The top-seeded University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team got a win in its first game of the Southern Conference tournament Thursday, scoring a combined nine runs in the third and fourth innings to defeat Mercer 10-1 in five innings in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Mocs — looking for their second NCAA tournament berth in three seasons and 16th overall — play again at 10 a.m. Friday against the winner of third-seeded Samford vs. second-seeded UNC Greensboro. If UTC wins that game, it would just take one win on Saturday in the double-elimination tournament to clinch the title.
UTC built a 1-0 edge in the bottom of the first on a run-scoring single by Kendall Forsythe, who also had a three-run home run in the bottom of the third and an RBI single in the fourth. Silverdale Baptist Academy alum Kaili Phillips had a pair of hits and scored twice, while Anna Dovey came in and had a pinch-hit two-run double in the fourth to put the Mocs up 10-0.
Camryn Cernuto and Addy Keylon, an Ooltewah native, also scored twice.
Peja Goold, the Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year, got the win by striking out eight and allowing just one run in the fifth to improve to 9-3 on the year.
Football loses coordinator to Clemson
The Times Free Press confirmed through multiple sources on Thursday that UTC defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward has accepted a position on the staff at Clemson, where he will be reunited with head coach Dabo Swinney. The two were teammates at Alabama.
Under Ward, the Mocs consistently had a top-level defense. In 2019 they were 25th in the Football Championship Subdivision in passing yards allowed and tied for the Southern Conference lead in takeaways with 21. In the abbreviated 2020-21 spring season, the team allowed 498 passing yards in five games and was sixth in the country in total defense, 12th in tackles for loss per game and 20th in pass efficiency defense and fewest first downs allowed.
Ward's unit peaked in the 2021 fall season, leading the SoCon in scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense, passing defense and pass efficiency defense. They also led the league in interceptions and sacks and had seven members earn either first- or second-team All-SoCon. They led the league in multiple major categories in 2022 and while there was a step back last season, it was still a top-level defense in the league that finished top three in numerous categories.
Jay Person was twice named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year, while Devonnsha Maxwell earned the honor in 2021. A Mocs defender led the SoCon in sacks in four of Ward's five seasons, with the only exception being the 2020-21 season in which Maxwell only had five in four games but led the league in sacks per game (1.25).
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.