No. 4 Lady Vols are headed to the Women’s College World Series

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The No. 4 Lady Vols have set the tone early throughout the NCAA Tournament, and game two of the Knoxville Super Regional was no exception. Tennessee swept the Longhorns with a 9-0 final in game two to punch their ticket to the Women’s College World Series.

Tennessee hasn’t made an appearance in the WCWS since 2015.

Kiki Milloy recorded a triple with her first at-bat, then in the two-hole, Zaida Puni took the dish. Off the first pitch, Puni slapped it to third, and on a fielder’s choice she reached third and Milloy reached home.

Payton Gottshall took the circle for the start and struck out the batters in order, doing so in just 14 pitches.

In the bottom of the third, Tennessee gets two runners on with no outs. McKenna Gibson lines one up center left, Coach Karen Weekly signals for Kiki Milloy to go home, but she doesn’t beat the throw at the plate and Tennessee gets its first out. The next two Lady Vol strike out swinging to close the frame.

The defense came to play in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Lady Vols snagging three tough outs on a ground out, pop-up, and line out to keep Gottshall’s no-hitter alive.

Puni would strikeout in the top of the fifth, her first strikeout since May 7 against South Carolina in game three.

The no-hitter gets broken up in the top of the fifth after Gottshall walked Lou Gilbert and then on a 1-0 count, Tennessee initiated a brief mound meeting.

After four scoreless innings, the Lady Vols plate two runs in the top of the sixth. D. Rodriguez singled to right center and advanced to second on a throwing error by the center fielder, Guilia Koutsoyanopulos advanced to third, she’d score on the throw and so would Rylie West to make it 3-0 Tennessee.

The next inning, Tennessee slammed the door shut with a six-run frame. It started with a Jamison Brockenbrough single through the left side, Mackenzie Donihoo advanced to second; West advanced to third and McKenna Gibson scored.

Then Koutsoyanopulos singled through the right side, advanced to second on the error, and scored, Brockenbrough advanced to second, advanced to third on the error, and scored; Donihoo advanced to third, scored on the error; West scored.

Tennessee led it 9-0 after the seventh.

The Lady Vols recorded 9 runs, 10 hits, and 0 errors.

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