Tuesday evening’s softball game between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Tennessee Tech easily could have been confused for a local all-star game.
Of the 20 players in the starting lineups in UTC’s 6-1 victory at Jim Frost Stadium, 10 played for Chattanooga-area high schools.
Tennessee Tech’s starting pitcher was former Baylor standout Maddie Schmissrauter, and she was joined in the starting lineup by her former Baylor teammate Samantha Everett, second baseman Lacie Coquerille of Dalton and Ooltewah’s Holly Thomas as the designated player.
“It’s always real exciting to come back,” said Thomas, who was the Best of Preps player of the year and state player of the year as a senior in 2008. “Of course I know a lot of girls on the other team … and it’s exciting to play against girls you played against in high school. But it puts a few more nerves in you than usual.”
Local players in UTC’s starting lineup were center fielder Lyndsey Stiles (Soddy-Daisy), right fielder Kaiti Kelley (Boyd-Buchanan/Chattanooga State), third basemanTiffany Baker (East Ridge), designated player Nikki Waters (Soddy-Daisy), catcher Brittany Eason (Boyd-Buchanan) and left fielder Lauren Flores (Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe). Former GPS player Kristin Holloway and Ringgold standout Jenni Martin both made appearances for the Lady Mocs.
“It’s a good thing to see that there’s so much talent here,” UTC coach Frank Reed said. “It was neat to have so many local people here. It made for a good crowd on a cold day.”
Schmissrauter and UTC’s Brooke Loudermilk both threw strong games for five innings, with UTC (16-7) scoring single runs in the second and third and Tech getting a single run in the fourth when Loudermilk ran into some control struggles. Loudermilk, who Tuesday was named Southern Conference pitcher of the month for February, hit a batter and walked two before giving up an RBI single to Brooke Basten. But she coaxed a popout from Anna Zdroik to leave the bases loaded.
Thomas came in to pitch for the Golden Eagles (8-15) in the sixth inning and UTC blew the game open with four runs, highlighted by a two-run double to the fence in left center by freshman Kasey Tydingco.
Jessica Traxler went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Cleanup hitter Baker, the SoCon player of the month for February, walked three times.
“It feels good to have good, solid hits,” Stiles said. “I think everyone was excited we’re finally seeing the ball and having people step up and get those big hits with runners in scoring position.”
UTC hosts Eastern Illinois in a doubleheader Thursday, starting at 4 p.m.