Softball Takes A Pair From Chattanooga On Saturday

Saturday, May 6

Chattanooga, Tenn.

12 PM

Samford University

21-29, 0

Chattanooga

24-23, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Samford	1	3	0	0	1	0	0	5	5	1
Chattanooga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Samford	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	7	9	0
Chattanooga	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	10	1

Softball Takes A Pair From Chattanooga On Saturday

5.6.23 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – On the final Saturday of the regular season, the Samford softball team swept a doubleheader at the Mocs of Chattanooga by scores of 5-0 and 7-4 in 11 innings.

The Saturday sweep propels the Bulldogs to 22-29 overall and 11-6 in Southern Conference play. Chattanooga falls to 24-24 and 7-10 on the year.

The pair of wins also locks Samford into the second seed for the upcoming SoCon Tournament.

In game one, McKenzie Newcomb was the star of the show tossing a complete game shutout with six strikeouts. The sophomore scattered four hits throughout her ninth complete game of the season.

At the plate, Newcomb helped her own cause by smashing a two-run home run, her third of the year, in the second inning.

Logan Champion collected a pair of base hits in the first game with an RBI and a run scored. Mckayla Cothran and Merritt Cahoon each had a base knock in the series opener.

Champion opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning that scored Sarah Squillace, who worked a leadoff walk, to put Samford up 1-0 after the first inning.

Newcomb's first home run since March 11th came in the second inning and scored Lindsey Nelson to make it a 3-0 game.

Despite having her on-base streak snapped at 15, Grier Bruce contributed to the victory with a sacrifice fly that pushed the Bulldog lead to 4-0 and scored Kinley Pate.

The final Bulldog run of the first game came in the fifth when Champion scored on a wild pitch to push the advantage to 5-0.

Newcomb retired the last eight Mocs she faced to preserve Samford's fourth shutout of the season.

In game two, Jordyn Partain continued her recent stellar play by only allowing three earned runs over 11 innings of work for her eighth complete game of the year. Partain also fanned six Mocs on the day.

Offensively, Bruce paced the Samford offense by driving in a trio of runs in the nightcap and scoring once on her team-high 13th home run of the year.

The Bulldog trio of Squillace, Cothran and Cahoon each had two hits in the extra inning affair, while Cahoon drove in a run. Champion and Pate each had a base knock and an RBI in the nightcap.

Cahoon extend her team-best hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI single to right field in the first inning that plated Cothran. Champion scored a batter later on a Moc error to put Samford up 2-0 after the top of the first.

Chattanooga scored a run in the second and took a 3-2 lead in the fifth a two-run double.

Samford answered immediately in the top of the sixth with a Bruce sacrifice fly that scored Pate to tie the game at 3-3.

A trio of scoreless frames followed the Bruce sac fly to force extra innings between the two longtime foes.

A Pate RBI single that scored Abigail Dorsett gave the Bulldogs a brief lead in the top of the 10th before Chattanooga pushed it to the 11th with a sac fly.

In the 11th, the dynamic power duo of Bruce and Champion smacked back-to-back home runs to put the Bulldogs out front for good at 7-4.

Bruce's two-run shot is her 13th of the year and the third-most by a Bulldog in a single season. Whitney Hinton had 15 in 2019 for the most by a Samford hitter in program history.

Champion's solo dinger was her 10th on the year making her and Bruce the first pair of Bulldog teammates to hit double digits homers in the same season since Callie Brister and Hannah Trombley each hit 12 in 2016.

Partain secured the doubleheader sweep by retiring the Mocs in order to end the game.

UP NEXT:
Samford will look to sweep the series in the regular season finale on Sunday at Chattanooga. Sunday's game is slated for 1 p.m. CT and will be streamed on ESPN+.

FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS:
For the latest news and information on Samford softball, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com. Fans can also follow the Bulldogs on social media at /SamfordSports (Facebook), @SamfordSB (Twitter), and @SamfordSB (Instagram).