The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team used a five-run second inning to help end its losing streak at five games, beating Western Carolina 7-4 in a Southern Conference matchup Sunday at Frost Stadium.
The Mocs (12-27, 2-7) scored their most runs in a game since a 10-0 win against Colgate on March 18 at South Florida's Under Armour Invitational in Clearwater. They also won in league play for the first time since their SoCon opener against Mercer on March 25 in Macon, Ga.
Western Carolina (10-21, 2-7), which beat the Mocs 11-2 and 6-2 on Saturday, took Sunday's first lead on Kara Salvo's RBI single in the second inning. But the Mocs sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom half, chasing starter Shaina Reed after she issued walks to three of the first four hitters that inning.
Halie Williamson's one-out single scored Emma Sturdivant, and the rest of the runs came with two outs - Hayleigh Weissenbach's RBI single, Amy Lewis's RBI walk and J.J. Hamill's two-run single completed the outburst.
Each team scored a run in the third - UTC on a single by Lewis - and the Mocs' final run came in the fifth on a single by Hamill. Western Carolina scored its final two runs in the seventh, with Weissenbach ending the game by making a catch in center field then throwing out a runner going for third.
Hamill, Lewis, Weissenbach and Williams each finished with two hits, and UTC starting pitcher Celie Hudson improved to 3-3.
- Union 8, Lee 0: After the host Flames won 8-0 twice Saturday, the Bulldogs avoided a sweep in the Gulf South Conference series by flipping the scoreboard Sunday.
Union (13-17, 7-16) scored five runs in the second and three in the sixth, outhitting Lee 11-5 for the game and avoiding errors in the field. The Lady Flames (28-12, 15-9) committed three.
Union's Haley Barnette went 3-for-4 with a grand slam and six RBIs. No Lee batter had multiple hits, but Courtney Crawford walked twice.
- Cleveland State won 9-3 in the second of its four TCCAA softball games this past weekend at Volunteer State. Vol State won the others 9-1, 11-3 and 6-3.
In the win for the Lady Cougars (11-24, 4-20), Grayson Brown was 4-for-4 with five RBIs, Brittany Arnold drove in two runs and Rachel Pierce was 2-for-3 and scored three times and Bre Dunsmore was 2-for-4 with two runs.
Arnold had two RBIs again in Saturday's first game and went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the finale, when Pierce scored twice and Carly Frost and Hannah Jones each was 2-for-4.