No. 7 seed Mocs ‘feel good’ going into SoCon tourney
If it could go wrong for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team this season, it did.
It started in the circle. Coach Frank Reed brought in three freshman pitchers this year, but the No. 1 option, Celie Hudson, suffered a back injury that held her out for the first month. That left Payten Price as the primary option, and she was starting to improve before her season ended in March — right around the time Hudson returned.
The problems weren’t just pitching, although those were major concerns (the team had to hold open tryouts for pitchers at one point). There were bus issues, as well as other minor financial issues that led to headaches for Reed, his coaching staff and the team.
Still, the team has had its moments hitting the ball, and with a late surge the Mocs feel good.
Seventh-seeded UTC (14-36) will face Furman, the No. 2 seed, at 12:30 today at Frost Stadium in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament. The teams just played last week with the Paladins taking two out of three.
In the Mocs’ win, Hudson limited the Paladins to three hits.
UTC also had a win over UNC Greensboro, whicih tied Furman for the regular-season conference championship. Those victories have been teases of putting-it-together potential in the Mocs’ season.
“We’d have a good game in the circle, but a bad offensive game,” Reed said. “We’d hit well, but then we’d have a bad game in the circle. I just felt things weren’t right with the pitching at times, but I feel like we played well considering.”
Reed’s offense finished second in the SoCon in batting with a .286 average. UTC sophomore Emma Sturdivant was a first-team all-conference selection, announced Wednesday, as the designated player. Senior Katy Richardson was a second-team utility player, while outfielders Amy Lewis, Aly Walker and Hayleigh Weissenbach were named to the all-freshman team.
Collectively, the Mocs are taking a confident approach to the tournament, feeling they’ve got a confident pitcher in Hudson and a plethora of solid hitters who could help the team make some noise this week.
“We can do it,” Reed said. “We still have kids out of position, but our pitching is the key. We can try to make it better, but you can’t anticipate what happened to us in the circle this year.
“But we feel good about where we are heading into this week.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.