The Chattanooga State baseball and softball teams both took care of business on adjacent fields Friday afternoon in opening-round series of the TCCAA/Region VII tournament.
The top-seeded and nationally sixth-ranked Lady Tigers, in fact, made sure they're done for the weekend. They won 9-2 and 10-4 over Southwest Tennessee to end the best-of-three series and assure a spot in the final five next weekend at Volunteer State in Gallatin.
The league's baseball teams played only one game each Friday, and Chattanooga State's fourth-seeded, freshman-laden Tigers pulled out a 10-8 win over seventh-seeded Vol State as third baseman John Flading turned a 5-3 double play with the bases loaded to end the game.
The Tigers (24-13) can dismiss any ideas of a home-field advantage next week if they can beat Vol State (20-20) in another 2 p.m. game today. Otherwise, the teams will decide the series Sunday.
In baseball at Tullahoma, fourth-seeded Motlow (34-19) beat fifth seed Cleveland State 8-4 as Luke Toms went 3-for-5 with a three-run home run and a triple and Clayton Palicki and Hayden Pewitt each was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. For the Cougars (24-20), Keith Buckhault was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Evan Speicher scored two runs.
The Bucks scored two runs in the fourth inning and went up 6-0 in the fifth, capped by Toms' homer. The Cougars fought back, though, with one run in the sixth and three in the seventh.
The baseball game in Chattanooga went back and forth throughout. The Tigers one-upped the Pioneers in the second and third innings for a 5-3 lead that Vol State erased with a six-run fourth. Then Chatt State went up 7-6 in the sixth and 9-7 in the seventh, and each team added a run in the eighth.
Brandon Day homered and singled, Michael Goss tripled among three hits and Ben Young doubled and singled for Chattanooga State, and Young, Jean Paul Rodriguez and Jared Wilson each scored two runs. Charlie Pal homered among three hits and Riley McCown doubled, singled and scored three runs for Vol State.
Sharlene Godoy pitched a four-hitter with eight strikeouts and Hanna Manley followed with a five-hitter, allowing two earned runs, for Chattanooga State's heavily favored softball team. Katy Richardson was 3-for-4 with a double in each game and six total RBIs for the Lady Tigers (48-6), while Courtney Crawford was 3-for-3 with three runs in the second game after recording two hits and two RBIs in the opener.
Baylee Williams had two homers and three RBIs and Emily Dagnan was 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI in game one, and Khadija Neely homered and singled and Lindsey Stickrod and Syndey Sloan each was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in game two.