KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee scored three runs in the third inning and two more in the sixth to defeat Ohio 5-1 on Sunday and advance to the NCAA Super Regional.

The Lady Vols (48-12) will take on seventh-seeded Georgia next weekend in Athens. With Sunday’s victory, UT moves into the Super Regional round for the 10th time in program history.

The Bobcats (40-17) took the game’s first lead in the second inning, as a single from Allie Englant brought pinch runner Deanna Cole around to score from second.

The Lady Vols would come right back in the following inning, scoring three runs to claim a 3-1 advantage. After a Chelsea Seggern base knock loaded the bases, a fielding error allowed Meghan Gregg and Jenna Holcomb to advance home and give Tennessee the lead. Two batters later, Tennessee executed its second double-steal of the weekend, as while Brooke Langston was caught in a rundown between first and second base, Seggern was able to race home from third and score UT’s third run.

After a pair of scoreless innings, Tennessee added two insurance runs in the top of the sixth to pull away. After Amanda Ayala reached on a fielding error, a single from Abby Lockman put her on third. Lockman was able to reach second on the throw to set up runners in scoring position. The next batter, Haley Bearden, drove a single through the right side to score both runners and make it a four-run game.

Caylan Arnold went a complete seven innings for the Lady Vols, improving to 26-4 on the season. Arnold struck out eight batters in the winning effort, and was dominant when it counted most, as the Bobcats’ top three hitters went a combined 0-for-9 at the plate. Danielle Steine also went seven frames, recording three strikeouts while allowing just one earned run.

UP NEXT: The Lady Vols advance to the NCAA Super Regional and will travel to Georgia next weekend for a best-of-three series. Tennessee hosted the Bulldogs at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium on Mar. 31-April 1 this year, with Georgia taking two of three games in the series.

Tennessee 5, Ohio 1
May 20, 2018 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Sherri Parker Lee Stadium

Tennessee Co-Head Coach Karen Weekly

Opening Statement:

“First, I’d like to thank everybody at the University of Tennessee for all of their fantastic work putting on this Regional. All the teams had nothing but outstanding comments about it. Special thanks to our ground crew and facilities folks who had a tough day on Friday. They came through it like champs and pulled off a great Regional. Also, hats off to Ohio. We have a lot of respect for that program. Jodi and her staff are people we’ve come to know quite well over the years. Year in and year out, they develop an ace. Somebody on their staff just grows within their program. By the time they are a senior, they are an outstanding pitcher. A ton of respect for them, and it was a great battle out there. We knew it would be a difficult ball game if Ohio came through. Last but not least, to our players. Players win ballgames. These guys came out and they got it done today. We did it a little bit differently than yesterday, but that’s the sign of a good team. You’re able to win with different facets of your game. Caylan Arnold was certainly a big part in that. I thought she threw an outstanding game. I’m just really proud of our players.”

On Haley Bearden coming in to pinch hit:

“I think we had one on second and one on third with two outs – if we have no outs we might think about sticking with CJ because a chopper in the ground, we’ve got a chance there for something to happen – but I think in a two-out situation we just felt like Haley is the best option. We continue to have a lot of faith in Haley because we see what she does in practice every day. It’s just a matter of Haley knowing how good Haley is and going up there and swinging the bat. I think today she just really wanted to get it done for her team.”

On the previous meeting with Georgia vs. the upcoming meeting with Georgia and the absence of Brittany Gray:

“Well, Georgia is a very good team with or without Brittany Gray. Yes, when we faced them here Brittany was still in the lineup and that is such an unfortunate injury because she was having a phenomenal year – possibly could’ve been the SEC Pitcher of the Year the way she was throwing the ball. They have tremendous offense so it’s going to be a battle and it’s going to take us playing really, really well down there to achieve our goals. I like the way we’re playing right now – we were definitely at a low point in our season when Georgia came here. I’m not sure it mattered who was coming in, but Georgia capitalized on every mistake we made whether it was physically or mentally not being resilient. But that was a long time ago and I do think we’re a different team and we’ve learned a lot as the season has gone on.”

