OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Alannah Leach had two hits and knocked in four runs, and Tennessee rolled past Florida 11-3 in a Women’s College World Series elimination game on Friday night.
Tennessee (46-16) pounded out 12 hits and set a record for its highest run total in a World Series game. The seventh-seeded Volunteers advanced to play the loser of Saturday’s Texas Tech vs. UCLA game in an elimination game on Sunday.
Third-seeded Florida (48-17), a national semifinalist last year, was knocked out in two games.
Tennessee lost its World Series opener to Oklahoma on a walk-off home run by Ella Parker on Thursday. Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said her team responded well after the disappointing loss.
“This morning when I walked into breakfast, it was all laughter and noise and joking and smiles, and you never would have known what happened last night,” Weekly said. “And that’s the way you want your team to be.”
The Volunteers rallied to support ace pitcher Karlyn Pickens, who gave up the walk-off.
“Obviously an emotional night, but these guys said two things in the locker room last night,” Weekly said. “Number one, they said, Karlyn, it’s not your fault; and, number two, Karlyn, we got your back.”
They meant it. Pickens started against Florida, and the Volunteers supported her with seven runs on seven hits in the first inning. Alannah Leach’s twin sister, Gabby Leach, got it started with a triple, and she scored on a single by Taylor Pannell. A double by Alannah Leach knocked in three runs.
Tennessee struck again in the second when back-to-back solo shots by Sophia Nugent and McKenna Gibson pushed the lead to 9-0 and chased reliever Ava Brown.
Florida’s first hit of the game was a two-run homer by Reagan Walsh in the fourth. Korbe Otis followed with a solo shot to make it 10-3.
The Volunteers’ early lead allowed them to rest Pickens. She started and threw one hitless inning with two strikeouts. Erin Nuwer got the win in two innings of relief.
The Gators did not play ace Keagan Rothrock. All four batters Florida starter Kara Hammock faced scored, and she was pulled without registering an out.
Florida coach Tim Walton said Rothrock had a blister that had popped previously, and it was being managed.
“Ultimately, she could have pitched today, and being good or not good, we don’t know what that would have been,” he said. “But got a long road to go, and you blow her out in the first inning of this game, and then what? I know we’re done now, but the decision was really to just try to go as much as we can with everyone else given the circumstances.”
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Read the full article here