Mercer Advances in SoCon Tourney with Win over Chattanooga

Thursday, May 13

Greensboro, N.C.

12:30 p.m.

Mercer University

23-22

UNCG

32-15

Mercer

UNC Greensboro

Photo by: Southern Conference

Mercer Advances in SoCon Tourney with Win over Chattanooga

5/13/2021 11:15:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

The Bears defeated Chattanooga 6-2 to advance in the conference tournament

By: Stephen Waldman

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The four-seed Mercer softball team advanced to the second day of the Southern Conference Tournament with a 6-2 victory over three-seed Chattanooga after dropping a hard-fought 3-2 decision to top-seeded UNCG in its first game on Thursday.

Sophomore Madison Headley led the Bears with three hits in her SoCon Tournament debut while scoring a pair of runs and driving in another. Senior Allie Jones and rookie Adele Braun both added two hits on the day with Jones slugging the team's lone home run in the first inning against the Mocs. Braun reached base in four of her seven plate appearances after drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch.

In the circle, rookie Madi Joice picked up her eighth win of the season after scattering six hits and two walks over seven innings of work. Sophomore Ashlyn Donner threw a complete game in the first game, limiting a potent UNCG offense to just three runs.

Game One: UNCG 3, Mercer 2

After a scoreless first inning, the home side broke through in the second frame to take a 1-0 lead. Katie Stettler drew a walk with one out before advancing to third on a Bears error. She later scored on a single up the middle by Melanie Darges.

Mercer responded in the fourth as the Black and Orange pushed across multiple runs in the inning. Headley tallied her second hit in as many at-bats with a one-out bunt single before advancing to second on a pass ball. Braun came up two batters later and shot a single through the right side that was mishandled by the Spartan right fielder and rolled to the wall. Headley scored on the play to tie the game, and Braun scampered all the way to third. Castleberry put the Bears ahead three pitches later as the connected on a two-out double to the gap in left center to give Mercer the 2-1 advantage.

The Spartans repaid the favor in the home half of the inning, however, as a solo home run by Maycin Brown and an RBI single by Makenna Matthijs put UNCG back on top, 3-2.

While the Bears sent the go-ahead run to the plate in each of the final three innings, their best opportunity came in the sixth inning as Headley reached on a wild pitch after a dropped third strike to get aboard with no outs. She worked her way over to third and attempted to score on a squeeze, but the UNCG defense managed to make the play at the plate.

Game Two: Mercer 6, Chattanooga 2

Jones got Mercer out to a fast start offensively as she belted a two-out home run down the line in right field to put the Bears ahead, 1-0. The Bears added to their lead in the third inning as pinch runner Atira McGowan came around to score after Tori Ash led off the frame with a walk. McGowan stole second before being sacrificed over to third and scoring on an RBI ground out by Headley.

Chattanooga evened the score in the bottom of the third as a leadoff walk and a defensive miscue put runners on second and third which set the table for back-to-back sac flies by Courtney Ball and Hayleigh Weissenbach.

Mercer's bats caught fire in the sixth inning as the Bears scored four runs in the frame to pull back into the lead. Headley continued her impressive day with a leadoff single before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Jones followed and reached on an infield single. The Calhoun, Ga., native pressured the Mocs' defense into making an errant throw which sailed into their dugout and allowed Jones to move up to second and Headley to score the go-ahead run.

The Bears continued to take advantage of UTC's mistakes as Braun was hit by a pitch and Castleberry reached on an error to load the bases. Chattanooga made a change in the circle, but the second pitch was mishandled by the catcher and Jones scored on the pass ball to make it 4-2. Kylie Helm added to the scoring two pitches later, sending a sac fly to center to score Braun from third. Elisa Rosado plated the squad's fourth run of the inning on a ground out that scored Castleberry.

The cushion was enough for Joice as she kept the Mocs off the board for the final two innings to survive the elimination game and advance to the next day with a win.

Notables

» Headley posted a team-high three hits on the day as she picked up her fourth multi-hit game of the season.
» Jones slugged her team-leading fourth home run of the season and fifth of her career.
» Jones saw her team-best nine-game hitting streak and run of 16 consecutive games reaching base snapped against the Spartans.
» Jones posted her 11th multi-hit game of the season against the Mocs in game two.
» Castleberry tallied her 10th double of the year.
» Castleberry earned her 180th career start in a Bears jersey.
» Joice collected her eighth win of the season, tying Donner for the team lead.
» Joice tossed her 10th complete game of the season while surpassing the 100 innings pitched mark.
» McGowan recorded a stolen base and scored a run in the same game as a pinch runner for the fourth time this season.

Up Next
The Bears will play either top-seeded UNCG or 2-seed Western Carolina on Friday at 3 p.m. in an elimination game with the winner advancing to Saturday's Southern Conference Championship.

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