Latest news with #TennesseeSoftball
Associated Press
02-06-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Stewart homer, Morgan and Teagan Kavan pitching send Texas past Tennessee for spot in WCWS finals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Katie Stewart hit a home run, Mac Morgan and Teagan Kavan combined on a 3-hitter, and Texas defeated Tennessee 2-0 on Monday to reach the Women's College World Series championship series for the third time in four years. Kavan, who threw a complete game with eight strikeouts in Saturday's 4-2 win over Oklahoma, came on in relief of Morgan in the fifth inning and didn't allow a hit the rest of the way. She struck out the Volunteers' Emma Clarke to end the game. Texas (54-11) will play either Oklahoma or Texas Tech in the best-of-three series, which starts Wednesday. Those teams square off in Monday night's other semifinal. Karlyn Pickens, a National Fastpitch Coaches Association first-team All-American, allowed just one earned run on five hits and struck out nine for Tennessee (47-17). Texas loaded the bases against Pickens in the third with one out but couldn't score. Reese Atwood struck out swinging and Joley Mitchell popped out to the catcher to end the inning. Things got heated in the top of the fourth when Tennessee hitting coach Craig Snider, the former Texas Tech head coach, appeared to have words with the Texas dugout and was ejected. Stewart homered off Pickens to start the fourth, a high drive to left that drifted beyond the outstretched glove of Alannah Leach. Pickens recovered quickly, striking out the next three batters she faced. Morgan got the win, striking out four and walking one. The Longhorns added an insurance run the sixth on a throwing error by Vols third baseman Taylor Pannell. ___ AP sports:
New York Times
01-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Tennessee overcomes controversial call, UCLA to reach WCWS semis
After a controversial call at home plate helped UCLA take Tennessee to extra innings, the Lady Volunteers set out to prove one of the oldest arguments in sports: Ball don't lie. In the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, Laura Mealer singled to left field, bringing in the winning run and helping Tennessee stave off elimination with a 5-4 victory over the Bruins on Sunday at Devon Park in Oklahoma City. The win set up Tennessee for a date with No. 6 Texas in the semifinals on Monday. Meanwhile, UCLA's season is over. 'I just wanted to stay simple. I have an excellent team behind me, and I was really trying to pass the bat no matter what happens,' Mealer said. this is for your appendix g 📺 ABC — Tennessee Softball (@Vol_Softball) June 1, 2025 The Volunteers, who just won their third game of this WCWS, looked like they were going to beat UCLA in regulation thanks to a mistake on the basepaths by the Bruins. After hitting the game-tying home run in the top of the seventh, UCLA's Megan Grant overstepped home plate as she approached the teammates who had gathered around her to celebrate. Almost immediately after Grant stomped on the ground, as the Bruins started to gleefully walk back to the dugout, teammate Alexis 'Lefty' Ramirez pointed at Grant and took her by the arm, assisting her back over to touch home plate. TIE BALL GAME 🤯#WCWS x 📺 ABC / @UCLASoftball — NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 1, 2025 According to NCAA rules, a teammate cannot physically assist a runner to home plate unless that player is also a runner. Since Ramirez was not on base when Grant hit her home run, she was ineligible to help Grant home. Jordan Woolery, who was on base at the time of Grant's homer, was the only player who could've done so. Advertisement Tennessee challenged the call that the runner was safe at home. After a lengthy review, the umpire admitted that Grant did not touch home plate but said that the type of play is not reviewable. Grant was safe and the two-run homer was upheld. 'The runner did miss home plate and was assisted, however, that play is not reviewable, according to Appendix G,' the umpire said. Appendix G of the NCAA softball rulebook legislates video reviews, and which plays are subject to it. According to the section, runners missing a base and runners leaving early on a pitch are eligible for review. Rule 10 of Appendix G states that 'runners leaving the base prior to the touch on a fly ball (tagging up), runners missing a base and runners leaving early on a pitch' are eligible for review. In the 1996 Summer Olympics, Team USA's only loss of the tournament came to Australia in round-robin play due to the same play. American third baseman Dani Tyler hit a ball over the center-field wall, but after failing to touch home plate, the score remained knotted at zero. Her home run would've given the U.S. the 1-0 lead at the end of regulation, but Tyler was called out after an appeal by Australia. 'I can't imagine missing any of the plate trotting, but I was so excited I don't remember positively touching it,' Tyler said after the 1996 matchup, according to USA Today. 'I can't really tell you for sure.' Despite that play, Team USA went on to take home gold. And despite the confusion on Sunday, the Volunteers stayed alive. Tennessee advances to the national semifinals and will face Texas at noon ET on Monday. The Vols will have to beat the Longhorns twice to reach the championship series. 'We got everything left in the tank,' Mealer player. 'We're ready. We're ready to go.' This story will be updated.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lady Vol Softball explodes for seven runs in the first inning, advance past Florida
