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Lady Paladins Drop Pair At Chattanooga
April 29, 2007
Chattanooga, Tenn. - Brooke Loudermilk tossed a one-hit shutout and fanned 11 batters to lead Chattanooga to a 1-0 game two victory and doubleheader sweep of Furman Saturday afternoon at Frost Stadium.
The Lady Mocs bested Furman on a walk-off homer by Alyssa Edwards in the bottom of the 11th inning to a claim a 5-3 game one victory.
Chattanooga took a quick 2-0 lead in game one before Furman knotted the contest on Abby Robertson's two-run double in the fifth.
Sophomore Ashley Cuticchia crossed home for the solo run in the first inning after reaching on a single to left field, stealing second from sophomore third baseman Toni Hutchison's two-out double to left field.
Cuticchia tallied another run for the Lady Mocs after reaching first on balls on a full count. She reached second on freshman shortstop Tia Blosser's intended sacrifice bunt and then advanced to third on the error with Blosser on the other corner. Edwards singled through the right side, scoring Cuticchia and putting the Lady Mocs up 2-0 after three.
Furman made it two all after four-and-a-half on Robertson's two-run double to right center, scoring Jessica Batten and Amber Kiser, who both reached on walks.
The score still remained at 2-2 going into the seventh inning. The Lady Paladins had a quick at bat with three-up, three-down, but Chattanooga was unable to score a run even with a lead-off single by Edwards, pushing the game into extra innings.
After two more scoreless innings, Blake Murray scored on Stephanie Cushing's two-out single to right center, making the score 3-2. Murray was placed on second for Megan Schonhar, according to the International Tie Breaker Rule.
Loudermilk came in relief for senior pitcher Ashley Frizzell in the top of the 10th inning with two outs.
Hutchison scored the tying run on senior second baseman Brittney Whittier's one-out single through the left side after advancing to third on junior right field Tara Tembey's base-reaching bunt. But Tembey and Whittier were both left on after 10 with the score still tied at three all.
In the top of the 11th, Loudermilk recorded three straight outs, including her second strikeout of the game, to retire the top of the inning.
Jeannie Cochran was placed on second base to start the Lady Mocs' chance to score in the bottom of the 11th. She advanced to third on Cuticchia's sacrifice bunt before Edwards belted out her two-out home run to end the game.
Furman was led by Kiser and Robertson in game one with two hits each. Vanessa Williams was charged with the loss, dropping her record to 2-4, after pitching 8.2 innings of relief and allowing just one earned run.
In game two, Loudermilk boosted her overall record to 21-10, 9-1 Socon.
The game remained scoreless after four-and-a-half innings, but that changed in the bottom of the fifth. Alyssa Edwards, after picking up a double in the bottom of the second, walked to lead off. Ashlan Clarkson took first to pinch run for Edwards before scoring courtesy of Toni Hutchison's double to left center to boost Chattanooga to a 1-0 lead.
Furman's Jessica Batten recorded the lone hit for the Lady Paladins. Blake Murray was credited with the loss, dropping her record to 7-15. Murray allowed only two hits and one run in the defeat.
Edwards and Hutchison recorded the two hits for Chattanooga, both doubles.
Chattanooga (32-26, 13-4 SoCon) and Furman (16-31-1, 6-11 SoCon) finish the three-game series on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
