Why not them?
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga entered the Southern Conference softball tournament with high expectations despite having the lowest seed, and when the competition started, the host Mocs showed they had good reason to be confident.
The Mocs put together a five-run third inning and used a strong outing by freshman pitcher Celie Hudson and some solid fielding to beat second-seeded Furman 5-4 Wednesday at Frost Stadium. The Mocs (15-36) advanced to face No. 3 seed East Tennessee State University (26-24) at 3 p.m. today in the seven-team, double-elimination bracket.
Furman (31-22) will face sixth-seeded Western Carolina (17-29) at 10 a.m. today. ETSU beat Western Carolina 7-0 on Wednesday, when No. 5 seed Mercer (25-29) won 5-3 against fourth-seeded Samford (22-35). Mercer will play top-seeded UNC Greensboro (28-22) at 12:30 p.m. today, while Samford will await the loser of today's UTC-ETSU matchup for an 8 p.m. game.
The tournament continues Friday, with the title to be decided Saturday.
After UTC's win, the Mocs were using "Why not us?" as a hashtag and wondering out loud why they couldn't end up winning the championship. They took a big step forward Wednesday, although there's still a long way to go.
Hudson (6-9), who missed the first half of the season with a back injury, struck out a career-high eight batters and has won three of her past four starts. That includes two wins against Furman and another against UNCG - the two teams that tied for the SoCon regular-season title.
"The team played insanely well today. We played out of our minds," Hudson said. "The girls had seen the pitchers, and they're hitting. You don't just hit one pitcher.
"They gave me a cushion. I did well enough to win but nothing special. It was enough to win, and that's all that matters."
UTC's offense came in a flurry, capped by a two-run homer by Jesslyn Stockard that made it 5-0. Amy Lewis scored on Hayleigh Weissenbach's double, then Aly Walker doubled to bring Weissenbach home. Ashley Conner's single coupled with an error scored Walker.
Furman scored two runs apiece in the third and fourth, with Hudson pitching out of jams in each inning. She got better as the game went on, striking out five in the final three innings.
"We've learned how to be composed," UTC coach Frank Reed said. "We've been in tight games more often. We've matured a bit over the course of the season."
When asked if the Mocs could have won a game like Wednesday's two months ago, Reed replied: "Probably not. We may have had the five-run inning, but they would have found a way to score six. It's a different team out there."
And a confident one as well. Stockard, whose home run was her third in five games, said the Mocs are using the momentum from last week's series against Furman in Greenville, S.C. The Paladins won 2-1 and 4-2 before UTC rallied to win the regular-season finale 2-1.
"We're a whole different team," Stockard said. "I just look at the girls and see a different emotion. We're confident and believe in each other.
"I think we'll do big things in this tournament. I don't think there's anybody here we can't beat. There's no reason we can't beat another (highly seeded) team."
In ETSU's win over WCU, Kelsey Chernak from Ooltewah and leadoff batter Mykeah Johnson from Northwest Whitfield each was 2-for-3 and scored a run, Chernak with two RBIs, and former Chattanooga State pitcher Sharlene Godoy worked the last two innings, allowing two hits.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.