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (WATE) — The question about Tennessee entering Friday's contest against Florida was how it would respond to a heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma. Tennessee answered that with a seven-spot in the first inning. UT went on to win 11-3. Tennessee turned to Karlyn Pickens to start the game. The ace only had to pitch one shutout inning. In the bottom of the first, Tennessee pieced together seven runs on seven hits. It all started with a Gabby Leach triple down the third base line. Taylor Pannell followed it up with an RBI single. The wheels were in motion at that point. Twins carry on Leach family legacy as third and fourth sisters to play softball at Tennessee McKenna Gibson brought home another run with a bases-loaded walk. Laura Mealer drove in another with a single to left. Alannah Leach broke it open, clearing the bases with a double. Tennessee capped off the scoring in the first when Emma Clarke plated Alannah Leach on a sac fly. UT tacked on two more in the second inning. Sophia Nugent cracked a fastball to left for her 18th home run of the season. McKenna Gibson followed it up with her 12th dinger of the year. Tennessee baseball earns regional host bid Sage Mardjetko took over for Pickens in the ring. She went two innings but gave up three earned runs, all of which came off home runs. Alannah Leach helped the Lady Vols secure the run-rule win with a single that scored Mealer. Erin Nuwer replaced Mardjetko in the ring. The freshman finished the game out by going two innings with two strikeouts and no runs given up. THE LATEST: University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers news UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will face the loser between Texas Tech and UCLA on Sunday at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WATE. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
No. 2 Oklahoma overcomes early woes, downs No. 7 Tennessee on Ella Parker's walk-off homer in WCWS
Sooners ace Sam Landry had a feeling she couldn't quite put her finger on heading into No. 2 Oklahoma's first game against No. 7 Tennessee in the Women's College World Series. 'Something's gonna happen,' she remembered thinking. But through most of the game, nothing did — for Oklahoma, at least. The Sooners were trailing 3-1 with two outs and runners on first and third in the bottom of the seventh staring down a Friday game in the loser's bracket. That was until sophomore Ella Parker hammered a walk-off home run, her second of the game, over Devon Park's center-field wall off Tennessee's star pitcher Karlyn Pickens. Advertisement '(I) just understand to keep passing the bat,' Parker said postgame. 'I wasn't trying to make any moment too big.' Oklahoma won 4-3, earning an off day before playing No. 6 Texas on Saturday. Tennessee faces No. 3 Florida on Friday night in an elimination game. 'That was a gut punch,' Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. 'We play Florida tomorrow. One team's going home. It's going to come down to which team can flush today the quickest.' ELLA PARKER WALKS IT OFF ‼️#WCWS x 🎥 ESPN / @OU_Softball — NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 29, 2025 The game felt like Tennessee's for the taking until the top of the seventh when Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso saw fans starting to leave the stadium and said she shared that with the team. 'People thought we were done,' she said. 'One thing, if you watched us through the season, we're never done.' Momentum started tilting out of Tennessee's favor in later innings as Oklahoma ramped up its defense, and fully shifted when Oklahoma turned a clutch double play with bases loaded to maintain the 3-1 deficit heading into its final turn at-bat. It was the Sooners' third double play of the game, and set the stage for their comeback. 'We work on double plays all the time so they're fun to turn in the game,' Landry said. 'They're definitely a momentum changer.' The Sooners gave up three runs throughout the first three innings but held the Volunteers scoreless after that. '(The Sooners) love, love defense so much that my shoulder, knee everything is falling apart because we just have to hit them ground balls constantly,' Gasso said. 'They're all great hitters but if you ask them what they like better they'll say defense. They believe, and I believe, defense wins championships.' third DP of the day 🔄 Three outs to work with. 📺ESPN — Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) May 29, 2025 Tennessee's Pickens retired two of the first three batters of the seventh inning. All game long, Pickens — who threw the fastest softball pitch in NCAA history last week with a 79.4 mile-per-hour flamer against Nebraska — was easily throwing 75 mph fastballs and the Sooners struggled at the plate for most of the game. Advertisement Gasso said to prepare for Pickens, the team set their pitching machines to nearly 80 mph in practice. 'You see the same thing out of Karlyn all seven innings. Karlyn is as steady as they come,' Weekly said. 'She's a warrior. Ninety nine times out of 100, she wins that game.' On Pickens' second pitch to her fourth batter of the seventh, Oklahoma's Kasidi Pickering hit a single that pushed Ailana Agbayani to third base before Parker brought it home — literally. Parker and Pickering lead the Sooners with a .418 and .409 batting average, respectively. They both rank second and third, respectively, on the team in RBIs. Pickens struck out eight and allowed five hits on 129 pitches. Landry threw 139 pitches, tallied two strikeouts and allowed eight hits. Oklahoma has yet to lose a game in this year's playoffs, escaping the regional round with three straight wins and then besting No. 15 Alabama in a straight set in the super regionals. Its pursuit of its fifth straight championship with its 14 newcomers now continues Saturday. 'Winning the first game sets you up. It's really, really important and I think this team doesn't even know that,' Gasso said.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pickens hurls shutout, Dodge provides only run and Tennessee tops Nebraska 1-0 to win Super Regional
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Karlyn Pickens pitched a two-hit shutout, Ella Dodge's first-inning home run provided the only run and No. 7 seed Tennessee defeated unseeded Nebraska 1-0 on Sunday to win the Knoxville Super Regional. Two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year Pickens struck out 10, walked one and hit two batters. Her ERA dipped under 1.00 and sits at 0.96 heading into the Women's College World Series. Tennessee (45-15) will be making its ninth trip to the WCWS. Advertisement Dodge's two-out solo home run in the first inning put Tennessee ahead 1-0. On Saturday, she hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Tennessee went on to win the second game of the series 3-2. Pickens created a jam in the fifth inning when Hannah Camenzind singled and took second on a wild pitch. Pickens hit the next batter and threw another wild pitch, leaving runners on second and third with one out. Abbie Squier struck out, Ava Bredwell walked to load the bases, and Lauren Camenzind struck out to end the threat. It was the only time Nebraska advanced a runner past first base. Nebraska (43-15) has eight previous appearances in the WCWS, although one was later vacated by the NCAA. ___ AP college sports:
