CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina rallied from a four-run deficit to knot the game at five through five complete innings on a rainy Saturday afternoon. However, Kendall Forsythe's sixth-inning grand slam home run broke the tie and ultimately carried visiting Chattanooga past the Catamounts 9-6 in the Southern Conference series opener at the Catamount Softball Complex.
WCU was led offensively by freshman Lily Bell and junior Tessa Juett, who tallied a pair of hits apiece with Juett legging out two doubles. Bell grabbed her team-high 29th stolen base of the season as part of her 19th multi-hit contest. Senior Savannah Baldwin, sophomores Taylor Waitley and Kennedy Stewman, and freshman Sydney Dirks rounded out Western Carolina's hits with one each. Stewman tallied her third homer of the campaign with a seventh-inning blast that provided the final tally.
Following a two-hour weather delay, Chattanooga wasted little time as the guests took advantage of a pair of Catamount errors in the opening frame and plated the first run of the contest to take the early 1-0 lead.
Western Carolina answered in the home half after Bell reached on a first-pitch single. A sacrifice bunt from Juett allowed Bell to scamper to third base. Jeralynn Wells drew a four-pitch walk before a Mocs's wild pitch allowed Bell to score, evening the score at one after an inning.
Chattanooga (36-13, 14-5 SoCon) regained the lead in the second with a solo blast, pushing the advantage to 2-1. Dirks reached base on an infield single in the home half of the frame before the Mocs recorded three straight outs, two of which were flyouts, to send the contest to the third inning.
The Mocs extended their lead in the third with a two-run home run over the centerfield wall before tacking on a fifth run in the top of the fourth for a 5-1 advantage.
Western Carolina (16-31, 7-12 SoCon) put together its best offensive inning of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Wells drew a leadoff walk and promptly stole second. A walk to Dirks was coupled with a second theft by Wells to put runners at the corners that allowed WCU to scratch across a run on a wild pitch. Waitley then connected on an RBI double to add on before a Becka Wonsick RBI groundout cut the deficit to one, 5-4, after four innings.
Reliever Taylor Norton, who entered in the fourth inning, worked around a one-out single without trouble to keep the Catamounts in a position to tie the contest.
After Bell tallied a leadoff single and stole second, Juett lined her first double of the contest through the right side to put a pair of runners in scoring position. A Baldwin RBI single tied the conference showdown at five after five frames.
However, Chattanooga regained the lead quickly in the road half of the sixth as three runners reached on HBPs before a grand slam allowed the lead to swell back to four, 9-5.
After Norton sat the Mocs down 1-2-3 on just three pitches, Stewman connected on a drive to center field to open the bottom half of the seventh and cut the deficit to three. Juett added her second double with one out in the seventh, but Chattanooga induced back-to-back popups, allowing the Mocs to claim the series opener by the score of 9-6.
Juett made the start for WCU but didn't factor into the decision, tossing 3.1 innings, allowing five runs, four earned, and scattering five hits for the junior left-hander. Norton (3-6) threw the final 3.2 innings on Saturday, allowing four runs on three hits while totaling three strikeouts.
Peja Goold (7-3) got the start and pitched three-plus innings before returning to record the final eight outs to earn the win. Goold totaled six innings of work, allowing four runs on four hits with seven strikeouts. Alyssa Lavdis recorded a pair of outs in relief and allowed a run on a hit, while Taylor Long also recorded a single out in the contest with three hits and a run allowed.
The Catamounts close out the 2024 regular season on Sunday, May 5, with a doubleheader against Chattanooga from the Catamount Softball Complex scheduled to begin at Noon. Before the first pitch of Sunday's game one, WCU will honor the program's two seniors, Jeralynn Wells (Menifee, Calif.) and Savannah Baldwin (Bessemer City, N.C.), for their contributions to the Catamount softball program over the past four years.
Coverage of both games with the Mocs is available on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) and with live stats through CatamountSports.com.
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