Biggest takeaway coming out of this Regional:

“I saw them get really locked on when they needed to. The way they played yesterday is something I think we can go back to over and over again. When they’re on a mission, one through nine, they can be pretty tough. I think they listened to some of the noise about us not being very strong at the bottom of our batting order and people picking us to lose this Regional and I think that got them fired up. Maybe it was thinking that a lot of people thought they were the underdog this weekend, but they certainly had an intensity about them.”

On how working on fundamentals contributed to the success this weekend and improvement:

“We all say it’s the little things that matter, and if you keep doing the little things right it’s going to add up to the big things which is winning on the scoreboard. If you get too focused on the big picture it becomes overwhelming and you don’t have much success, so a lot of that emphasis was getting their mind focused on individual things – fielding the ball, throwing the ball, hitting and running, it’s a simple game if you keep it that way. But sometimes you can get a little too in your head and think about where you are and the moment you’re playing in. It helped us physically to tune up some things maybe get a little bit sharper with our footwork in the infield and our reads in the outfield and some of our base-running. I thought we ran the bases really well this weekend and we focused a lot on base-running because this time of the year a lot of teams are really good and it’s going come down to little things in the game that are going to make a difference.”

On showing excitement about Caylan Arnold being in the zone in the 6th inning:

“Did you take a picture, because that’s rare. It’s not because I’m mad, I just have a hard time smiling and thinking at the same time. She just executed pitches really, really well today. For her to shut down their top three hitters was phenomenal with seven strikeouts. She was dealing the pitches we needed at the time we needed them. About an hour before the game, I was doing my final prep for pitch calling. Ralph was behind me saying, ‘do you realize that Cooper has 12 home runs, and Day and Geno have this many?’. I was like, ‘yeah be quiet, please.’ They have a lot of power in their lineup. For her to shut down those three kind of deflates a team when their top three power hitters don’t produce. So yeah, I was excited.”

On if she sees Ohio being able to develop another ace pitcher for next year:

“You know we watched all of them on film because we were prepared for anything. We were prepared to see anybody start across the field. We were prepared to see three pitchers in one game or play two games. We were prepared to do whatever we needed to do. I know Jodi, and Jodi always has a winning team. It always starts in the circle, and she’s a heck of a pitching coach. Somebody will emerge from that group to be an ace for them next year.”

On Matty Moss’s status:

“I think you saw on Friday night that Matty is in pretty good form. Right now, everything is fine. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that we stay healthy through the remainder of the season.”

Tennessee SS Meghan Gregg

On the unconventional hit to get the 3-1 lead:

“Yeah, I think that third inning we just really came together and got some hits and just made the defense work. Obviously, we didn’t have a lot of power today at the plate, but we figured out a way to get things working. I was just following Jenna and Aubrey who started things off and we made a move. I think that’s really what we needed to do against Ohio, just make the infield move.”

On Ohio’s pitcher:

“There is a reason why Ohio got to this Regional. They’re a great team and I think their pitching got them there. Their pitcher was really good. She could change speeds and put it where she wanted it. We had to be really disciplined against her to be effective because she knew exactly what she was doing and she had her pitches in control.”

On her last game at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium:

“It’s pretty bittersweet. I felt like I was a little sad, but it’s hard to be sad when we’re going to a Super Regional. I started thinking about how we still have practice tomorrow on the same field. I can’t be too sad when we have practice tomorrow on the same field. We have a lot of work to do this week and prepare for Georgia.”

On Haley Bearden’s pinch hit:

“Haley’s been put in some pretty key situations and she just really came through today. We really needed that. We were only up 3-1 and anything can happen with a two-run game. Haley doing that just really brought all of the momentum on our side. After that hit, we really just saw some of their shoulders going down. We just really got hyped for that. I was really proud of Haley. She was really excited and couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. She was just happy she could do it for the team.”

On how the team has changed since playing Georgia in the regular season:

“That was quite a bit ago so we’ve definitely done a lot of things to improve our game. We’ve worked on fundamentals more since then. I think we were really worried about the big picture when we played Georgia then and now we’re just working on each pitch, each swing and each inning. You kind of saw that all throughout this weekend. We were down. We didn’t score first these last two games and it didn’t even faze us. When we played Georgia, I think when they scored one run we were down and we weren’t coming back up. I definitely see a big change in our mentality and attitude so I’m excited for next weekend.”

On how the attitude change happens:

“We really actually work on that. In practice, we always talk about the little things that create the big things and it all starts there. Having each other’s backs and play for each other and not yourself. We can’t be individualistic and that’s kind of how we were at the beginning of the season, so working on that and working on relying on one another.”

Tennessee RHP Caylan Arnold

On keeping the top of Ohio’s lineup in check:

“We always look over the hitters before the games. We look to see what’s the best pitch to throw them to get them out and just went in with a game plan for each one. I think we did a good job of following through with that game plan.”

On starting the game with three strikeouts:

“I think it’s a really good thing because the momentum is on our side when we go into hitting. That’s what I always want is to have a really good first inning so that the momentum is good going in. It does give me a lot of confidence and it’s a lot of fun going to play once you’ve done something like that.”

On her eight strikeouts and no walks:

“I hate walks. I really try hard not to walk people. That’s probably my favorite thing about today is the no walks. That’s been something that I’ve been working on all season. That’s definitely a really great accomplishment for me. I thought Abby did a great job behind the plate getting me pitches. I’m really happy with that stat.”

On how the team has changed since playing Georgia in the regular season:

“I would say that we’ve gone through everything you could possibly go through in a season and we’ve learned so much. I feel like we’re a different team. We handle situations differently and we’ve matured. I’m very excited going into the Super Regional just because I know where we are now as a team and I think we’ve made a lot of really great strides.”

Ohio Head Coach Jodi Hermanek

Opening Statement:

“Obviously, it’s not the way that you would want a ride like this to end. I thought we played competitive. Once we scored first, I thought that took a big nerve block out of our system, so we could just settle in and continue with our approach. It was a good game, a good matchup, and Tennessee competed hard and got some timely hitting at the right time.”

On how big Allie Englant’s RBI single was for the team:

“Huge. (There were) two outs, pinch run with Deanna (Cole) coming up for Natalie (Alvarez). I just knew that runs were going to be precious each opportunity we had to score. Allie has been connecting hard with some good strokes all weekend long and I just had this feeling that this is the time to make the change. Once that happened, I probably looked like the smartest person on the field at the moment, but that was just putting some trust into what Allie’s been connecting with all weekend and she came through with a timely cut.”

On how the pitching staff performed throughout the weekend:

“We knew we were going to utilize the change up a lot today. Usually what we try to do is bank it until the second time through, but we knew we were going to have to draw that card out early. She was throwing it effectively for a strike and she was throwing it effectively out of the zone for a chase and was able to draw the rest of the zone around with some good command, too. I trust one of our best pitchers and she did a great job delivering with it. What she’s been all year long is a workhorse, and she showed that again today.”

On what the approach was pitching to Meghan Gregg:

“Our conversation before the game was corner pitches away need to stay at her knees or lower, and the rise ball needs to stay at her hands or higher. If we can do that, then we’re going to get her off balance. I thought we did a really good job living by that plan for her and (Chelsea) Seggern. Those two right there, we knew that we couldn’t let the longball beat us, especially back-to-back. We just really wanted to do a good job of making them move up and then making them go back down, and Dani (Stiene) lived by that and did a great job with it.”

On what makes Aubrey Leach difficult to get out:

“She can stand and swing for some gap power, so you can’t play her too tight, and then she can win with some short game too. What I told my defensive staff was that we have to play her like Allie Englant. Allie can drive the gap but she can also drop a bunt and use the short game, get a chop-slap in. So, that was common for us, it brought some common approach to us mentally. That’s how we approached it. I just wanted to do the same thing with her as well, take her up and all over the zone, change beats on her too, but she had a pretty productive day.”

On giving up runs while still limiting Tennessee’s power hitters:

“It’s tough when they’re on pitchers’ pitches. That one fly ball that dropped behind second was a jammed shot that was Dani’s pitch. She just got enough strength into it to get it to go somewhere with runners in scoring position. So, it’s tough to take those, but that’s why you play the game. Some of those you’re going to win, some of those you’re going to lose. Unfortunately, when those happen with runners in scoring position, it’s pretty hard to defend. I thought Dani did a great job contending against those batters.”

On what this run does for the program going forward:

“It’s a tough conversation to have at the end of a season, when you’re standing in a circle with the level of emotions that all those girls have. The message was thank you to the seniors because you’ve just honored the previous class, which was the winningest class in program history. You have now become that in your senior season, and now it’s time for you to pass the torch on to this great junior class to have that responsibility to do this again. Now everybody knows what it feels like to stand on this stage. The level of hunger that we had after last year that led into this year, and now the level of hunger that we’re going to have right where we’re at right now to lead us into next year, our mentality I think is a really awesome thing in our culture. I just think that we had such a program changing year. We’ve set many records, we’ve made so much history and it’s all come from their heart and their desire and their passion to play with each other and to be the best they can.”

On how the junior class will take on the responsibility of being seniors next season:

“They’ve already got so much experience and so that will really speak for itself. They know about me and they know about our expectations as a program, and they know why we do what we do, so they’re already a very self-motivated and driven class together as a unit. They’ve got great leadership to expand on to others. This freshman class was very easy to lead this year, and very much a part of the success that we’ve had. I think that all things are triggering in the right direction for Ohio softball, and it’s just a privilege and a pleasure to sit here.”

Ohio OF Allie Englant Quotes

On winning the first two NCAA Tournament games in Ohio history:

“The win against Monmouth was really huge, it kind of set the tone. We felt really good going into JMU. And it felt like that honestly just carried over and we didn’t care that we had already lost to JMU. We were just thinking ‘we need to beat them, we need to out hit them.’”

On using the momentum of the tournament run in the future:

“I think getting this far is going to play a huge part in teaching new players how to contain their nerves in pressure situations like the MAC Tournament and NCAA Regionals. That’ll be super important, but we’ll know how to deal with it.”

On hitting against Tennessee pitcher Caylan Arnold:

“My first at bat I saw a beautiful pitch, and I should have hit it. I did not think I was going to see another pitch like that, but the second pitch was exactly like that and I knew with a good pitcher like that I wasn’t going to get too many opportunities like that. So, I just tried to keep it simple and hit it past the infield.”

On the atmosphere for the entire weekend:

“I really enjoyed it, I love being in huge games. I think it really helps our team too because we were more amped up than I feel like we usually are.”

On her RBI single:

“I was trying to watch it as hard as I could to see if it actually went through, and it did. I was so ecstatic.”

Ohio OF Michaela Dorsey Quotes

On the team’s overall performance:

“It was a hard-fought game. It’s tough to be on the side of it that we are, but we took our program further than in the past years and just to get here is an amazing feeling. Now we know what it’s like so we can make progress in the future.”

On using the momentum of the tournament run in the future:

“I know we have quite a few in the junior class so now we know what it’s like to not only win MACs but come to Regionals and win some games. It’s awesome that we have the freshman class that we do and we can take in the new freshmen and tell them what it feels like to get here. Now everyone on the team knows so we can move forward with that.”

On getting the first NCAA Tournament win out of the way:

“It’s awesome because I’m one of the classes that has been to the MAC and been two and out, been to the MAC and been to the losers’ bracket and fought and lost through the losers’ bracket and lost in the championship and been in the winners’ bracket and lost twice. Having the experience of just going through and winning it is such a different feeling and a new perspective. I’m glad our team got to experience that and I think we can take that with us in the future. We need to make sure everyone knows that feeling and just get after it these next few years.”

On hitting against Tennessee pitcher Caylan Arnold:

“She just throws around inside and outside, tries to get you to chase high and if she’s high in the count, she’s going to give you something slow. So, our game plan was to go after the hard stuff, and if you get in a rut, then be prepared to hit the slow stuff.”

On the atmosphere for the entire weekend:

“I think our team feeds off of crowds, so the bigger the better. And I think we had a great support staff out there. Our crowd was pretty big too, traveling from such a long distance. We have a lot of friends that are goofy all of the time at home too, so it’s just fun.”

On the Ohio students that traveled to support the team:

“There’s a couple athletes. We had a basketball player, a football player, but they’re mostly boyfriends and friends of the team that just came down and supported. We call them ‘the boys.’ Like ‘oh, the boys are here.’ They’re at all of our games pretty much, and that’s who I’m talking about when I say they’re really goofy.”

On her hitting performance for the weekend overall:

“Nothing changes, you just have to trust your staff, that’s what I was thinking going in. Like she said, the crowd gets really big up here and that can get in your head, but as long as you stick to your guns and play to your strengths, then you’re going to be successful.”

-UT Athletics