Tennessee's shortest game of the season ranked among its most impressive.
The Lady Vols' speed, pitching and power was on display in their NCAA softball tournament opener, which lasted one hour, 16 minutes at Lee Stadium on Friday night.
Sophomore Ivy Renfroe pitched a no-hitter and freshman Madison Shipman delivered a two-out, walk-off grand slam in an 8-0, five-inning win over Liberty before a sellout crowd of 1,649.
Tennessee, 48-10 and the tournament's No. 14 seed, plays Oklahoma State (38-17) at 2 o'clock today.
The 22nd-ranked Cowgirls beat 18th-ranked Georgia Tech (44-11), by a 2-1 margin Friday in the Knoxville Regional.
The Lady Vols were in no position to look ahead, leading the Flames 1-0 with two outs in the fifth.
But then Raven Chavanne ignited a rally by legging out an infield hit and advancing to second on a throwing error. Kat Dotson, who had one of UT's four stolen bases, singled home Chavanne for the first of the seven Lady Vols runs in the fifth.
"When you're not used to our speed,'' Dotson said, "it can blow your mind.''
As it turned out, so can Shipman's power, even though the former USA Junior National Team member is playing with a broken bone in her wrist.
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"I was just trying to get a couple of more runs in,'' said Shipman, who recorded the second grand slam of her young career on a 2-1 pitch. "Just out of nowhere, we started scoring runs all over the place.''
UT's two-out lightning has struck often this season; of the team's 375 RBIs, 151 have occurred with two outs.
"Our team never quits,'' said Renfroe, who improved to 18-4. "We keep throwing punches.''
Big South tournament champion Liberty (30-29) had put up a noble fight.
"We had an opportunity with runners on second and third (in the third inning) and didn't cash that in,'' said Flames coach Paul Wetmore, 0-16 against UT. "It turns the whole game around.''
Liberty put two runners on via an error and a walk to open the third. Amber Depasquale's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third with one out.
UT recovered when Jessica Spigner fielded a hard grounder and looked back the scoring threat before firing to first for the second out, and Renfroe fanned the next batter to escape the jam.
UT co-head coach Ralph Weekly said the Lady Vols need another strong effort against scrappy Oklahoma State, which beat Georgia, 1-0, earlier this season.
"Our old slogan of 'keep throwing punches' will come into fruition tomorrow,'' he said.
Look Ahead: SEC Freshman of the Year Ellen Renfroe (26-5, 1.28 ERA) will start today against the Cowgirls. The winner of the UT-Oklahoma State game advances to the championship game at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The loser plays again at 7 tonight in an elimination game against the winner of today's 4:30 elimination game between Liberty and Georgia Tech.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Softball: Tennessee 2, Georgia 1
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 8
orangecountyvols writes:
Vols,
We were slow out of the gate but got it done. Ivy had quite a few 3-2 counts but in crunch time was over powering.
These Lady Vols are really quick and once on base they make things happen. It was nice to see the no hitter and a long ball leaving the yard.
Liberty gave it a go and hung in there for a while. Looking for more of the same Ladies.
huntined#565710 writes:
Now that is how they need to play every game!!!
Just because of that 14th seed. Win them all in 5 innings . Ivy had it today as she was like her old self.
ODA751 writes:
Way to bring it Ladies. Rest up and do it again.
PureOrange writes:
Keep it up ladies.
Take care of business on Saturday, and then wrap it up Sunday. Let's go the shortest distance.
SummittsCourt writes:
Great win Lady Vols! Take down the cowgirls today!
vol4gzus writes:
I'll take two things into account for your negative post: 1. just past midnight and 2. you who never has anything positive to say about Ladies softball even though ewe still post.
Let's just say/ask that you don't post anything just type nothing then submit an empty box. We will see your post name and in our minds the words negative post will appear and we will move on. Fair enough? Thank you for taking the tyme to read my humble comment and request.
On topic, conrats Lady Vols! Now take down the lady Cowgirls!!!
orangecountyvols writes:
4GJus and other Vols,
That was a great suggestion and I wholeheartedly
agree.
I imagine what bothers a lot of trolls is that most of these women are far better athletes than the obnoxious trolls themselves. They just can't handle it.
marinevol writes:
I am certainly not an authority on college softball (as well as most other things), but I about went crazy (or crazier) watching the Lady Vols win the SEC tournament, and have become a big Lady Vol softball fan. I'll admit to being confused by the headline. Until I read the comments, I was wondering how you have a "walk-off" homerun when the score is 8-0. I was not aware of a mercy rule. Is 8 the magic number for the mercy rule to kick in? How many innings do you have to play? I certainly would appreciate any enlightenment as to the mercy rule.
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