They didn’t take the easiest path, but the softball Lady Mocs from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga took care of business when they had to. They won three straight games Saturday in Mount Pleasant, S.C., to claim their eighth Southern Conference tournament championship.

Top-seeded UTC defeated UNC Greensboro 3-0 in the losers-bracket final and then defeated No. 2 seed Georgia Southern 3-2 and 10-1 to claim the title.

Sophomore pitcher Brooke Loudermilk pitched in all three games Saturday and followed her two wins Friday with two other victories. She pitched a complete-game shutout against UNCG, giving up four hits while striking out nine Spartans batters, and won the first game against Georgia Southern with four innings in relief of starter Michelle Fuzzard.

Against UNCG, UTC (41-20) did all its damage in a three-run third inning, capped by Laci Upchurch’s two-run home run. The Spartans had runners in scoring position in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings but could not capitalize. UNCG first baseman Mary Catherine Vercoe of Baylor School went 1-for-3.

Contributed Photo/Jeff Hurndon -- UTC players, from left, Toni Hutchison, Lynleigh Hurndon, Kanice Irwin and Tara Temby celebrate after beating Georgia Southern to win the 2008 Southern Conference tournament Saturday in Mount Pleasant, S.C. The Lady Mocs won five straight games in two days to win the title.

Things looked bleak for the Lady Mocs early in the championship series with Georgia Southern. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a Fuzzard wild pitch that allowed Michelle Beasley to score and a single by catcher Jenny Side that brought home Robyne Siliga.

Loudermilk (18-7) relieved Fuzzard, who moved to first base, and held GSU to one hit and struck out five to keep the Lady Mocs in the game.

A Lauren Flores single in the fifth cut the margin to 2-1, but the Lady Mocs came to bat in the bottom of the seventh three outs from elimination. But they rallied with four hits in the inning, capped by Fuzzard’s walk-off single scoring Tia Blosser.

In the final game of the day, senior Tara Tembey led off the game with a home run for UTC, but the Eagles answered with a solo shot by Sam Russo in the second inning. But the Lady Mocs put the game away early with nine runs on eight hits in the fifth inning. Tembey and Toni Hutchison each homered in the inning, and Brittany Eason hit a two-run double.

Kandice Irwin (9-8) got the final three outs in the bottom of the fifth to close out the win and the conference title.

Tembey made the most of her final trip to the SoCon tournament. Against GSU, she was 4-for-8 with four RBIs. UTC’s only other senior, Ashlan Clarkson, went 2-for-3 in the final game with an RBI and a run scored.

With the conference title, the Lady Mocs will advance to the NCAA tournament. The NCAA selection show will be tonight at 10, and the team will watch the selection show on ESPNU. The public is invited to join the team to watch the show at Buffalo Wild Wings on Broad Street downtown.

Tournament honors

Loudermilk was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Over the seven games UTC played in the tournament, she won five games.

Tembey, Upchurch and redshirt freshman Tiffany Baker joined her on the all-tournament team.