Tennessee softball is headed to its 15th-ever super regional. The Lady Vols defeated Virginia 5-1 on Sunday afternoon to clinch their spot as one of the final 16 teams remaining. As the No. 7 national seed, UT will host the Knoxville Super Regional next weekend against No. 10 Georgia.
Here’s what you need to know from the Knoxville Regional Finals win over the Hoos.
Tennessee Strikes First, Virginia Fires Right Back
In Tennessee’s win on Saturday over Virginia, it used a five-run first inning to propel itself to victory. This time, it took a bit longer to get on the board. Nonetheless, it was the Lady Vols who struck first.
After stranding a runner on third thanks to a walk and a pair of wild pitches in the first, Tennessee took advantage of a similar situation in the third. To lead off the inning, Taelyn Holley drew a walk, then got all the way to third on two wild pitches. After a Bella Faw groundout didn’t score her, Sophia Knight lifted a sac-fly to left field to break the ice.
Tennessee got two more on via a walk and a single, but stranded the pair with two outs.
It didn’t take long for the Hoos to respond, though. With two outs, UVA flipped the order back to leadoff hitter Jade Hylton who reached via a walk. After stealing second, Macee Eaton drilled a double to left-center to score Hylton and tie the game back up at one.
Karlyn Pickens worked out of the inning, though, and kept the damage to just a single run.
Lady Vols Take Back the Lead in the Fourth, Karlyn Pickens Works Out of Jam
The following inning, Tennessee took the lead back with a stroke of luck. With one out, Ella Dodge singled to right to get on base. A Gabby Leach ground ball back to the pitcher moved her to second with two down.
Then, Taelyn Holley drilled a line drive to the second baseman, who couldn’t hang on. The ball bounced off her glove and rolled into right field, scoring Dodge from second.
In the bottom of the frame, Karlyn Pickens looked like she was in full control through two outs. However, UVA used a single, hit by pitch and a walk to load the bases. In the face of the jam, Pickens delivered, though. She forced a ground ball to shortstop to get out of the inning with the lead still intact.
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Tennessee Adds Insurance Runs
Tennessee added a run to its score for the third-straight frame in the top of the fifth inning. This time, it was thanks to a Sophia Knight single to open the inning, then an eventual two-out single up the middle from Makenzie Butt to score Knight, who had by then moved to third.
In the top of the sixth, the Lady Vols scored again. This time, it was a Taelyn Holley solo shot to left to go up three runs. This capped off a fantastic day for her, which featured a great catch in left field, the home run, a walk that saw her come around to score and a well-hit ball that resulted in a fielding error and run crossing.
Later in the same frame, Bella Faw drew a walk and was moved to second by a bunt laid down by Sophia Knight. This made way for Gabby Leach to hammer a ball off the wall in right-center for an RBI double to move the lead to four.
Karlyn Pickens Goes the Distance
Tennessee didn’t need the bullpen to secure the win over Virginia. Instead, it was ace pitcher Karlyn Pickens who threw a complete game to close out the final regionals of her college career.
The AUSL No. 1 overall pick last month, Pickens allowed just one run to cross in the third inning and kept a clean slate otherwise. Her final line sat at 7.0 innings pitched, two allowed hits, one earned run, four walks, nine strikeouts and two hit batters.
With Sage Mardjetko and Erin Nuwer also having productive outings this weekend, the Lady Vols’ vaunted pitching staff may be peaking at the right time.
Final Stats
Up Next
Now, Tennessee will host the Knoxville Super Regionals at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium next weekend. The exact dates and times are not yet determined, but should be released soon.
The No. 7 national seed Lady Vols will host No. 10 Georgia for the best two out of three set. The Bulldogs defeated Clemson in the Athens Regional Finals earlier on Sunday.
