Frank Reed’s University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball teams have worn many different hats entering Southern Conference tournaments during his 25 years as head coach of the Mocs.
Sometimes, they’re the favorite — and they win the tournament. Sometimes, they’re the underdog — and they still win the tournament. That was the case in 2022, when UTC followed a 25-25 regular season by rolling through the conference postseason and even winning a game in an NCAA regional before bowing out against Alabama.
At times, they’re the favorite — and they don’t win the tournament, like last season, when Mercer won back-to-back games in the championship round to upset the Mocs. And sometimes, they’re the underdog, catch fire and nearly pull something special off.
The latter scenario describes this season, when a carefree UTC team was the No. 5 seed for the eight-team bracket and picked up three wins at Frost Stadium to nearly advance to the championship round. The run for the Mocs — who had to win in the single-elimination first round just to get into the double-elimination portion of the event — ended Saturday evening, when second-seeded Samford rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat the Mocs 8-6 in the losers-bracket final.
The Bulldogs (28-30) advanced to face top-seeded UNC Greensboro (41-17) at 10 a.m. Sunday. Samford would need to win twice against the Spartans, who beat the Bulldogs 5-0 earlier Saturday in the winners-bracket final. The SoCon champion clinches the automatic bid for the NCAA tourney, with the full 64-team field for the national championship event set to be revealed at 7 p.m Sunday on ESPN2.
A year after winning 41 games but losing six of their top hitters to graduation and their top pitcher to Mississippi State, the Mocs finished 25-29-1.
The SoCon tournament run, though, was nearly special. The Mocs handled eighth-seeded Furman 10-3 in the tourney opener Thursday before losing to fourth-seeded Wofford later that day, but they rallied to defeat third-seeded Western Carolina 7-6 Friday night and gain a rematch with Wofford. The Mocs then eliminated the Terriers, winning 7-0 in Saturday’s first game, before falling to the Bulldogs.
After Friday’s win against the Catamounts, Reed acknowledged it was clear his players were feeling no pressure as they kept extending their season.
“You can see that we’ve been playing like that,” said Reed, who reached 1,300 career wins with Saturday’s victory against Wofford.
UTC senior Taylor Long had thrown every pitch for the Mocs during the first two days of the tournament, and she started in the circle during the rematch with the Terriers but was relieved by freshman Emery Bales, who threw four scoreless innings and picked up the win.
Chloe Lackey had a five-hit, three-RBI day for the Mocs, scoring twice and hitting a home run in each game.
Abi Bunt also had a home run against Wofford, while Ava Cowart and Jade Gainer had two hits each, with Gainer scoring twice.
In the matchup with Samford, Bunt and Anna Dovey each had a two-run hit in the third inning, when Baileigh Pitts also had a run-scoring hit as the Mocs built a 5-1 lead they would carry into the fourth inning. It was at that point, though, the Bulldogs got rolling, scoring two runs each in the fourth and fifth before piling up three in the sixth to go ahead 8-5.
Lackey led off the seventh with her fifth homer of the season to pull UTC within two, and the Mocs loaded the bases when Pitts walked with two outs, but Dovey popped up to first to end the game.
Along with Lackey, the Mocs got two hits apiece from Pitts and Raven Jones against Samford.
A host of fans, family and friends were in attendance for Friday night’s win, including a number of members of the football team. They waited and applauded every member of the softball team as the Mocs walked out of the dugout, saving the loudest applause for an exhausted Long, who had thrown 192 pitches in a complete game.
Long, who entered in relief against Samford after Bales got the start, finished her career with 550 strikeouts, which ranks fifth in UTC history.
(READ MORE: UTC pitcher Taylor Long moves up record books as her career winds down)
“We were really excited entering this tournament,” Pitts said recently. “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity for us to host for the past three years, thinking we were going to get a chance, but when we found out it was going to be our senior year, it was super exciting, just a little bit more sentimental, more fans, more family, friends all showing up to the game.
“It’s definitely going to bring that atmosphere that we need to feed off it.”
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It was almost enough for something special.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.