Almost.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team fell behind by seven runs to Samford in an elimination game in the Southern Conference tournament Thursday night. The Mocs rallied impressively but ultimately fell 9-8 to the Bulldogs at Frost Stadium.
UTC, the seventh seed, had lost 1-0 to third seed East Tennessee State in the afternoon.
The Mocs finish the season 15-38 and lose two seniors, Katy Richardson and Jesslyn Stockard. They started their last game slowly and watched a lively Samford team score nine runs in a three-inning stretch to build the touchdown advantage.
Samford scored three in the top of the third, but UTC got a two-run single by Hayleigh Weissenbach in the bottom half. The Bulldogs kept scoring, with two runs in the fourth and four in the fifth, including two Kathryn Jackson home runs.
Down to their last nine outs, the Mocs started to rally, using a grand slam by Ashley Conner to cut the lead to 9-6 in the bottom of the fifth and adding a run in the sixth on a one-out J.J. Hamill double that scored Halie Williamson.
Conner struck again in the bottom of the seventh, with her second home run of the game and sixth of the season to cut the margin to one, but Samford pitcher Grey Adams forced popouts by Richardson and Stockard to left field to end the game.
Conner finished 3-for-4 with five runs batted in. Hamill matched her with three hits, while first-team all-conference designated player Emma Sturdivant had two.
In UTC's earlier game, ETSU (27-24) got a run in the top of the first, and that was all it needed behind a one-hit pitching performance by Madison Ogle. The Bucs scored on a two-out single by Tiffany Laughren that scored Nikki Grupp, who had doubled two batters earlier.
UTC's Celie Hudson pitched well, limiting the Bucs to five hits and striking out three, but UTC's sole hit was an Aly Walker single in the bottom of the sixth, when the Mocs posed their biggest threat.
Walker's single moved Amy Lewis, who had a leadoff walk, to third. With one out, Conner flew out to right field, but the Bucs pulled off a double play when it was determined that Lewis, who had tagged up and scored, left before the ball was caught.
Former Northwest Whitfield standout Mykeah Johnson had one of the team's five hits, a seventh-inning single.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.