Scoring seven runs in the first inning is a great way to start a tournament, and top-seeded Chattanooga State went from there to a 12-4 win over Southwest Tennessee in the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII softball tournament Thursday at Chattanooga State.
Leadoff batter Courtney Crawford started the early onslaught with a hit and capped it with a two-run triple, and she wound up 3-for-4 with two runs scored for the Lady Tigers (42-11). They play today at 10 a.m. against fourth-seeded Volunteer State (23-16), which blanked Motlow 3-0.
Second-seeded Walters State (38-8) won 5-0 over Dyersburg State, and third seed Columbia State (33-15) beat Jackson State 8-0 to set up the other winners-bracket semifinal at noon. Motlow rallied to down Southwest 11-8 in the losers bracket.
Southwest (22-29) had used a six-run inning just to get to face Chattanooga State. That was Wednesday against Cleveland State (9-28), which improved its lead to 8-3 with Brooklyn Webster's three-run homer in the top of the seventh inning, only to watch the Lady Saluqis score six with two outs in the bottom half.
Courtni Hammers was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs in the Lady Cougars' last game of the season. Taylor Gilliland was 3-for-4 and Tara Comer batted in two runs for Southwest.
Comer stroked a two-run homer off Hanna Manley in the third inning Thursday against Chatt State, and Alex Turner was 2-for-3 with a homer off Ericka Webster in the fifth, but the tourney hosts scored two in the fourth and an inning later used a two-run double by Katy Richardson and an RBI single by Courtney Styles to finish the game early.
Styles was 3-for-4 and matched Richardson with three total RBIs, while Izzy McCurry was 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Sydney Sloan was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs, and Shannon Plese was 2-for-4 with two runs.
"Seven runs right off the bat -- that makes things a little easier," Lady Tigers coach Blythe Golden said. "Our pitching wasn't as sharp as it needs to be -- we got behind in the count too much -- but our offense bounced back after they scored.
"It's all about energy and keeping it up."