Celie Hudson pitched a one-hitter and Aly Walker ended a scoreless duel with a two-out home run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defeated Furman 2-0 in Southern Conference softball Saturday at Jim Frost Stadium.
The teams started the second game of the scheduled doubleheader, but it was suspended in the bottom of the third inning with Furman leading 7-4. That is set to be resumed at 1 p.m. today, followed by the series finale.
UTC (21-22, 6-4) has won its last six conference games.
Hudson (10-10) had a no-hitter until Candace Johnson poked a single through the right side of the infield with two outs in the seventh inning. The next batter made an out, however, and the Mocs had two outs when Emma Sturdivant walked and Walker drove a Lindsey Bert pitch over the fence in right-center field.
Walker was 2-for-3 for half of UTC's hits off the Paladins' career wins leader. Hayleigh Weissenbach and Brook Womack had the other hits. Bert (19-8) struck out nine batters.
Bert had a first-inning homer in game two and Emma Ogburn hit a three-run shot for Furman (31-11, 3-4) in a six-run third in game two. Ashley Conner hit an RBI single and Weissenbach a three-run homer for UTC.
' Lee 11, Delta State 6: At Cleveland, Miss., the Lady Flames won the delayed first game of the Gulf South Conference series Saturday night as Brooklynn Frazier doubled and singled and batted in five runs, Claudia Jones doubled and drove in three and Kayla Gooch was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Also for Lee (22-24, 10-15), Kayla Louie was 3-for-3 and scored three runs, Lily Hatcher was 2-for-4 and scored three and Stevie Baird was 2-for-3 and scored two.
' Piedmont 11, Covenant 3: At LaGrange, Ga., in the USA South tournament, the Lady Scots ended their season at 23-20 after Piedmont padded a 4-3 lead with a seven-run seventh inning. Faith Manning was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and Madyson Gibbins was 2-for-4 for Covenant.
' Talladega 4-7, Tennessee Wesleyan 0-5: At Talladega, Ala., TWU's Lady Bulldogs dropped to 23-15 but could still enjoy being 16-6 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference after Friday's 3-1 and 11-8 victories at Bluefield. They scored all three runs in that first game in the seventh inning, giving Rachel Mathews another pitching win.
In game two at Bluefield, Baylee Sutton and Mackenzie Jackson each was 5-for-5 and Olivia Housewright was 5-for-6 - Housewright with two runs batted in and Sutton with two scored - and Briana Muller homered, drove in four runs and scored two. Courtney Black was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI, and Allee West had two hits and scored twice.
' Brenau 11-2, Bryan 3-2: Friday in AAC play at Dayton, Tenn., 21st-ranked Brenau's Kelsey Payne from East Hamilton was 2-for-4 with a homer and two runs scored in game one and scored another in game two, when Savannah Moore from Soddy-Daisy was 1-for-2 with an RBI double for the Golden Tigers (21-14, 10-6).
Ashley Brown was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and Sydney Olander was 2-for-4 and scored twice for Bryan (12-29, 9-12) in the first game. In the Lady Lions' win, Kimberly McKernie was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Hannah O'Shields had the winning single and Lindsey Dunn was 2-for-3, scored the walk-off deciding run and pitched a six-hitter.