Hammond helps Lady Vols squeeze Hawaii

Lillian Hammond delivered a perfect squeeze in the bottom of the seventh to score Ashley Andrews and Tennessee escaped with a 3-2 win over Hawaii on Friday at the Cathedral City (Calif.) Classic.

Shelby Burchell gave the No. 9 Lady Vols (12-1) a 2-0 lead in the first. Tiffany Huff had a single and double.

Cat Hosfield (9-1) won in relief of Ashton Ward, despite giving up two runs in 4.1 innings.

Earlier in the day, Burchell hit two home runs in a 6-1 victory over No. 15 Massachusetts.

Hosfield limited UMass (5-2), which scored 14 runs just a couple of hours earlier in a win over N.C. State, to just one run on two hits for a complete game. She also had seven strikeouts.

Huff, Jessica Spigner and Danielle Pieroni also had run-scoring singles for the Lady Vols.

“It’s a credit to our players that they were able to win this game after facing adversity in the late innings,” Lady Vols co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. “We thought all our players contributed to both wins. The squeeze in the seventh inning with Lillian Hammond and Ashley Andrews was a great play, as was Kelly Grieve’s catch over the fence that deprived Hawaii of a home run.”

Late Thursday night, Spigner and Burchell each hit solo homers to support a one-hit, complete-game shutout from Hosfield to beat Loyola Marymount 5-0.

Hosfield struck out eight, including four in a row, while allowing a single and walking none.

Tennessee will face Cal Poly on Saturday.