Normally an 8-3 start to a softball season would feel pretty good, but it didn’t feel that way Sunday evening for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga team.
That’s because an 8-0 beginning has given way to three consecutive losses as the Mocs look ahead to the Frost Classic they will host this coming weekend. After three wins in their Chattanooga Spring Classic, they concluded it with a 10-inning loss Saturday evening against UT-Martin and two defeats Sunday at Frost Stadium, 3-1 to Wright State and 7-5 to Indiana University Purdue University at Fort Wayne.
UTC beat Wright State (4-6) in eight innings on Friday and IPFW left Chattanooga with a 2-7 record, but the Mocs were outhit 9-3 and 10-7 in the Sunday games and made two errors in each. Sophomore ace Cori Jennings did not pitch Sunday because she had been used so much earlier in the tournament, coach Frank Reed said.
“We’ve just got to step it up in all aspects of our game,” said Sam Taylor, the senior center fielder and leadoff batter who had two hits in each loss Sunday and the lone RBI in the opener. “We’re not playing Chattanooga ball, and we’ve got to pick it up with our pitching, hitting and defensively.
“But it’s still early – we have 45-plus games left in the season – and we’re fairly young and rotating a lot of people in and out,” Taylor added, noting that early-season games are meant for working out combinations and chemistry. “We just haven’t clicked yet. We just need to relax and play like we know how.”
UTC has a team batting average of .264 and a decent ERA of 1.40, but even during the eight-game winning streak there were indications of things to work on. And seven of the 15 players are batting .217 or worse.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Reed said. “I asked the players what our problems are, and they said a lack of consistency, no focus and we didn’t show up. How we fix that I’m not quite sure. I thought we had those things covered.
“Yes, it’s early and these games don’t really mean anything (in league standings), but they can be confidence builders.”
Taylor had two of the three hits against Wright State, and she and Alyssa Taylor each went 2-for-3 and scored a run against IPFW. In that game, which took more than three hours to play, the Mocs clearly didn’t make the most of their opportunities while the Mastodons did.
UTC scored a run in each of the first two innings but left the bases loaded in each, and then IPFW scored three in the third after the first two batters made outs.
IPFW’s Emily Olszewski was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Caitlyn DeLong and Lauren Watson each went 2-for-4 with a run. DeLong also had an RBI.
Criket Blanco, Jordan Fortel and Anyssa Robles had RBIs for the Mocs. Fortel allowed nine hits but only one earned run as the first-game pitcher.
Geathers drives in five
University of Tennessee outfielder Shaliyah Geathers from Chattanooga doubled twice and drove in five runs in a 16-4 win Sunday against DePaul in the Michele Smith tournament in Clearwater, Fla. That was two days after the former East Hamilton standout set a career high of four RBIs.
The Vols (8-3) scored seven runs in each of the first and third innings in the five-inning game.