What A Run! Bears Stake Claim To 2025 SoCon Championship

Saturday, May 10

Spartanburg, S.C.

1 p.m.

Mercer University

37-24

Chattanooga

41-14

Mercer

Chattanooga

What A Run! Bears Stake Claim To 2025 SoCon Championship

5/10/2025 7:30:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Fifth-seeded Mercer rallied back from a 5-0 deficit to topple top-seeded Chattanooga, 6-5, in the opening game of the afternoon, and then rode a masterful performance in the circle from junior Grace Taylor to a 5-2 triumph in the winner-take-all title bout as the Bears staved off elimination for the fourth-straight day to capture the first conference crown in the 40-year history of their program.

It was the 18^th and 19^th wins in the last 22 outings for Mercer (38-24) who posted an incredulous 7-1 record across a four-day run in Spartanburg, S.C., including a pair of wins over the Mocs (41-15) on Saturday. It was the first back-to-back losses for UTC since the Mocs dropped the last two games of their early-April home series with Western Carolina.

A school record six Bears were named to the all-tournament team, including junior right-hander Grace Taylor who was crowned as the tournament's most valuable player after posting a 4-0 record and a 0.76 ERA in 18-1/3 innings pitched. Senior shortstop Emma Dorval was the recipient of the SoCon's Pinnacle Award which is given to the student-athlete on the championship-winning team with the highest grade point average.

Taylor was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Tori Hedgecock, junior Parris Wiggs and freshmen KiKi Daniels, Grace Jones and Hannah Rivers.

SUMMARY
GAME 1 FINAL	Mercer 6, Chattanooga 5
PITCHERS	WP: Grace Taylor (5-2) LP: Taylor Long (10-2)

GAME 2 FINAL	Mercer 5, Chattanooga 2
PITCHERS	WP: Grace Taylor (6-2) LP: Peja Goold (25-7)

RECORDS	Records: Mercer 38-24; Chattanooga 41-15

KEY INNINGS (GAME 1)
BOT 2	Camryn Cernuto and Olivia Lipari logged consecutive 2-out singles to spark a scoring opportunity, and Chattanooga pushed its lead out to 5-0 two pitches later on a 2-run double off of the bat of Acelynn Sellers.
TOP 5	Mercer loaded the bases with its first four at-bats and then made a huge dent in their deficit thanks to a bases-clearing triple from Grace Jones. Jones crossed the plate with MU's fourth run of the frame on the very next pitch when KiKi Daniels hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
TOP 6	Daniella Monaco and Laura Vigna both singled to start the frame, then moved into scoring position on Hallie Langford's groundout. Parris Wiggs finished off the damage moments later, however, when she clubbed a 2-run single to right field that gave Mercer the lead for good.

KEY INNINGS (GAME 2)
TOP 3	Parris Wiggs drew a 7-pitch walk with two outs showing, and Tori Hedgecock leaned into a 2-and-1 offering from SoCon Pitcher of the Year Peja Goold in the ensuing at-bat and blasted it over the right field fence to give the Bears the last lead of the day.

MU LEADERS (GAME 1)	UTC LEADERS (GAME 1)
Grace Jones 2-4, 3B, 3 RBI Laura Vigna 2-4, R Parris Wiggs 1-2, SAC, 2 RBI Daniella Monaco 1-1, R	Camryn Cernuto 3-4, 2 R Acelynn Sellers 1-1, 3 BB, 2B, 2 RBI Baileigh Pitts 1-4, 2 RBI Raven Jones 1-3, RBI

MU LEADERS (GAME 2)	UTC LEADERS (GAME 2)
Tori Hedgecock 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI Grace Jones 2-4 Hannah Rivers 1-3, RBI, R Daniella Monaco 1-1, RBI	Olivia Lipari 1-3, 2B, RBI Kailey Snell 1-4, R Raven Jones 0-1, 2 BB, RBI Acelynn Sellers 0-0, HBP, 2 BB

UP NEXT
The Bears will learn of their postseason fate on Sunday evening with the airing of the NCAA Softball Selection Show. The programming is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

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