The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team is having its best regular season since 2019, when the Mocs ultimately advanced to the NCAA regionals and finished with 37 wins.
How did they get there? In a lot of ways, they got back to the basics.
Although the Mocs won the Southern Conference tournament in 2022, their 15th such title, they had a .500 record (25-25) at the end of the regular season that year. Last year, they wound up 25-27, unable to return to regionals after a 1-2 showing at the SoCon tourney.
But this season, led by a high-powered hitting attack, the Mocs are 30-12 after splitting the first two games of the weekend series against Mercer. That also gave them a 10-4 record in SoCon play, a half-game lead over second-place UNC Greensboro (10-5) — which dropped two of three games against UTC last weekend — and a one-game edge over the Bears, who won the second game of Saturday's doubleheader 1-0 in eight innings after UTC won the first game 4-3.
UTC managed only two hits in the second game — both by center fielder Camryn Cernuto, who also had a highlight reel catch to prevent a run from scoring in the sixth inning — but the Mocs entered the series ranked 33rd in the country in batting average at .313. That slid down to .311 after the doubleheader against Mercer (20-23, 9-5).
The top seven hitters in UTC's lineup are hitting .321 or better, led by Cernuto's .372, as the Mocs chase what would be the program's 15th SoCon regular-season title but first since 2015.
"We got away from all that garbage everybody wants to teach, all that new equipment and ropes and this and that, and we just got back to tee work," said Frank Reed, who is in his 23rd season as head coach of the Mocs. "Just give us a net, 10 balls and a tee, and we just did inside-outside work with our bat.
"It didn't show today, and you're going to have those days, but we just got back to the basics."
Reed also took a more pronounced role with the pitching staff and calls pitches for whoever is in the circle. He has experience, having done so for 18 years, but the staff has taken a hit recently with the loss of former Sonoraville High School standout Taylor Long to an injury.
Long leads the SoCon in opponents' batting average (.184), ranks second in ERA (2.19) and is second in strikeouts with 104 despite having pitched only 73 2/3 innings, which ranks outside of the top 10 in the league.
"We had to move some players up in the rotation when Taylor left," Reed said. "I think they felt the pressure because we don't have the leadoff pitcher striking out 14, and they've done a good job of that."
Alyssa Lavdis, the No. 2 pitcher, was credited with the win in Saturday's first game afer limiting the Bears to five hits and a pair of runs in 5 2/3 innings. She was replaced by Peja Goold, the team's No. 3 pitcher and game two starter. Goold got the save in the first game and struck out nine Bears in the second game before giving up a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth, which proved to be the difference.
Sunday's series finale is set for 2 p.m. at Frost Stadium, and after that just two weeks remain in the regular season. The SoCon tournament starts May 8 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
"I was a little disappointed we're not going to sweep them," Reed said of the Bears, "but I still have to realize that it's really not about winning (the regular season). I want to win the league, we want to win, but I know it's a tradeoff to win the league or the tournament.
"I'd rather win the tournament any day with this team, because I'd like to get this team to the regionals and just see what kind of noise they could make."
Because the Mocs got back to the basics this year, they just may get that shot.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.