Softball Mocs fall 8-3 to Bucs
Despite Aly Walker going 3-for-3 with a two-run homer and a triple, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga lost 8-3 Sunday in its Southern Conference softball series finale with East Tennessee State University at Frost Stadium. After winning both games Saturday, UTC (25-25, 9-7) scored three runs in the first inning, but ETSU (14-25, 2-11) scored two in the third, two in the fourth and three in the sixth — on Taylor Wright’s homer — to take control. Wright and Vanessa Elliott
each was 3-for-4 for the Buccaneers, Wright with four RBIs and Elliott with two plus two scores, and Kelsey Chernak from Ooltewah walked twice and scored twice. The Mocs’
Ashley Conner was 2-for-3 and scored on
Emma Sturdivant’s single.
› Lee University ended its regular season Sunday with an 8-5 Gulf South Conference win at Shorter. Kayla Louie was 4-for-5 with two RBIs, and Claudia Jones continued her torrid weekend with two home runs and four RBIs for Lee (27-27, 15-18), which is in the GSC tournament starting Thursday. Abby McKinney also homered, and Sarah Merced was 2-for-4 and scored a run.
› Top-seeded Truett McConnell got to 40 wins this season with a 6-1 run to the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament championship in Kingsport, Tenn., including five victories Friday and Saturday, and Brie Levy
from East Hamilton and Chattanooga State, Karli Loudermilk from Gilmer and Jaden Morrison from Trion made key contributions. The last two wins for the Bears (4015) were 8-1 and 4-3 in eight innings against Brenau (28-20), whose Kelsey Payne from East Hamilton was 3-for-4 with an RBI in the final game and made the all-tournament team. In the 8-1 win, Loudermilk was 2-for4 with two RBIs, Morrison was 2-for-3 and scored a run and Levy had an RBI double and scored twice. Both teams advance to the NAIA national opening round. Loudermilk was 3-for-3 with two RBIs in the Bears’ 6-3 win Saturday over Reinhardt. Former Chattanooga State catcher Cassidy Howren of Reinhardt was another all-tournament pick.
› Concluding its regular season, Cleveland State won 3-2 and 8-1 Friday and lost 6-5 and 15-5 Saturday in a TCCAA series at Jackson State. Shiann Stockwell pitched a four-hitter with eight strikeouts in the opener, her 15th win of 2018, and the Lady Cougars (20-23, 15-17) got seventh-inning hits from Baylee Woods, Summer Dean, Emily Yell and
Bekah Copas to overcome a 2-1 deficit. Dean earlier had an RBI double, and Woods doubled twice in the game. Kaitlyn Pickens then pitched a four-hitter with nine strikeouts.
GOLF
› Calhoun’s Mike Nance and Dalton’s David Noll Jr. closed with a birdie for a one-stroke victory Sunday in the Georgia Four-Ball Championship at Coosa Country Club in Rome. Nance and Noll teamed for a 7-under-par 65 to finish the 54-hole tournament at 22-under 194, with 36-hole leaders Stephen Behr of Atlanta and Erik Martin of Alpharetta the runner-up team after a closing 67. Nance and Noll were in a three-way tie for second and a stroke out of the lead after the second round. Noll is a nine-time winner of the Georgia State Golf Association’s men’s player of the year award, but this was his first victory at the Georgia Four-Ball Championship, which Nance also won for the first time.
BASEBALL
› Miguel Pimentel was 3-for-6 with a tworun homer as Lee won 6-3 at Shorter on Sunday in a final regular-season tuneup for the GSC tournament beginning this Saturday in Cleveland, Miss. Lee’s Flames (25-24, 16-13) clinched a berth with Saturday’s split in Rome. Spencer Mossburg was 3-for-4 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored, and Tyler Payne was 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs.
› Bryan College’s 11-5 win over Reinhardt in Saturday’s regular-season finale against Reinhardt gave the Lions a share of the AAC regular-season championship with acrossthe-river neighbor Tennessee Wesleyan and the top seed for the AAC tournament that starts Wednesday in Kingsport. The Lions (38-13, 21-6) had the tiebreaker edge against the Bulldogs (34-18, 21-6) with two wins in their three-game series March 22-23. In the finale against Reinhardt (36-15, 20-7), Trevor Behrent hit a grand slam and Rodney Tennie and David Scoggins also homered.