The University of South Alabama softball team enjoyed some payback Friday in the Auburn Regional of the NCAA Division I tournament. USA beat the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 11-1 in five innings.
UTC went 5-0 in February in the South Alabama Invitational in Mobile, including a 3-1 defeat of the host Jaguars when they were ranked 22nd in the nation.
The Mocs (38-12) scored first in the rematch, Sarah Beth Roberts homering in the top of the first inning, but the Jaguars scored two in the bottom half, four in the second, three in the third and two again in the fourth.
"There is not a coach, player or team that has not experienced that type of loss. It happens," UTC coach Frank Reed said in a school release. "We gave (USA) the momentum in the first inning. We hit the home run and turned around to make two errors in the first inning. They took the momentum and ran with it."
Two strikeouts by Farish Beard preceded Roberts' homer, but then Beard walked Nicole Osterman and Criket Blanco and was quickly relieved by Devin Brown (11-4), who allowed only one hit -- a Blanco single leading off the fourth -- and struck out eight.
Senior Taylor Deason (15-6) and freshman Cori Jennings were pretty much equally ineffective in the circle for UTC, which plays Tennessee Tech at 3:30 p.m. EDT. Tech lost 4-1 to host Auburn.
USA leadoff batter Emily Messer was 4-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI, and Chloe Rathburn was 2-for-3 with a two-run double. Kaleigh Todd was 1-for-2 and scored three runs, Amanda Minehan had a two-run triple and Kaitlyn Griffith had a two-RBI single.
* In the NJCAA Division I national tournament at St. George, Utah, Chattanooga State assured itself of at least matching last year's third-place finish by beating Jefferson 13-5 Thursday night and downing Temple College 3-1, Miami Dade 8-5 and Howard 8-2 on Friday. The Lady Tigers play at noon EDT today against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, with that winner then trying to beat Chipola twice for the national title.
Sharlene Godoy pitched a two-hitter against Temple, and Hanna Manley took a one-hitter into the last inning against Miami Dade. Shannon Plese was 4-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI against Miami Dade, and Sydney Sloan, Courtney Styles and Izzy McCurry all homered in the seventh inning.
* In the NCCAA national tournament at Troutville, Va., Lee University finished third -- where it was seeded -- after being no-hit in a 5-0 loss to Oklahoma Christian in the losers-bracket final. Shea Coats did allow six walks but no hits, and Haley Squier and Courtney Starr each homered and combined for five RBIs for OCU (32-20). Lee wound up 36-19.