Women's College World Series: Tennessee softball eliminates Florida after hot start
As the Women's College World Series continues, so do the upsets. No. 7 Tennessee dispatched No. 3 Florida with a dominant 11-3 win in five innings, staying alive in the tournament and sending the Gators home early.
Tennessee shook off a tough 4-3 loss to defending champs Oklahoma on Thursday to get the big win over Florida. The Lady Vols kicked off the game with a red-hot first inning, notching seven runs in the bottom of the first to take an early lead.
Advertisement
Tennessee later took its lead to 9-0 off back-to-back solo homers from catcher Sophia Nugent and first baseman McKenna Gibson in the second inning. Florida switched pitchers twice in the first two innings to try and stave off Tennessee's run, but the damage was done. Another run for the Lady Vols came in the third inning off a muffed Florida catch.
But then the Gators came alive, getting back-to-back home runs of their own in the fourth inning. First baseman Reagan Walsh's two-run bomb and left fielder Korbe Otis' solo homer cut into Tennessee's deficit.
For a moment, Florida kept the run rule — an eight-run mercy rule — at bay. But the Lady Vols picked up another run in the fourth inning off outfielder Alannah Leach's fourth RBI of the game to keep the Gators sweating heading into the fifth inning.
Tennessee made quick work of Florida in the fifth and final inning, getting three outs off four batters to secure the eight-run win. On Sunday, the Lady Vols will now face off against the loser of Texas Tech vs. UCLA, which takes place on Saturday.
Florida, who lost to Texas on Thursday, will now be the first to head home. Another team will be following right behind them: unseeded Ole Miss and No. 16 Oregon will also face off on Friday, with the loser getting eliminated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
40 minutes ago
- USA Today
Tony Vitello discusses returning to Arkansas for Fayetteville Super Regional
Tony Vitello discusses returning to Arkansas for Fayetteville Super Regional No. 14 national seed Tennessee (46-17) advanced to a super regional after winning the Knoxville Regional. The Vols will face No. 3 national seed Arkansas (46-13), Saturday-Monday, in the NCAA Tournament Fayetteville Super Regional. The Fayetteville Super Regional will mark the Vols' second series at Arkansas in 2025. Arkansas won a regular-season series finale against Tennessee, 2-1, May 15-17, at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since playing at Arkansas to conclude regular-season play, the Vols have compiled a 5-2 record in the SEC Tournament and Knoxville Regional. Tennessee defeated Alabama and Texas, while losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. More: How to watch NCAA Tournament baseball super regionals: Times, TV channels Ahead of the Game 1 between the Vols and Razorbacks, eighth-year head coach Tony Vitello discussed Tennessee returning to Arkansas for a second time this season. 'I think every game we've played since we've been there has been basically cut-throat,' Vitello said. 'I know it's double elimination format once you get to the regional. Different type of format going to Hoover this year, and we've had some good appearances or runs in Hoover, but we've also had a couple times, whether it went good or bad, the first day wasn't great. Our guys were tremendous against Alabama right out of the chute, and then the Texas game. I haven't rewatched it, but I'm going to wait and we'll rewatch the whole regular broadcast, not just our scouting report one, because it was an ESPN classic. I don't see how that one didn't help both teams in some way, shape or form, or at least I can say that it helped ours. Didn't go the way we wanted in game three, and then, you know, we go to the regional, but all those scenarios, whether they were positive or negative on the scoreboard, were great for our team. 'So, little more experience, little more maturity, and then I think as the years gone on, blame the coaches or me for taking too long, but I think it's been a year where you're kind of sorting out what do you want the lineup to be, where you want certain pitchers to go, and I think we have a better understanding of that now than maybe we did back then, or definitely prior to that.' More: Tennessee baseball versus Arkansas 2025 Fayetteville Super Regional game times, TV Follow Vols Wire on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Chicago Sports Network finally coming to Comcast, but on higher-priced plan
