Box Score GREENSBORO, N.C. – It had been 12 years since the last time the UNCG softball team swept Chattanooga in a Southern Conference series. Well, that drought was broken Sunday afternoon with a 9-7 victory over the Mocs (27-25, 6-9 SoCon). The Spartans head to the final conference series in second place and will face Samford (34-18) who currently sits atop the SoCon with a 12-3 slate.
A solo home run by Cricket Blanco gave Chattanooga its first and only lead of the ball game in the top of the first inning. It also marked the first time in the series that the Mocs scored first.
It took the Spartans until the third inning to plate a run after stranding three runners on base, two of which were in scoring position, in the first two innings.
UNCG tallied five hits plating four runs for a 4-1 lead in the third. A lead off home run by Lindsay Thomas (Irvine, Calif,/Northwood) sparked the four-run inning as she launched her second homer of the series over the right field fence. The Spartans added another four runs on four hits and an error an inning later to hold an 8-1 advantage over the defending Southern Conference champions.
Chattanooga answered back however, cutting the deficit to three with four runs of their own in the top of the fifth inning making it an 8-5 ball game.
L. Thomas was at it again in the top of the sixth, this time with a solo blast to left field for her third home run of the series. UNCG held a 9-5 lead after Thomas' hit but Chattanooga refused to back down. After a one out single by Anyssa Robles, Amanda Beltran blasted her second home run of the series to left centerfield, making it a two run ball game.
Senior Danica Bishop (Irvine, Calif./Northwood) came in to relieve Alicia Bazonski (Sheffield, Mass./Mount Everett) who ended up with her 18th win of the season.
Bishop escaped the inning retiring the next two batters in order. After Chattanooga made quick work of the Spartans in the bottom of the sixth, Bishop returned to the circle to close out the game for UNCG. She tossed a one, two, three inning and the Spartan bench flooded the field to celebrate the win. Bishop earned her first career save in her final regular season appearance at home for the Spartans.
L. Thomas went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI in the win. Allison Geiner (Raleigh, N.C./Middle Creek) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored while fellow senior Danielle Vega (Rialto, Calif./Aquinas) also tallied a multi-hit game and multi-RBI game going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and one run scored.
Freshman Stephanie Bryden (Orlando, Fla./East River) matched a career-high three hits going 3-for-4 with one run and a RBI.
Hagan Kiser (Asheboro, N.C./Southwestern) went 1-for-2 and had two key walks for the Spartans, bringing her total to six for the series.
Not to go unnoticed, Tory Wright (Potomac Falls, Va./Dominion) knocked in two runs going 1-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and 11 put outs in the field.
Blanco had a game-high four RBI going 3-for-4 with two home runs and two runs scored. Cori Jennings was hit with her second loss of the series after allowing four earned runs on seven hits and not recording a strikeout.
The series sweep is the first of the SoCon season for UNCG. The Spartans improve to 18-51 all-time against Chattanooga and are now 5-8 since head coach Janelle Breneman took over the program in 2013.
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