Tennessee softball opened the floodgates against Virginia on Saturday, winning, 12-0, in five innings.
The No. 3 seed Lady Vols (42-10) advance to the Knoxville Regional final on Sunday with the win over the Cavaliers (33-18). Tennessee will have two chances to win and advance to the Super Regional next weekend.
“I think we just came out with a more urgent mindset,” Tennessee outfielder Kiki Milloy said. “It wasn’t really something that we had talked about, but I think it was just a feeling that we had going into it.”
Payton Gottshall threw all five innings for the Lady Vols, allowing three hits and striking out five Virginia batters. She earned her 20th win of the season with her performance.
Tennessee’s bats started the game hot. Milloy opened the home half of the first inning with a home run to left-center after struggling in Friday’s win over Dayton. Taylor Pannell followed with a home run to right, giving the Lady Vols an early 2-0 advantage.
Milloy has been one of the strengths of the Lady Vols all season, and Saturday was no different.
“Kiki is the straw that serves the drink for us,” Weekly said. “There’s no question. The thing about Kiki is when things don’t go well for her, she’s still such a great leader. She puts a lot of pressure on herself to be the one to come through for us.”
Tennessee loaded the bases later in the first inning with a Destiny Rodriguez walk, but Virginia got the third out to leave all three runners aboard.
The Lady Vols continued the pressure in the second inning. McKenna Gibson’s single drove in Milloy, and Rylie West plated Pannell on a flyout. Sophia Nugent added three more runs with a home run straight out to center, putting the Lady Vols up, 7-0.
Tennessee has won every game this season when it has scored at least three runs, and it hit that target in the second inning. Still, the Lady Vols kept the pressure on to finish the game in five innings.
“I just wanted us to keep scoring,” Weekly said. “I was proud today that we got those two back-to-back home runs to start the game, but we didn’t settle and we scored in every inning. We just kept having quality at-bats.”
Gottshall allowed just one hit in the first three innings, sending down nine of the first 10 batters faced. She threw five strikeouts in her first three innings of work.
Tennessee added four more runs in the third inning. Pannell drove in Milloy on a double, and Rylie West hit a three-run home run over the center-field wall.
Virginia opened the fourth inning with a double, but Gottshall recorded three straight outs to hold onto the shutout.
After Rodriguez singled and Jamison Brockenbrough walked, Milloy added the 12th and final run for the Lady Vols with a single.
Gottshall finished off the win in the fifth inning by forcing a line out to Gibson. She allowed her third hit of her outing in the game but was able to finish off her complete-game shutout.
Because of the offensive performance, Gottshall felt less pressure during her five innings of work.
“Knowing that there’s a possibility that I don’t have to be out there as long,” Gottshall said. “It’s just comforting to know because I know I can go out there and I can be free.”
After struggling offensively in the SEC Tournament and only scoring three runs against Dayton, the Lady Vols were able to get out of their slump and have a dominant offensive performance.
“They just want it,” Weekly said. “In postseason, the tougher team is going to win, and they were very, very tough today.”
