Chattanooga State lost 1-0 to top-seeded Florida SouthWestern in the NJCAA Division I softball tournament Wednesday but bounced back to defeat relative neighbor Snead State 7-3 in a game that ended just before 1 a.m. Thursday.
Eighth-seeded Chattanooga State is 54-9 and 2-1 in the double-elimination event in Yuma, Arizona. Snead, which earlier nipped Crowder (53-10), 1-0, finished the season 37-27.
Against the Alabama team, Chattanooga State got two home runs from Maggie Knight and one from Jade Gainer in taking a 3-1 lead into the last inning and added four hits and as many runs. Then Snead got a two-run homer from Chloe Chisenall and left runners on third and second bases against Sam Ryan (22-4), pitching her third game of the tournament.
She had a seven-hitter with six strikeouts against the No. 1-ranked reigning champions (51-5), whose Belle Sardja allowed only three hits, two by Katlin Leverette.
Camryn Cernuto matched Knight in going 2-for-3 in the Lady Tigers' win, with an RBI double.