Lady Mocs seeking greatness

Coming off a 2009 season filled with injuries and adversity, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team is looking to the 2010 season with lofty goals.

The fact that they overcame all those obstacles last season -- including the loss of starting pitcher Brooke Loudermilk for the first half of the season -- to finish with a second consecutive Southern Conference tournament title and trip to the NCAA tournament has made the Lady Mocs and coach Frank Reed hungry for more.

"I think they know how good they are -- how good they can be," Reed said. "But they can't do it as individuals; they have to do it as a team."

Junior pitcher and first baseman Michelle Fuzzard believes her coach is justified in his assessment of this year's team.

"I think he should be confident in us. We're that good," Fuzzard said after practice Friday. "This is the best team that I've ever been a part of."

Infielder Tiffany Baker played through a painful foot injury last season and spent the summer and fall recovering from surgery to repair a broken bone in her foot. Despite the injury, Baker hit .365 last season and led the team with 12 home runs.

Baker says she's fully recovered from surgery and ready to make the switch from second base to third base this season to replace departed starter Toni Hutchison.

"I'm 100 percent ready to go," Baker said. "I've never been the fastest player on the field, but I'm ready."

After losing only Hutchison to graduation, UTC returns the core of last year's championship team and adds pitching depth with the transfer from Southern Illinois of former Soddy-Daisy pitcher Nikki Waters. The return of senior outfielder Laci Upchurch, who missed last season recovering from shoulder surgery, brings offensive power to the team.

Upchurch will have to compete for playing time in the outfield with senior Kaiti Kelley, who batted .300 with four stolen bases in her first year at UTC after transferring from Chattanooga State.

Kelley, who played high school softball at Boyd-Buchanan, wants to improve on last year's numbers.

"I defintely want to outdo last year because I don't think I was at my full potential," Kelley said. "I wasn't unhappy with the year, but I thought I could have done a lot better.

"I want to have a whole lot more stolen bases, and I would like to bat .400."

For her part, Upchurch said she is ready to do whatever is needed to help the team after a year off the field.

"It's going to take a couple of weeks to figure out my role," she said. "Whether that's hitting or in the field or just cheering them on from the bench. Whatever I need to do to help the team."

In addition to team goals, Upchurch needs just two home runs to set a UTC career record. After being stuck at 24 career home runs for almost two years, she says she's trying not to put too much pressure on herself to break the record quickly

"I'm not really too worried about it," Upchurch said of potentially passing Melissa Ramirez's 25 career home runs for UTC from 2002-05. "I think that if I just relax it's going to come a whole lot faster than if I think about it too much.

"I'm looking forward to getting over the hump so I don't have to worry about it. But I'm going to be really excited whenver I do get that mark. That's going to be really exciting for me."

As for team goals, Upchurch is as confident as her coach and teammates about the Lady Mocs' talent and has set her sights high as UTC prepares to open the season Friday at the National Training Center Invitational in Clermont, Fla..

"I would love to go undefeated in the (Southern Conference) regular season, and then in the conference tournament, we should sweep it," she said. "We're that strong of a team. I think we have the depth to do it and the veterans to get it done."

With expectations set high and coming off of two straight trips to the NCAA tournament, teams will be looking to knock off the Lady Mocs, especially in Southern Conference play. Baker says she and her teammates are ready to face the pressure that comes from being the favorite.

"We've always had a target on our back," the former East Ridge standout and UT signee said. "We've always had expectations we've had to fulfill. But as a team we've upped our expectations a lot -- individually and as a team."

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