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Playing four games in less than 24 hours finally caught up to No. 4 Tennessee's pitching staff on Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Vols issued nine walks, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter with the bases loaded in a 4-1 softball loss to South Florida in the USF Best Western Tournament in Tampa, Fla. It was the Lady Vols' (8-1) first loss of the season.

Senior Megan Rhodes started and worked the opening three innings before re-entering in the fifth. She worked 53 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with six walks and four strikeouts. Freshman Ashton Ward (5-1) gave up a pair of unearned runs on no hits to go along with three walks and a strikeout.

"Anytime a team has to play four games in 22 hours it's a tough challenge, especially for a team as young as ours," Lady Vol co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. "Giving up nine walks against a tough USF team was, in this instance, the straw that broke the camel's back. We'll learn from this, regroup and go forward with the rest of our season."

Offensively, Tennessee managed a season-low four hits. Junior left fielder Lillian Hammond, freshman designated player Jen Lapicki and senior shortstop Kenora Posey each singled, while sophomore center fielder Anita Manuma recorded a double. UT left six runners on base.

Earlier Sunday, UT used a squeeze bunt from freshman second baseman Chandra Mogan an Ole Miss error to score twice in the third inning and beat the Rebels, 2-0.

The Lady Vols closes out the tournament 9:30 a.m. today against Florida A&M.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.