Donna Hughes didn’t mind sharing the Mother’s Day spotlight with her daughter on Sunday.
Hughes, mother of UTC senior pitcher Brooke Loudermilk, watched as Loudermilk earned the win in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team’s 9-3 win over College of Charleston to wrap up the regular season.
UTC seniors Tia Blosser, Brittany Eason, Lynleigh Hurndon and Kaiti Kelley along with Loudermilk, a two-time Southern Conference pitcher of the year, were honored before the game.
“I’ve cried all day,” Hughes said. “What Brooke’s done on the field has been amazing. But who she’s become as a person is even better.”
The Lady Mocs (39-15, 19-5 SoCon) celebrated Senior Day in style, pounding out 12 hits and riding a seven-run third inning rally to an easy win in their final game before hosting the Southern Conference tournament Thursday and Friday.
Loudermilk pitched 41/3 innings and struck out seven Charleston batters. She ran into trouble in the third and fifth innings, but she and reliever Kandice Irwin did enough to secure the win.
“I’m excited. I think we got some great momentum hitting-wise to go into the tournament,” Loudermilk said. “As for pitching, I’ve got to shut the door a little bit better than that.”
Eason led the Lady Mocs offense, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs. She hit a two-run double in the second inning to open the scoring, and hit an RBI single in the seven-run third.
“I was nervous coming into the game for some reason,” Eason said. “It’s really good that our offense stepped up. … I don’t know what the difference was today, but hopefully we’ll bring it to the tournament.”
In addition to Eason’s solid day on offense, Lyndsey Stiles was 2-for-4, and Lauren Flores went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Flores hit a single and a double in the seventh inning, and UTC hit four doubles in the game, which is the most they’ve had in a game all season.
Junior third baseman Tiffany Baker knocked in a pair of runs with a long drive to the fence in right center.
All five UTC seniors said the Senior Day festivities were easier to take knowing that Sunday’s game wasn’t their last game at Jim Frost Stadium.
“It was emotional at the beginning, but then you have to play it like any other game,” Hurndon said. “It’s not as emotional for us because we’re going to be back on this field Thursday.”
Kelley, who transferred to UTC from Chattanooga State last season, said she wanted to make sure the regular season ended well for the seniors.
“These girls have worked hard for four years, and I’ve only been here two,” Kelley said. “But I feel just as close to them, so we all just wanted to have an awesome day.”
UTC coach Frank Reed gathered his team in the middle of the third inning for a pep talk that seemed to wake up the offense in the bottom of the inning.
“I just tried to tell them that we need to score early and have fun and get some runs on the board for our pitching staff,” Reed said. “And they seemed to do that.”