CHATTANOOGA SWEEPS 2 ON DAY 3 OF NATIONALS

The Lady Tigers continued their quest for a national title Thursday as they fought off elimination twice in the NJCAA Division I National Softball Tournament in Yuma (AZ).  First, they were able to hold off Wallace-Hanceville (AL) 9-7 early, and then in the nightcap they defeated Paris (TX) 11-3 in six innings.  This sets up a rematch with Florida Southwestern in an elimination game.  The Lady Tigers fell 1-0 on Wednesday in a winner's bracket game with Florida Southwestern.

Chattanooga would strike early against Wallace as they scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning.  Camryn Cernuto would score the first run on a single by Katlin Leverette.  Then Leverette and Reagan Hartley would score on an Ashlyn Holland single.  She would then score when Maggie Knight would launch a two run home run.  Hanceville would cut the lead to 5-2 before Holland would hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third.  They would add three more runs in the fourth as Taylor Penning would score on a Cernuto single.  Marquila Howell would score on a single by Leverette, and Holland would score Cernuto with a sac fly to close out their scoring.  Wallace would score twice in the fifth and then add three more in the seventh.  Adyson Slayback would come in relief of starter and get the final two outs for the save.

Chattanooga had 13 hits in the contest with Cernuto collecting two single and a double.  Leverette and Holland each had two hits with Leverette picking up two RBIs and Holland driving in four runs.  Penning and Howell each had two hits as well.  Ryan would go 6 1/3 innings, surrendering seven earned runs on 11 hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

In the contest with Paris,  Chattanooga struck for seven runs in the first two innings.  They would score a single run in the first as Hartley scored on a Holland single.  They would add six in the second as Jade Gainer and Jaden Ezell scored on an error to start the rally.  Howell would come home on a Cernuto double, and Cernuto would scamper home as Hartley singled and the rightfielder misplaced the ball for an error.  Leverette would end the scoring with a two-run blast over the fence.  Hartley and Leverette would score again in the fourht as Leverette drove in Hartley and Leverette scored on a KNight sac fly.  Ezell would score a run in the fifth on an infield error and Hartley would score her fourth run of the game on another Knight sac fly.

The Lady Tigers had 11 hits in the game led by Hartley with four singles.  Leverette had a single and a double with three RBIs.  Holland had two singles while Knight had the two RBIs.  Slayback went six innings for the win.  She gave up 3 runs (one earned) on six hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.