Sunday afternoon at Jim Frost Stadium didn’t present the most pleasant of conditions for playing softball, but the Univeristy of Tennessee at Chattanooga players weren’t about to let a little rain keep them from wrapping up a Southern Conference series sweep over UNC Greensboro.
The Mocs beat the Spartans 5-4 on a sacrifice fly by Criket Blanco after squandering an early 4-0 lead.
“We feel great,” Blanco said after the game. “We feel like all of our hard work paid off. We played as a team, everybody contributed, so that makes everybody feel really great.”
UTC (19-8, 3-0) struck first with four runs in the bottom of the first inning, with Blanco’s two-run single sandwiched between RBI hits by Nicole Osterman and a sacrifice fly by catcher Anyssa Robles.
Mocs starting pitcher Taylor Deason ran into trouble in the top of the second inning, however, and Lindsay Thomas’ opposite-field three-run homer tied the game for UNCG. UTC coach Frank Reed said Deason made a good pitch that Thomas just went down and hit out to right field.
Freshman left-hander Cori Jennings came on in relief of Deason and was solid for the Mocs, allowing two hits over five innings with no walks and three strikeouts.
“When we can get the ball in her hand with starts, I think she does a better job there,” Reed said of his freshman pitcher who improved her record to 9-4 for the season. “But she has stepped up (as a reliever), and with the loss of (Katie) Henderson, we’ve really needed that person.
UTC starting pitcher Taylor Deason winds up to throw as the UTC softball team plays UNC Greensboro in the final game of a Southern Conference weekend series Sunday, Mar. 22, 2015, in Chattanooga. UTC won the game 5-4. “We knew she was going to be something special when she came in here, and she’s not let us down so far.”
With a steady drizzle coming down, Reed was concerned about how his playesr would respond, but they continued to play solid defense and keep the Spartans from taking the lead.
“It’s more annoying than anything,” Jennings said. “You’re just trying to keep the ball dry and your hand dry, but it’s not too bad.
“I think you just have to come in and work hard and hit your spots from the very beginning and hope that it goes good.”
In the fifth inning, third baseman Sarah Beth Roberts and Osterman drew one-out walks, bringing Blanco to the plate. Blanco initially fell behind in the count, but she kept battling and Roberts and Osterman moved up to third and second on a wild pitch, setting up her line-drive sacrifice fly to left for the winning run.
“My two strikes were awful, so I just looked down at Coach Reed and he said to just be tough and fight,” Blanco said. “So I worked it to a full count and then swung.
“This is very important, because in SoCon play one loss can make you not win it all.”
Roberts scored twice in the win, and Robles and Sam Taylor each had two hits. UNCG (12-12, 0-3) was led by Thomas and Tatiana Alcala with two hits each.
“We beat a really solid UNCG team,” Reed said. “I think I picked them to finish No. 2 (in SoCon), and they hit the ball really well. I it was a great victory and we got great pitching from Cori today.”
“We tricked them a little bit today, and that’s what you do in game three. Give them something different to look at, and I think we did a good job of that.”
The Mocs hit the road for a SoCon series at East Tennessee State next weekend before hosting a nonconference game against Tennessee Tech on March 31.
Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.