The Chattanooga softball team batted around in both the first and second innings, put up a total of 13 runs on 16 hits and finished out the Adam Brown Memorial Shamrock Classic undefeated with a 13-4 win against Saint Francis in five innings.
The Mocs went 4-0 on the weekend to claim the classic title. Ten different Chattanooga batters got a hit against the Red Flashes and every run was earned for UTC who improves to 13-7 on the year. Saint Francis moves to 11-7 overall.
The Mocs ended Saint Francis’ top of the first with a caught stealing. UTC went on to score five runs in the bottom half of the frame.
Camryn Cernuto got the first hit of the game, a single up the middle, and scored on a double off the bat of Olivia Lipari. Kendall Forsythe followed with a double of her own to plate Lipari and Chattanooga led 2-0.
Forsythe took third on a wild pitch and Kaili Phillips walked to put the runners on the corners. Phillips stole second and Baileigh Pitts singled to third to load the bases for Jayce Purdy. Purdy lined a double down the left field line scoring two runs. Addy Keylon’s RBI single to second made it a 5-0 game for Chattanooga at the end of the first.
Izzy Alley sat down the side, all swinging, in the top of the second and the Mocs offense got back to work.
Kailey Snell started off the inning with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Camryn Cernuto. Lipari topped the fence in center field for her team-leading fourth home run of the year, making it a 7-0 game. Following a pitching change by Saint Francis, Forsythe homered in UTC’s eighth run to left center.
Phillips drew her second walk of the game and made it around the bags on a triple from Pitts. A single put Purdy on base and Pitts scored on a sac fly by Addy Keylon and UTC led 10-0.
Shayna Glass, who entered the game in the first, singled to right center and moved Purdy to third. Purdy scored on the next at bat, a single from Snell who started the inning. Chattanooga sent 11 batters to the plate for six runs on seven hits in the second and led 11-0.
Abby Orr, pinch hitting for Keylon in the third, doubled in a pair of runs and stayed in the game to play right. UTC headed to the fourth with a 13-0 lead.
Chattanooga had seven extra base hits including two home runs, a triple and four doubles.
Alley improved to 3-0 and struck out seven batters. She allowed four earned runs on seven hits. Lipari was 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Purdy was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI and Forsythe was 2-for-3 with two RBI. Keylon and Orr were each 1-for-1 with two RBI. Pitts hit her first triple of the year and was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
The Mocs return home to host Georgia State Tuesday, March 5 at 5 p.m. at Frost Stadium.
