The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team began play Friday in the USF Spring Break Invitational at Clearwater, Fla., with a 9-6 loss to Monmouth and a 13-12 loss to Illinois that included a combined 14 runs in the sixth inning.
In the first game the Mocs (7-19) got a second-inning grand slam by Brook Womack, and Amanda Beltran was 2-for-2 with an RBI double and two runs scored. J.J. Hamill was 2-for-4 in each game and leads the team with a .359 batting average.
Against the Illini (14-7) the Mocs scored nine runs in the bottom of the sixth, with three bases-loaded walks mixed with RBI singles by Hayleigh Weissenbach and Ashley Conner and two-run hits by Halie Williamson and Beltran. Weissenbach was 2-for-5 with two RBIs, Williamson was 1-for-1 with two runs to go with her two RBIs, and Jesslyn Stockard, Womack and Katy Richardson each had an RBI and scored twice.
UTC plays today at noon against Colgate and at 2:30 against LIU Brooklyn and faces Fairfield at 9 a.m. Sunday.