UTC won four consecutive games at the tournament in Greensboro, N.C., allowing only the three runs in the championship game. Sophomore pitcher Katie Henderson won three games and picked up a save to earn tournament most outstanding player honors, and she, Jesslyn Stockard, Sarah Beth Roberts and Sam Taylor were named to the all-tournament team. This is the first trip to the NCAA tournament for UTC since 2011, when seniors Kaiti Dutton and Stephanie Rieck were freshmen, and is a big rebound after the team finished with a losing record in 2013.

Football

Former North Jackson and University of Alabama linebacker Tana Patrick signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Chicago Bears Sunday afternoon. The 6-foot-2, 243-pound Patrick had 39 career tackles, including 12 solos last season and caused one fumble on a goal line hit to stop LSU from scoring. Patrick was time in 4.59 seconds in the 40-yard dash during his Alabama pro day.