A rain delay in the second inning didn’t stop the Lipscomb Lady Bisons from run-ruling the Chattanooga Mocs 12-0 in five innings on Thursday night at Draper Diamond at Smith Stadium.
Coming off a 4-1 win Tuesday night at Louisville, Lipscomb (33-13) pulled a massive nine-run second inning to go up 11-0 over the Mocs (12-32) early in the game.
“I loved how we scored right off the bat,” head coach Kristin Ryman said. “Chloe [Yeager] gets a really clutch two RBI single right there in the first inning to get us on the board and jump-start us, and then in the second inning we just really took off. After that, we just relied on our defense.”
Senior veteran pitcher McCarley Thomas pitched the entire game, only allowing two hits, while Chattanooga threw two freshmen — Celie Hudson and Alex Connell, who let up four hits a piece against the Lady Bisons.
“I feel pretty good about it,” Thomas said. “I think I have the opportunity to be sharper and to get ahead more on my batters, and that’s going to help me out a lot. It’s a team sport, and my teammates had my back, so it was a good outing.”
In the first inning, junior Caitlin Plocheck knocked a double to centerfield for the Lady Bisons’ first hit. Then with two outs and bases loaded, freshman Chloe Yeager came up to bat, drilling a single up the middle to bring in the first two runs of the game.
After a quick rain delay, sophomore Destinee Brewer knocked a single and stole third before senior Kasey Gibson hit a two RBI single to bring in both Brewer and sophomore Khayla Green, making the score 4-0 Lipscomb in the second inning.
Chattanooga’s Connell came in for Hudson after a poor outing from the right-handed freshman. However, a three RBI double from Green soon made it 10-0 in the second inning. Brewer knocked a single to right field to advance Green to third, with Gibson then bringing Green home to make the score 11-0 at the end of the second.
Freshman Aly Walker got the first hit off Thomas in the top of the fourth with a single to left field, and Mocs junior J.J. Hamill got the second and last hit with a quick single to centerfield in the fifth inning.
Junior Abby Fenichel hit a hard double to left field to bring in Green for the last run, making the final score 12-0.
The Lady Bisons have the weekend off, but they will travel down the Boulevard on Tuesday to play Belmont at 5 p.m.
“I think right now, the biggest thing for us is taking a break,” Ryman said. “We’ll take a few days off, come back and get ready for Belmont. I think the key momentum-wise is taking a break, then coming back in and being able to focus on Sunday and Monday to get ready for Belmont Tuesday.”
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics