Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Updated Season Stats
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — The No. 17 Lady Vol softball team suffered back-to-back extra-inning losses to top-10 teams on Saturday, falling to No. 1 Oklahoma 9-8 in 10 innings before being defeated by No. 6 UCLA 2-1 in eight innings at the Big League Dreams Wrigley Field in Cathedral City, California, to wrap up the 2022 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
Junior outfielder Kiki Milloy concluded a standout weekend for the Lady Vols with three extra-base hits between the two games, knocking a pair of doubles and cranking her fourth home run of the tournament on Saturday. Sophomore catcher Rylie West had a breakout showing against the top-10 squads, going 3-for-7 on the day with a double and her first home run of the season.
Senior pitcher Ashley Rogers threw 10.1 innings on the day, allowing three earned runs while collecting eight strikeouts to one walk. Freshman Nicola Simpson was solid in relief, spinning three innings with a strikeout and one run allowed.
Game 1 – No. 17 Tennessee 8, No. 1 Oklahoma 9 (10 Inn.)
The Lady Vols gave the top-ranked Sooners their toughest challenge to date, taking Oklahoma to extra innings in a back-and-forth affair before OU sophomore Jayda Coleman walked it off with a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a pair of home runs by infielders Grace Lyons and Jana Johns. Lyons sent a solo shot to right center before Johns brought in two with her blast to dead center. Johns added a fourth run for the Sooners with a solo home run to left in the bottom of the third.
Super senior shortstop Ivy Davis put the Lady Vols on the board in the top of the fourth, knocking an infield single to first base that scored pinch runner Katie Taylor from third to cut the Sooner lead to 4-1.
Tennessee tied the game with three runs in the top of the fifth, beginning with a leadoff solo blast by West that was drilled beyond the crowd in left center. Senior right fielder Amanda Ayala cut the deficit to one with a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield, bringing in Milloy from second who had just roped a double down the left field line. Designated player McKenna Gibson leveled the game on the next at-bat, driving a single to left that scored Ayala from second after she moved over on a wild pitch.
OU regained the lead in the bottom half of the fifth on a solo home run by catcher Kinzie Hansen, but the Lady Vols fought right back with a pair of runs in the seventh. With two runners on, Ayala roped a sacrifice fly to right field that brought Anna Fox home from third to tie the game once again, and Tennessee took a 6-5 lead when senior first baseman Ashley Morgan drew a bases-loaded walk.
The Sooners forced extras in the bottom of the seventh with a sac fly to left field by redshirt senior Taylon Snow. After a scoreless eighth, Morgan came through with another go-ahead RBI as she singled to left and drove in Ayala to put the Lady Vols ahead, 7-6, in the top of the ninth. OU would tie it up once more with Lyons’ leadoff RBI single in the bottom half.
After intentionally walking NCAA career home run leader Jocelyn Alo, Rogers retired three-straight batters with two strikeouts and a flyout to send the game to the 10th.
With runners on the corners and two outs, Ayala knocked a hopping grounder to short that was misjudged, and the error allowed catcher Kelcy Leach to come home and put the Lady Vols ahead 8-7 in the 10th. Rogers retired the first two batters she faced in the bottom half before Coleman’s two-run homer to left field ended the game and cut UT’s upset bid short.
Game 2 – No. 17 Tennessee 1, No. UCLA 2 (8 Inn.)
The Lady Vols took a second-consecutive top-10 team to extra innings Saturday evening with a 2-1 loss to No. 6 UCLA. The pitcher’s duel ended with a sac fly to center from Savannah Pola as Kinsley Washington slid home to end the game in the bottom of the eighth.
UCLA ace Megan Faraimo went the distance in the winning effort with 18 strikeouts, one earned run, four hits and one run allowed. Graduate pitcher Erin Edmoundson tossed two scoreless frames before Rogers came on in the third for the Lady Vols, throwing 5.2 innings with five Ks and one earned run.
Tennessee scored its lone run in the top of the first when Milloy sent a leadoff bomb to center field. The Bruins tied it up in the bottom of the fourth as Maya Brady went yard to left field for a solo home run.
UP NEXT: Tennessee returns to action Wednesday, March 2, in Knoxville for the 2022 home opener against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. ET, and the game will be broadcast online via SEC Network+.
-UT Athletics
