Tuesday night's game at Jim Frost Stadium didn't start out so great for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team, but sometimes how you finish is more important than how you start.
UTC freshman Cori Jennings' first pitch of the game was hit out of the park in right center by Tennessee Tech center fielder Angi Sakamoto, but the pitching and defense held firm and the Mocs rallied for a 6-4 nonconference win in front of 412 fans on a beautiful spring evening at Warner Park.
"You can't teach fight, and this team's got it," UTC coach Frank Reed said after the game. "I told them that I was really proud of them. We give up a first-pitch home run ... and we could have given up right there.
UTC shortstop J.J. Hamill tags out Tennessee Tech runner Angi Sakamoto at 2nd during the Mocs' non-conference softball game against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, at Jim Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn.Reed nears 1,000 wins
After Tuesday's 6-4 win over Tennessee Tech, UTC coach Frank Reed has 998 wins for his career. He could reach the 1,000-win milestone in just over a week during the Mocs' three-game SoCon series at Furman. As the big win nears, Reed said Tuesday that he's humbled but just trying to take things one game at a time and not look ahead or think too much about his impressive legacy at UTC and Chattanooga State. "I just try to put it out of my mind because I'm just sort of excited about the season and how the team's doing," he said. "It's an honor to get there. I've had a lot of people that have helped. We just played against one of our former great players (Tennessee Tech assistant coach) Tiffany Baker (Wilkerson) tonight that helped us get there. "A lot of memories rush back, and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that. I'm just honored to be around the game that long and give something back to it, because it's certainly given me a lot." -- Jim Tanner
"I think we were struggling to try and figure out where the umpire wanted the ball, but I thought we made good adjustments and we never really gave up. Some of the kids that looked worst at the plate the first three innings came back with great hits for us in later innings."
UTC (24-8) struggled the first time through the lineup against Tech pitcher Danielle Liberatore, who struck out seven in the first three innings and finished with 10 strikeouts. But in the bottom of the fourth, the Mocs were more patient at the plate, with Nicole Osterman and Jesslyn Stockard drawing walks to bring up Criket Blanco, who lined a shot over the center-field wall to put UTC ahead 3-1.
"That swing of Criket's might be the prettiest swing I've ever seen," Reed said. "I watched it come off the bat, and I didn't even have to turn and look. It was beautiful through the zone, and she followed through, and you could just tell when it came off the bat that it was going to go out."
Blanco said the pitch she hit out was high and outside, and it took UTC a while to figure out the strike zone of home plate umpire Ken Cato.
"The whole lineup was struggling because the umpire was giving her so far off the plate and was calling it (a strike)," she said. "So all of us just toed up to the plate and waited for our pitch and didn't let him get to us with those weird calls."
In the next inning, UTC added to its lead with a two-run shot by Osterman, her 11th homer of the season to lead the the Southern Conference in what's been a breakout season on offense for the senior outfielder.
"I've been continuing to take every at-bat as a learning experience," she said. "Even in this game I went in (my first at-bat) and struck out, but I feel like my second time around I'm just having a lot better pitch selection.
"So I'm being a little bit more patient at the plate, and I feel like that's helping me a lot."
Jennings pitched four innings to pick up the win, and senior Taylor Deason threw effectively for the final three innings to earn the save despite giving up three runs on three hits and two errors in the final inning. Both pitchers pitched around trouble throughout the game, stranding seven TTU runners and combining for six strikeouts.
"Cori and Taylor are both really good at staying calm when things don't go their way," Blanco said. "So if a runner were to get on, or a runner were to get a hit ... they would just stay calm and trust that they can get out of it because they can."
"We just try to keep it light-hearted (on the field) and laugh, because we know that if (the pitchers do their) job, we can back (them) up and do our job."
The Mocs are off this weekend before four road games next week. They will play at Lipscomb next Wednesday and return to SoCon play with a three-game series April 11-12 at Furman. UTC is unbeaten in league play and has a seven-game winning streak.
"This team doesn't believe that they can get beat," Reed said. "As long as they can do that, good things will happen."
Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.