Lady Vols sweep in Classic

If the other guys can't hit, it's tough to lose.

The No. 5-ranked University of Tennessee softball team (13-1) proved that again on Saturday by sweeping a pair of games on one-hit pitching performances in the Tennessee Classic.

Senior Megan Rhodes (5-0) and junior Danielle Pieroni teamed up to limit Wagner to one hit in a five-inning, 14-0 romp past Wagner in game one.

Freshman Ashton Ward (8-1) then struck out a career-high nine Louisiana-Monroe batters en route to a 4-0 victory in the nightcap.

Lady Vol co-head coach Ralph Weekly liked what he saw against Wagner, but he wasn't as complimentary about UT's effort against Louisiana-Monroe.

'The game against Wagner gave us the opportunity to play everyone, as we got all our players in the game by the second inning,' Weekly said. 'Everyone contributed in that win.

'Against Louisiana-Monroe, we left too many runners on base. It felt like we had runners in scoring position during every inning, and except for a couple of hitters, we couldn't get them in.'

The Lady Vols buried Wagner early with a six-run first inning keyed by freshman catcher Jen Lapicki's first career grand slam.

Sophomore outfielder Erinn Webb went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and five other UT players came through with solo RBIs. Third baseman Tonya Callahan was 2-for-2 with an RBI and Pieroni 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Tennessee had opportunities to bury Louisiana-Monroe, but had to rely on Ward's pitching and senior Shannon Doepking's three RBIs. Doepking and sophomore first baseman Tiffany Huff each went 2-for-3.

In other games Saturday: BYU defeated Virginia 5-1 and the Lady Cavaliers bounced back with a 9-1 victory against Wagner.

The Lady Vols return to action noon today against Virginia in the Tennessee Classic finale. Louisiana-Monroe takes on Wagner at 10 a.m.