University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball coach Frank Reed was telling anyone who would listen that his Lady Mocs team would be able to play with Texas in Friday’s game in the first game of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional.

Reed was right. UTC matched the Longhorns for eight and a half scoreless innings and had the bases loaded in the top of the ninth but couldn’t come up with a key hit and lost 1-0.

The Lady Mocs’ Brooke Loudermilk struck out 10 Texas batters, and counterpart Brittany Barnhill held UTC hitless until the ninth.

“I said we needed to get good pitching from Brooke and put a few runs on the board and I thought we could win,” Reed said. “But the thing we couldn’t do was put runs on the board, and we had some chances.”

The Lady Mocs play today at 5 p.m. EDT against Mississippi Valley State, which lost 12-3 to host Alabama.

UTC had one significant loss in the third inning, when all-conference second baseman Tiffany Baker injured her ankle in a collision with right fielder Kaiti Kelley while attempting to make a play on a single by Texas catcher Amy Hooks. Baker was taken to the hospital and X-rays were inconclusive, but she will likely be unavailable for the rest of the tournament.

“She’s back here with the team, but she’s in a lot of pain,” Reed said. “It says a lot about Chattanooga softball to see all the adversity this team has played through.”

Loudermilk said losing Baker is a tough blow, but the team didn’t let the injury become a distraction.

“I thought we did really well about not letting that bring us down,” Loudermilk said. “We know she’ll be back with us tomorrow even if we don’t know if she’ll be playing. We’ll be all right.”

UTC had their chance to take the lead in the top of the ninth inning when Tia Blosser was hit by a pitch with one out and Lyndsey Stiles and Kelley singled — the only two UTC hits of the game. But Michelle Fuzzard struck out swinging on a full count and Lauren Flores hit into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.

Loudermilk said she felt comfortable with such a long outing Friday, and she and her teammates will be ready for today’s game. If the Lady Mocs can beat the Delta Devils, they will take on the loser in the early game between Texas and Alabama.

“We have to come back strong,” Loudermilk said. “We’re guessing we’ll get to see Texas again, so we’ll be ready for them.”

Reed and the coaching staff we’ll be trying to keep the Lady Mocs’ spirits up after Friday’s tough loss, but he said he feels his team will be ready to go today.

“We came in high, and that’s where we want them to stay. We don’t want them to come out flat tomorrow,” Reed siad “But all indications are that these kids aren’t ready to give up — they still want to play some softball. The only way we’re going to get to do that is right here in Tuscaloosa.”