UTC wins two in Mississippi and other sports news

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The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team continued its winning streak that began two weeks ago in Las Vegas and carried through last week's Frost Classic in Chattanooga with two wins Friday in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic in Gulfport. Taylor Deason pitched a two-hitter with six strikeouts in a 1-0 win over Nicholls State, and the Mocs (10-6) followed by beating Ohio University 5-2 on a six-hitter with seven strikeouts by Katie Henderson. Criket Blanco's first-inning sacrifice fly held up as the difference in the opener. Alyssa Taylor was 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs against Ohio, while Kaiti Dutton tripled, doubled and scored twice and Jesslyn Stockard and Sam Taylor each had two hits, an RBI and a run scored. Stockard homered.

• Chattanooga State suffered its first softball loss of the season Friday, 4-3 in nine innings at Walters State, but not before beating the Lady Senators 10-4 as Shelby Willard struck out 11 batters and Bailee Williams went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs. Also in that first game of the weekend four-game TCCAA set in Morristown, Emily Dagnan went 4-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI, Katy Richardson scored two runs and Lindsey Stickrod went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Lady Tigers (19-1, 5-1). Andrea Eison's walk-off homer ended the second game in favor of Walters (10-2, 5-1). Khadija Neely and Courtney Crawford each was 2-for-4 for Chattanooga State, Neely with an RBI, and pitcher Sharlene Godoy struck out seven.

• Greensboro College won 7-2 and 8-4 in USA South softball games Friday at Covenant, as Jackie Nicholson batted in two runs in the first game and Madison Crisco and Sarah Connolly combined for two homers and five RBIs in game two. Kendall Whann and Morgan Strennen each was 2-for-3 in the opener for Covenant (2-4, 0-2), and Madison Quirk was 2-for-3 in the eighth-inning rematch, when Morgan Lane hit a two-run homer.

• The nationally second-ranked Tennessee softball team bounced back from its only loss of the season, 6-3 to BYU, with a win over San Diego State on Thursday night, but the 16-1 Lady Vols' two games Friday in the San Diego Classic were rained out.

Tennis

• Chattanooga's Wesley Cash won two singles matches Friday and is in the men's 55 singles semifinals as well as the doubles semifinals in the Raymond James Super Senior Grand Prix tennis tournament at St. Petersburg, Fla. Cash, the No. 2 seed, won 6-3, 6-1 over Chris Stevens of Massachusetts and 6-3, 6-3 over Keith Banister of Roswell, Ga. He and doubles partner Mark Vines, the top seed, could meet in the final.

• Sewanee sophomore Lindsey Liles followed teammate Annie Veron as the Southern Athletic Association women's tennis player of the week for last week. Liles teamed with Bronte Goodhue from GPS to beat second-ranked Emory's top doubles duo and added an 8-1 win against Case Western in a team win that included Liles' three-set victory at No. 3 singles.

Baseball

• Scott Gillespie went 4-for-4 and scored twice and David Lockwood homered, doubled and batted in four runs as Covenant College beat North Carolina Wesleyan 12-6 in the Scots' USA South baseball opener Friday on Lookout Mountain. Will Cleland and K.C. Simons each was 2-for-4 and scored three and two runs for Covenant (4-1), and Paul Phillips had two RBIs. Luis Palencia had two RBIs and two runs for the 2-8 visitors.

• Bryan College opened Appalachian Athletic Conference play Friday with a 9-1 win over visiting Truett-McConnell as L.J. Rowden pitched a three-hitter with nine strikeouts, Hunter Tipton and Preston King each batted in three runs and Cody Rhinehart went 3-for-5. Tipton, King and Justin Morhardt homered for the Lions (8-9), Crandon Wallace tripled and singled and Tyler Latham doubled and singled. Peyton Fore homered in the ninth inning for the Bears.

• Hunter Giles and Dylan Massengill both pitched sterling complete games Friday, Giles with 12 strikeouts, as the Tennessee Temple baseball team won 14-2 and 15-1 over Johnson University in Knoxville. Bryant Martin and Brett Bartley each was 5-for-8 in the doubleheader for Temple (3-7).

Basketball

• Covenant's Colton McGriff and Jessie Blankenship were third-team selections on the USA South all-conference basketball squads. McGriff, a junior, averaged 15.4 points and 7.2 rebounds a game for the men. Blankenship averaged 12.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in her senior season and had USAS-game averages of 15.1 and 10.6. She wound up with 1,362 points for her Lady Scots career and 797 rebounds, fourth all-time.

• UTC men's basketball assistant Turner Battle will be the guest speaker for the Mocs Club's "Breakfast With the Coach" at 8:15 this morning at Wally's Restaurant on McCallie Avenue. The public is invited and reservations are not needed.

Diving

• Natalie Smallen and Kilie Wilson from the Baylor Diving Club finished fourth and sixth in 11-under girls' 3-meter competition Friday in the Spring Junior Olympic Region 3 USA Diving Championships at Oakton, Va., and qualified for the East Nationals in April in Largo, Fla. Both are fourth-graders, Smallen at Wallace A. Smith Elementary and Wilson at Chattanooga Valley Elementary. They will do 1-meter competition today, along with Baylor School seventh-grader Olivia Bettis in 14-15 girls.

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