CHATTANOOGA, TN Eighth-seeded UNC Greensboro lost 2-0 to No. 5 Chattanooga in the Southern Conference Softball Tournament Wednesday night at Jim Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, TN.
The Spartans will now play No. 3 seed Georgia Southern on Friday morning at 10 am at Frost Stadium. The loser of the game will be eliminated from the tournament, while the winner will take on the winner of the Elon-Appalachian State game which takes place at 12 noon.
Hanna Angel (7-18) suffered the loss after throwing her second complete game of the day. She allowed only one earned run on three hits, walked four and struck out five hitters. In the morning, Angel led UNCG (20-41) to a 5-3 victory over No. 1 seed Western Carolina.
The first three innings on Wednesday evening featured an old-fashioned pitchers dual as Angel and Chattanooga's JayCee Wood combined to give up just one hit and struck out seven batters. The only safety was a lead off double by UNCG's Kelly Allen in the second, but she was left stranded in scoring position.
Angel did not allow a hit until Ashleigh Bull blooped a single the opposite way to right with one out in the fourth.
The Spartans put together their first realistic scoring opportunity in the fourth as Adriane Audley began the frame with a double to right. All-Conference first baseman Jennifer Bonilla then flicked a single into left to give UNCG runners on the corners with no outs. After the next two batters were retired by Wood, Leslie Furness worked a walk to load the bases, but Kara Clouser popped out to end the threat.
In the fifth, the Lady Mocs put runners at second and third with two outs which brought Ashley Cuticchia up to bat. She promptly placed an infield single to second base that scored Laci Upchurch from third base to give UTC a 1-0 lead.
Chattanooga added an unearned insurance run in the seventh to go ahead 2-0. Robyn Johnson singled to begin the inning, went to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored when Lyndsay Mouse was unable to handle Cuticchia's ground ball that pushed Johnson home with the final run of the day.
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