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Tennessee softball: Three takeaways from Lady Vols’ dominance at Tennessee Invitational

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee's Ashley Rogers (14) pitches during a NCAA Tournament softball game between the Lady Vols and North Carolina, at Sherri Lee Parker Stadium in Knoxville, Sunday, May 19, 2019. North Carolina defeated Tennessee 1-0.Utncsoftball0519 1227
Tennessee's Ashley Rogers (14) pitches during a NCAA Tournament softball game between the Lady Vols and North Carolina, at Sherri Lee Parker Stadium in Knoxville, Sunday, May 19, 2019. North Carolina defeated Tennessee 1-0.Utncsoftball0519 1227 /
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For the second time this year, Tennessee softball went undefeated during a regular season tournament. This time, though, they were actually able to finish the tournament before any inclement weather canceled the final game. Karen Weekly’s No. 17 ranked Lady Vols defeated the Virginia Cavaliers 5-0 Sunday to win this year’s Tennessee Invitational, which UT hosted.

Rocky Top went undefeated during the event. On Friday, they beat the Dartmouth Big Green 8-0 and UVA 7-5. They then beat the South Alabama Jaguars 9-0 Saturday. In the tournament setting matchups, they beat Dartmouth again Saturday 7-1 before shutting out Virginia Sunday. This is the second straight year they went undefeated at the event.

Earlier this year, the Lady Vols went undefeated at the Felsberg Invitational but had the final game against the Maryland Terrapins canceled due to rain. They are now 15-6 and will host the Austin Peay Governors Tuesday before beginning SEC play this weekend at the Missouri Tigers. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee softball’s play this past weekend.

1. Extra base hits carried the scoring.

Of the 36 runs UT scored over the weekend, 20 were off of extra base hits. The Lady Vols scored four off doubles, three off triples and 13 off home runs. They had seven home runs, seven doubles and two triples. Simply put, power was the story of the weekend at the plate. Kiki Milloy was once again the star with two homers, a stolen base, six runs scored and four RBIs. she finished 6-of-14.

McKenna Gibson also had two homers and went 5-of-11 with four runs scored and six RBIs. Rylie West, Zaida Puni and Lair Beautae  all went deep as well. Amanda Ayala had no home runs but was still dominant at the plate, finishing 5-of-15 with five runs, three RBIs and three stolen bases. Beautae and Katie Taylor each had two stolen bases.

2. Pitching can go four-deep with elite play and stamina.

The Tennessee Lady Vols have four key pitchers when fully healthy: Ashley Rogers, Bailey McCachren, Ryleigh White and Erin Edmoundson. Rogers is the ace but was just getting back to health, so she only pitched the seventh against UVA and part of the sixth. She came in after a homer was allowed and the tying run was at the plate and didn’t allow a run, getting the save.

Meanwhile, McCachren, White and Edmoundson all pitched complete games, allowing just one run in 25 innings during those complete games. Edmoundson pitched two and didn’t allow a run in 13 innings as a starter. She did allow one as a reliever in just over five innings, but she was cleaning up a mess left by Nicola Simpson, who is still struggling as a freshman.

3. Defense keeps getting better.

Last week, we noted UT’s defense is still below average but showed signs of improvement, and it cracked a fielding percentage of over 97 percent. That was solid but not where it needed to be. Well, this past weekend, things got even better for them.

Rocky Top had a 97.8 fielding percentage with just three errors all five games. The Tennessee Lady Vols never had more than one error in any game. That rate would put them in the top third of the SEC, so it’s where they need to be. Continuing it into SEC play is going to be crucial.

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