Game Recap: Softball | May 27, 2024
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The third-seeded Lady Vols’ seventh-inning rally fell short Sunday night at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium as they fell in game three of the Knoxville Super Regional to No. 14 Alabama, 4-1.
Tennessee (44-12) saw its SEC championship-winning season end at home but not before it gave one final push to keep the magic alive.
Down 4-0 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, UT mustered up one final rally as McKenna Gibson, Sophia Nugent and Taylor Pannell all reached base to lead off the final half inning.
Pannell’s bunt single scored UT’s first and ultimately only run as pinch-runner Katie Taylor slid home for the score.
Pinch-hitter Jamison Brockenbrough got hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out, but a foul out and a ground-out to shortstop ended the inning and the season.
Payton Gottshall got the start for UT, tossing three innings scattering three hits and allowing four runs on a walk and four strikeouts. The right-hander suffered the loss and ended the season with a 20-5 record.
Alabama (38-18) opened the game with two strikeouts before Kenleigh Cahalan extended the inning with a two-out single. Back-to-back hit-by-pitches loaded the bases for Riley Valentine who hit a grand slam to put the Tide up 4-0.
Game three then entered a two-hour and 57-minute weather delay before the Lady Vols came to bat in the first.
Karlyn Pickens relieved Gottshall to start the fourth inning, closing out the game with two hits, no walks and three strikeouts.
Tennessee ended the night with four hits, while the Crimson Tide managed five.
