Catcher Jenn Moore homered in both games of a double-header sweep over Chattanooga State Thursday at Motlow. [File Photo]

  The Motlow Lady Bucks swept the nation’s second-ranked team, Chattanooga State, in a double-header at Motlow Thursday afternoon to take over first place in the Eastern Division of the TJCCAA standings.
  Both games ended on very dramatic notes, which has been the norm when the Lady Bucks and Lady Tigers face off this season. Motlow (34-9, 10-2) won game one 5-4 in eight innings when Duwana Poore walloped a monster home run, then the Lady Bucks ended a 4-3 win in game two on a terrific defensive play to cut down the potential tying run at third. In an earlier game at Chattanooga, the Lady Tigers defeated Motlow 6-4 on a grand-slam homer in the bottom of the seventh.
  The Lady Bucks had to fight from behind in game one after taking a 1-0 lead in the second on a Whitney Padgett homer. Chattanooga took the lead on a two-run homer in the third from Brittany Kopcsak, then added two more in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.
  Jenn Moore started the Motlow comeback in the sixth with a solo homer, then the Lady Bucks fought back to tie it in the bottom of the seventh. Morgan Whitt led off with a single followed by another single from pinch hitter Jami McNelley. Katrina Jones sacrificed the runners over, then Whitney Horton hit what looked like a game-winning homer, but the ball bounced off the top of the fence and stayed in play. Two runs scored to tie the game. Padgett then hit a ball to deep right center that was hauled in for the third out.
  After Sally Gale (17-5) sat the Lady Tigers down in the eighth, Poore came up in the bottom of the inning and launched a tape-measure shot over the center field fence to end it.

Duwana Poore hit a game-winning homer in game one of Thursday's sweep.

  Game two also ended in dramatic fashion, but this time it was a great defensive play by the Lady Bucks that preserved the win. Trailing 4-1 going to the top of the seventh, Chattanooga got two runners on, and with two outs, a ball was hit over center fielder Laken Barnes’ head to score the two runners. As the batter rounded second and headed for third, Barnes fired the ball to shortstop Duwana Poore in short left center. Poore whirled and fired a perfect strike to third baseman Whitney Padgett who made the catch with the runner bearing down on her and made the tag to get her by inches.
  Motlow had taken a 2-0 lead in the second when Jenn Moore tagged MTSU transfer Lauren Moore for a two-run shot. Brittany Kopcsak cut the margin in half with a solo homer off Chelsea Owens (17-3) in the fourth.