No. 4 Lady Vols put together massive third inning to move past NKU

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - No. 4 Lady Vols got right to work against the Norse from Northern Kentucky in Tennessee’s first game on the Knoxville Regional.

Payton Gottshall got the start and was wheeling and dealing, struck out her first nine batters faced in 36 pitches.

In the bottom of the first, Zaida Puni launched a line drive to the right field porches for a solo home run to get the Lady Vols on the board. Tennessee would get the bases loaded with one out, but the next two batters struck out, leaving bases loaded stranded.

The third inning was massive for Tennessee and saw six runs cross the plate off a pair of RBIs. Rylie West got it started with a triple to right field, her first of the season. Then when the bases got loaded again, Jamison Brockenbrough tripled to right field and cleared the bases for a three RBI triple to make it 4-0 Lady Vols. That was the freshman’s first triple and three RBI.

Next batter, Katie Taylor doubled to bring in Brockenbrough. Later, McKenna Gibson at the dish with two on and a double to left field brought in Kiki Milloy and Taylor to bring the score up 6-0.

In the third, Tennessee brought in six runs on five hits.

Gottshall struck out the first two batters in the top of the fourth and walked her first batter.

Brockenbrough came up clutch in the next frame, with two on she squared up the pitch which took a favorable bounce in the infield and goes over the first baseman into the outfield, enough to bring in both runners. Her 2 RBI single brought up the score 9-0 with two outs.

Puni came to play as well, at the dish with two and two outs she laces a pitch off of Madisyn Eads and hits the scoreboard for a three-run home run to ring up the score 12-0, part of a five-run inning. This marks the junior’s first game with two home runs.

Gottshall continued her dominant play throughout the entirety of the game, striking out nine, walking two on her way to tossing a no-hitter.

Lady Vols win 12-0 in game one. They’ll take the diamond again on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. game against Indiana.

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