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Lady Vols lead off Leadoff Classic with wins over Charlotte, Hofstra
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Tennessee won its first two games of pool play Friday afternoon at the NFCA Leadoff Classic softball tournament in Columbus, Ga.
The fourth-ranked Lady Vols (16-1) opened with a 8-4 win over Charlotte followed by a 5-2 victory against Hofstra.
"I thought the defense played well," UT co-head coach Ralph Weekly said, "and that our two wins were a team effort."
Megan Rhodes pitched five innings against Charlotte (7-6), giving up four hits and four runs - three earned - while walking five batters and striking out two.
Ashton Ward entered in the sixth to strike out three and walk two in picking up her first save of the season.
Charlotte scored its runs in the top of third. UT answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-4 lead before adding its final three runs in the sixth.
Tiffany Huff made the difference for UT against Hofstra (7-5).
The Lady Vols trailed 2-1 entering the fourth inning, but Huff, a sophomore, hit her second career grand slam to give UT a 5-2 lead.
Erinn Webb had given UT a 1-0 lead in the second inning with her third home run of the season.
Ward started on the mound and left after giving up one hit and two runs in 4 1/3 innings. She struck out two batters and walked three.
Rhodes improved her pitching record to 7-0 in 2 2/3 innings of relief work. She gave up one hit, struck out five and walked two.
"We struggled at the pitching spot at times today," Weekly said. "Both Megan Rhodes and Ashton Ward were really good, however, when it counted most and did a good job of adapting to the strike zone.
"Our three, four, five and six hitters are consistently giving us opportunities to score runs and win games."
Tennessee resumes pool play today against Florida State (11 a.m.) and Illinois State (4 p.m.).
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by andefromtn on March 1, 2008 at 6:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Keep up the team effort. Take it one day at a time and who know how good this team can be. I can't wait to make to next home game to watch the team play.
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