Chicago sports fans, get your TV clickers – and your checkbooks – ready. Eight months after launching, the Chicago Sports Network will finally hit the airwaves Friday on Comcast, but it's going to cost subscribers more to watch the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks. Advertisement The nascent sports network is joining the Comcast lineup on the higher-priced Ultimate tier as part of an inaugural carriage agreement with the cable giant. CHSN will be live for Friday night's play between the Kansas City Royals and the White Sox at Rate Field, making the home team's 64th game of the season the first one available to one million Chicago-area Comcast subscribers. Terms of the carriage deal, announced Friday morning, were not disclosed. 'We are excited to bring the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks to fans across the region with the launch of CHSN for Xfinity TV and Comcast Business customers,' Chris Smith, senior vice president of Comcast's Chicago region, said in a news release. CHSN will be on Channel 200, where NBC Sports Chicago resided until pulling the plug last fall. For Comcast customers on the lower-priced basic plan, Channel 200 already bears a message that CHSN requires a subscription upgrade to watch. Advertisement The Ultimate tier costs an additional $20 per month, on top of the $20.25 regional sports network fee Comcast charges Chicago-area subscribers each month. Comcast has been issuing a monthly $8.85 credit to partially offset that fee during the ongoing negotiations with CHSN. For basic subscribers that don't choose to upgrade, the $8.85 credit will become a permanent adjustment, bringing the regional sports fee down to $11.40 per month. The Marquee Sports Network, the pay-TV home of the Cubs, remains on the lower-priced basic tier, at least for now. The CHSN carriage deal ends a protracted TV blackout for frustrated Chicago-area Comcast subscribers, who may have missed the entire Bulls and Blackhawks seasons, and a big chunk of the current White Sox campaign. 'On behalf of the entire CHSN team, we're proud to welcome Comcast's Xfinity TV customers to a network built exclusively for Chicago sports fans,' Jason Coyle, president of Chicago Sports Network, said in the news release. 'With more than 300 live Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox games each year, along with original programming that highlights Chicago's pro, college, and high school sports, CHSN delivers the most comprehensive and locally focused coverage available. This deal allows us to reach even more fans across the city and suburbs, deepen connections, and reinforce CHSN as the home for Chicago sports all day, every day.' Advertisement A joint venture between the Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Nashville, Tennessee-based Standard Media, CHSN went live Oct.1 on pay-TV platforms DirecTV and Astound, and over the air on WJYS-Ch. 62. It soon added streaming service FuboTV and its own direct-to-consumer streaming app, but until now, was unable to strike a deal with Comcast, the market's largest pay-TV provider. Comcast was a partner in the predecessor NBC Sports Chicago, the regional sports network which ended a 20-year run in September at the conclusion of a White Sox season that saw the team set an MLB record for losses. Sources familiar with the negotiations said Comcast has been looking to move both CHSN and Marquee Sports Network to its more expensive Ultimate tier, something it has done with other regional sports networks across the U.S. in recent months. While CHSN has been blacked out, Marquee, which launched in 2020, has remained on Comcast through a series of short-term extensions after its inaugural carriage agreement expired Sept. 30. A Marquee spokesperson did not return a request for comment. Advertisement The Cubs, who are leading their division with one of the best records in baseball, likely give Marquee more leverage in negotiations with Comcast, according to industry analysts. In New York, Comcast threatened to black out the Yankees' YES network before opening day as it looked to move the broadcasts to its Ultimate tier. The Federal Communications Commission weighed in and an agreement was reached to keep the YES network on Comcast's basic tier, at least for now. Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the White Sox and Bulls, made a visit to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in April to lobby for government help in getting CHSN on the air with Comcast in Chicago. But the carriage agreement appears to have played out on Comcast's terms, with CHSN moved to a higher-priced tier, requiring subscribers to pay a premium price to watch the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks. For years, those three teams and the Cubs were partnered with Comcast on NBC Sports Chicago, and offered to subscribers — for a monthly fee — as part of the basic package. The Cubs broke off to start Marquee in 2020, and the remaining teams went on to form CHSN. Advertisement In launching the new network, the Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks essentially traded Comcast for Standard Media, a small TV station owner that engineered the over-the-air strategy employed by CHSN, and is leading distribution negotiations with the pay-TV providers. Standard Media, which owns 15% of CHSN, is part of Standard General, the New York-based hedge fund that also controls Bally's, including its Chicago flagship, a $1.7 billion casino complex rising up at the site of the former Freedom Center printing plant in River West. Carriage fees make up the bulk of the revenue for regional sports networks. Most of that is funded by