Home › Softball
Lady Vols begin season 5-0
STORY TOOLS
More Softball
- Hosfield earns national award; Spigner honored in California
- Lady Vols finish No. 14 in fastpitch coaches' poll
- Spigner could be next big thing
Share and Enjoy [?]
Get Reprints
Tennessee's dominant run through the Cathedral City Kickoff softball tournament in Cathedral City, Calif., ended Sunday morning with an 8-1 rout of No. 18 Oregon State.
The sixth-ranked Lady Vols (5-0) have won 12 of their last 16 games against the Pac-10 Conference, including Saturday's 5-0 win over No. 20 Oregon.
Sophomore center fielder Anita Manuma and freshman first baseman Jen Lapicki each homered against Oregon State (2-3) and each knocked in a pair of runs to lead the 12-hit attack. Freshman pitcher Ashton Ward threw six innings in relief of starter Megan Rhodes, improving to 3-0 after allowing three hits and no runs with four strikeouts.
During the weekend, UT outscored its opposition 34-3, hit .365 as a team, blasted four home runs and stole 15 bases in 15 attempts. The pitching staff posted a combined 0.45 ERA, struck out 38 in 31 innings and held opposing teams to a .125 batting average.
Offensively, senior catcher Shannon Doepking hit .467 (7-of-15) with a double and seven RBIs, while leadoff hitter Kenora Posey (.462) and Lillian Hammond (.444) combined for 14 hits, 11 runs scored and 10 steals.
"We are extremely proud of our team for their performance in this tough tournament," Lady Vol co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. "Every player contributed in a lot of ways. This was a full team effort."
UT will travel to Tampa, Fla., for the USF Best Western Tournament, beginning Saturday. Other teams are Florida Gulf Coast, Hofstra, South Florida, Mississippi and Florida A&M.
Late Saturday, Doepking drove in a career-high six runs to lead the Lady Vols to an 8-0, five-inning victory over Cal Poly (1-3).
Doepking was 4-for-4 with three two-run singles. Hammond was 3-for-4 with three runs scored.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
- UT report card for UCLA
- Game film makes Fulmer madder
- Crompton suffered concussion in fourth quarter against UCLA
- UT to play UConn in football (not women's basketball)
- Craft ready to go 'all-out' for Pearl, Tennessee
- Next Bradshaw? UT gets commitment from combo guard Craft
- It's a Hollywood disaster, but Fulmer says it's 'fixable'
- Call into the Vol frustration line
- Strange: UT 0-3 in SEC by mid-October?
- Adams: Tony P's is SEC of West
Please download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player, or enable JavaScript for your browser to view the video player.
Posted by lewhs93 on February 10, 2008 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great start.I'll see you next weekend in Tampa.
Posted by vegasvol on February 10, 2008 at 10:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds like we're going to have a lot more offense this year. Great start ladies. Congratulations!
Posted by jh43 on February 10, 2008 at 11:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was really worried about losing Monica (would still love to have her here), but this weekend sure makes me feel better.
Looks like we have some great replacements, and our other players are really stepping up to keep us at the top.
Don't let up!
Go Lady Vols!
Posted by MissyJo on February 13, 2008 at 9:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I came to your softball camp not having seen you ever play before. I read about yor team and how good you all did. I am amazed with how great you played. Good luck with the rest of your season!!!
Go Lady Vols!!!
(Requires free registration.)
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.