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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A day after historic pitching dominated, the bats answered the bell in No. 14 Tennessee’s 9-1 win over ECU to finish out the Lady Vol Challenge 3-0.
Senior outfielder Kiki Milloy led the offensive outburst with three hits, two doubles, two RBIs, two runs and two stolen bases. Milloy’s three-hit outing was her first of the season and first since hosting Missouri at the end of the 2021 regular season. The do-it-all senior also extended her team lead in doubles, stolen bases, RBIs and runs.
The Lady Vols (33-13) roped 12 hits, including six for extra bases, in Sunday’s triumph. Freshman infielder McKenna Gibson and sophomore outfielder Rylie West each mashed two-run homers, while Zaida Puni (2-for-3, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Kelcy Leach (1-for-3, RBI) both knocked doubles for the Big Orange. Leach’s two-bagger went down as the game-ending hit, driving in Puni to make the score 9-1 and secure the run-rule win in the bottom of the sixth.
Sophomore starting pitcher Bailey McCachren was lifted in the top of the second with no outs and runners on first and second in favor of freshman Nicola Simpson. Simpson utilized the ground ball to work the Lady Vols out of trouble, including a double play from Ivy Davis to Gibson to Ashley Morgan that kept the Pirates at bay and off the scoreboard. Simpson finished the day recording her second career win on two-and-a-third innings of two-hit ball and a single run surrendered.
The Seattle, Washington, native sat down ECU (19-29) in order in the third and the offense repaid her efforts with six runs of support in the bottom of the third. Davis got the onslaught started, ripping a single the other way that turned into a three-bagger when the Pirate right fielder could not handle the hit. Milloy promptly brought Davis home on a ground ball double laced through two ECU fielders, reaching the wall in left center. Puni doubled off the right field wall to trade places with Milloy and double the Tennessee lead to 2-0.
Gibson knocked out ECU’s starting pitcher showing off her opposite field power, bombing home run No. 10 on the season near the top row of the outfield bleachers and once again doubling the Tennessee lead to 4-0 over the Pirates.
West gave the incoming Pirate pitcher a harsh greeting, sending her sixth homer of the season over the recently opened porches in center field for a 6-0 cushion. The bomb was her first homer to leave the park since the series finale against Florida on March 27.
In the fourth inning, it was sophomore pitcher Ryleigh White’s turn to work the Lady Vols out of trouble. Inheriting a similar situation to Simpson in the second, White used similar tactics to stymie the Pirates: letting the defense work. Graduate senior Amanda Ayala recorded her second outfield assist of the season, throwing out a runner at third on a base hit. A lineout back to White would strand two Pirates on base and hold them to a single run in the frame.
The Lady Vols gave ECU some déjà vu in the bottom half of the frame. Milloy led off with her 12th double and Puni brought her in again for her 10th multi-RBI game of the season, bringing the Big Orange lead to 7-1 and just two runs away from run-ruling the Pirates for a second time this weekend.
White cruised over the final two innings of play while Tennnessee added a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth innings to clinch the victory. Milloy put the Lady Vols ahead 8-1 with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth before Leach doubled to left-center field to end the game 9-1 in the sixth, improving UT’s all-time record against ECU to 4-1 and its season record to 33-13.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols hit the road to finish up their SEC reprieve for a matchup with the Liberty Flames on Wednesday, April 27. The game will be a rematch from the 2021 NCAA Knoxville Regional. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. from Lynchburg and can be seen on ESPN+.
-UT Athletics