cable subscribers, whether they watch regional sports networks or not. But as cord-cutting accelerates, pay-TV providers have cut back on the fees they are willing to pay for regional sports networks, long the cash cows of the cable bundle. While the terms of the new CHSN-Comcast carriage agreement have not been disclosed, moving the sports network to the higher-priced tier is a way for the cable provider to make the deal work financially, while shifting the cost more directly to subscribers. Advertisement How many Comcast subscribers upgrade their plans to get CHSN, remains to be seen. During their inaugural seasons on CHSN, the Hawks and Bulls both missed the playoffs. Meanwhile, the White Sox, coming off the most losses in major league history last year, have the worst record in the American League through 63 games this season. But for die-hard fans ready to pay another $20 a month for the privilege, the remainder of the White Sox season, and the rest of CHSN's programming, is finally there on Comcast. rchannick@
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
2025 NBA Free Agents: Landry Shamet Has Evolved
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 28: Landry Shamet #44 of the New York Knicks looks on during the game ... More against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum on February 28, 2025 in Memphis, Tennessee. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by) With the 2024-25 season nearing its conclusion, it is time to start looking ahead to the offseason. In this article series, we will take a look at under-the-radar options in the 2025 Free Agency Pool. For the sake of simplicity, we are going to focus primarily on unrestricted free agents. After one year with the New York Knicks, veteran journeyman Landry Shamet is once again an unrestricted free agent. At a glance, Year Seven didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. Shamet appeared in 50 games for the Knicks, averaging 5.7 PPG and 39.7% shooting from three. However, take a deeper look, and you will see that 2024-25 was a year of growth for Shamet. It's the kind of maturation that makes him one of the best bang for your buck options this offseason. Shamet is an excellent shooter, both at a standstill and off of movement. For his career, he is converting on 41.3% of his 6.8 threes per game. Shamet is a dead-eye shooter in a league that loves the three-ball. You'd think that would make him a higher priority for general managers, right? Well, not necessarily. The Knicks were able to secure Shamet last offseason for the veteran minimum. Part of this is the deterioration of the middle class as a consequence of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement's first and second apron restrictions. But the main reason why was that Shamet had developed a reputation as a bad defender. In the playoffs, weak defenders are quickly identified and hunted by the opposing team's most dangerous offensive players. From 2019 to 2023, Shamet played in 47 playoff games across four seasons. During that time, his teams (the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets, and Phoenix Suns) were always better when he was on the bench, and there was only one run where he did not carry a negative on-court rating. So, teams couldn't profit off Shamet's gifts as a shooter/spacer because the tax that he was forcing them to pay with his defense was too expensive. This relegated him to being an 82-game player rather than a 16-game one, which limited his value to prospective teams. That brings us to the genesis of this whole story. Shamet is no longer a terrible defender. In fact, he is quite passable on that end of the ball now. By my eye, that shift started last year with the Washington Wizards (although the one-number metrics don't totally agree with this). However, because of their abysmal record (15-67), that improvement went largely unnoticed. This year, the whole world got a front-row seat at Shamet's ascension during the Eastern Conference Finals. Shamet logged two DNP-CDs to start the series, but he was thrust into the rotation in Game 3. From that point on, he provided a great boost to the Knicks with his shooting…and his suddenly stifling defense. That wasn't just a one possession explosion. His tape is littered with moments of defensive brilliance (like this). His two-way contributions were so helpful to the Knicks that Shamet led the team in plus-minus for the final four games of the series. This development changes everything for Shamet. Teams no longer need to worry about him being neutralized in the playoffs because of his defense. Now, they can enjoy the benefits created by his shooting without the issues his defense used to create. This doesn't make Shamet a starting-caliber player on a good team. But an eighth man in a playoff rotation? He definitely could fill that role. Heck, he just did that for a Knicks team that came within two wins of the NBA Finals. And thanks to the outdated perception of him as a player (and the financial constraints created by the new CBA), one lucky team can get him for close to the veteran minimum.
