No. 1 Tennessee softball faced adversity in a way it hasn’t yet seen on Saturday. After just one inning of play, No. 17 LSU had built a 4-0 lead on the Lady Vols. That’s not just the biggest hole that Tennessee has found itself in this season, but easily the most runs any team has scored in an entire game. Prior to this, Appalachian State’s two runs were the only time a team even plated a pair in one game.
While the bats have shown up in big ways in previous games, it was in relatively low-pressure situations. The pitching has been so elite, the runs have been used as insurance, not necessarily crucial to win.
This foreign obstacle didn’t seem to bother Tennessee, though. Instead, the Lady Vols battled back with one run in the second before rattling off six in the third. An additional run crossed in the fifth and three more in the sixth to power UT to an 11-6 win.
This now pushes Tennessee to 22-0 (2-0 SEC) on the year and clinches the first conference series of the season.
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“I really think they don’t think about being 22-0,” Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly said. “I wish you guys would stop reminding them of that. I’m kidding. Everybody reminds them. We talk every day about being 0-0. That’s literally the last thing we say before we leave the building over there to come in for pregame.
“I think they’re just hungry to go out and play that day and hungry to go out and problem solve. And we talk about that a lot, stay in this problem-solving mindset, but dominate everything we do. We get down by four, now we’re going to dominate our process down by four runs. Let’s see what we can do. I love the way they’re just buying into we’re not going to put a period at the end of anything. We’re going to keep fighting.”
The best day at the plate in the critical offensive showing was from Gabby Leach. She finished 4-for-4 with three runs, three RBI and a pair of home runs. Alannah Leach and Taelyn Holley also left the yard.
Now, Tennessee will look to stay undefeated and earn a sweep over the Tigers. First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and will air on SEC Network.
