Chattanooga, Tenn. -- Jesslyn Stockard's two-run home run highlighted a five-run third inning for Chattanooga and proved to be the difference as the seventh-seeded Mocs downed No. 2 seed Furman, 5-4, on the opening day of the Southern Conference Softball Championship at Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Wednesday.

Furman (31-22) falls into the loser's bracket and will face either No. 6 Western Carolina or No. 3 ETSU in an elimination game at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Chattanooga advances to face the winner of the WCU-ETSU match-up at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Hayleigh Weissenbach and Aly Walker gave Chattanooga (15-36) a 2-0 lead with back-to-back doubles in the top of the third with one out after J.J. Hamill opened the frame with a walk. An Ashley Conner single and Furman error plated a third run before Stockard launched a towering 2-run blast to right field to up the Mocs' lead to 5-0.

Furman rallied with two runs in the bottom of the third and bottom of the fourth. Brittany Houston opened the Paladin half of the third with a walk and moved to third base on Caroline Cash's single. Cash swiped second base and Houston scored as the throw to second sailed into center field. Courtney Jacobs followed with a double into the gap to score Cash, but Furman stranded Jacobs on second.

In the fourth, Elise Smith started a two-out rally with a single through the right side. Taylor Vahle lined a double to the left field fence to score Smith from first base and Vahle came around to score when Houston blooped a two-out single down the right field line.

Celie Hudson, who fanned eight batters and walked just two in a complete-game effort for Chattanooga, held Furman scoreless the rest of the way to improve to 6-9. She allowed four runs on eight hits in seven innings.

Junior Lindsey Bert surrendered five runs on seven hits over seven innings to suffer the loss for Furman and fall to 18-12. She walked two batters and struck out five.

Amy Lewis tallied two hits for the Mocs, while Conner went 2-for-2 with a walk. Bert and Houston each registered a base hit and base on balls for the Paladins.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information