SOFTBALL AWARDS DINNER SET
The UTC RBI Club will host the Mocs' annual awards dinner tonight at the Stadium Club in Finley Stadium. The Mocs will celebrate their 2015 Southern Conference regular-season title and honor the seniors as the team heads into postseason play. The public is invited and can pay the $15 at the door, starting at 5:30.
Perhaps the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball Mocs should go into show business, because they certainly have a flair for the dramatic.
With UTC down by one run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Southern Conference regular-season title on the line, Mocs catcher Anyssa Robles hit a two-run double to the gap in left center to give UTC a 4-3 win over Samford in the second game of a doubleheader Sunday at Frost Stadium.
It was the first time the Mocs had the lead in any of the weekend's three games.
"I honestly just wanted to put the ball into play," Robles said of her hit that scored Nicole Osterman and Criket Blanco. "That's all I needed to do. If they made an error, great; if I get it to the gap, great. That's all I was looking to do."
With the win UTC earned the top seed in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday at Frost Stadium. The Mocs will open play Thursday at 11:30 a.m. against the winner of Wednesday's first game between Furman and Western Carolina.
UTC (31-13, 12-5) entered the weekend series needing just one win to clinch the program's 14th regular-season crown, but the Mocs lost 4-3 Saturday night and then fell 5-1 in Sunday's first game to give Samford a chance to win the title with a sweep.
After usual starting pitchers Cori Jennings and Taylor Deason suffered losses, UTC coach Frank Reed handed the ball to freshman Kailey Palazzolo in the final game. It was just Palazzolo's third start of the season, but she rose to the occasion, pitching eight strong innings, allowing just three runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out eight batters.
"She was awesome," Blanco said. "She knew she was awesome and she was being awesome. She was hitting her spots; she was having swag and was just doing her thing."
Reed said he went to Palazzolo to give Samford a different look after Deason gave up five runs on 12 hits in Sunday's first game.
"We were going all down with Taylor, and we came back and threw a lot of riseballs with Kailey and it worked out," Reed said. "We should have backed her up a little sooner with some runs, but she did an awesome job."
Despite having pitched less than half the number of innings of Jennings and Deason this season, Palazzolo was ready when she found out between games that she'd get the start.
"I always have confidence," she said. "No matter if you're closing or starting, I always go out there and be aggressive and attack, and that's what I did today. It just worked."
Lost in the Mocs' late heroics was the outstanding performance by Samford pitcher Mollie Hanson. The redshirt junior pitched all 21 2/3 innings for the Bulldogs (32-20, 11-7) in the series, allowing eight runs with 21 strikeouts and almost lifting her team to an improbable championship.
In the first game, UTC couldn't rally after trailing 5-1 after three innings. Sam Taylor and Robles each had two hits in that loss, with Taylor knocking in the Mocs' run.
Between games, UTC's players and coaches focused on not letting the championship get away on three straight losses to close the regular season.
"We talked about how we've worked so hard for this moment and we keep letting it slip through our fingers and we're not going to do that anymore," Blanco said. "We've been through all the hours and effort -- the sweat and tears -- to be here, so we were going to go out there and do it."
Palazzolo held the Bulldogs scoreless through four innings in the second game, but they took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Caitlin Bice drew a bases-loaded walk. The Mocs tied the game in the sixth on an Osterman single that scored J.J. Hamill, and the score remained tied as the game went to extra innings..
In the top of the eighth, Samford first baseman Lexie Higgins' bases-loaded single gave the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead. That's when the Mocs made their rally.
Hamill opened the bottom of the eighth with a walk and advanced to second on a bunt by Sarah Beth Roberts. After Osterman walked, Blanco hit a long double to score Hamill and put runners at third and second with one out. Hanson looked as if she might get Samford out of trouble after getting Jesslyn Stockard to strike out, but Robles was determined that the Mocs would be the ones celebrating as the sun set Sunday evening.
"We just thought that this is our home turf, and we can't lose three games to them," she said. "We obviously had seen Mollie for two games already, and we just needed to make the adjustment, and I think we did that."
Contact Jim Tanner at sports@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.