College Softball: Lady Vols Top Jaguars, 4-0

All season long, the Lady Vols softball team has been anything but a let down. After a very successful home opener on Friday, that momentum carried into Saturday.

The Lady Vols scored two runs in both the first and second innings while junior pitcher Matty Moss recorded five strikeouts, four hits, and allowed zero runs on 65 pitches as the Lady Vols topped the South Alabama Jaguars 4-0 in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday.

Junior Aubrey Leach led the team in offensive efficiency, nailing down a perfect 1.000 SLG percentage and .750 OBP percentage, while scoring two runs and driving in one RBI herself.

Leach was the engine that ignited the Lady Vols offense, recording a single on her first - and the team’s - at bat of the day. Sophomore Jenna Holcomb cranked out a single of her own on the next at bat, while advancing Leach to second. Up next would be star player Senior Meghan Gregg and she would not disappoint, as she drove in Leach for the first score of the day, resulting in her 27th RBI of the season to put the Lady Vols up, 1-0.

Sophomore Chelsea Seggern would drive in Holcomb on the ensuing at bat, while leaving South Alabama pitcher Devin Brown in a tough spot with Gregg remaining on second base.

Brown managed to get out of the tough spot, striking out the next two batters for the Vols, but the damage was already done as UT led 2-0 heading into the second inning.

Moss would take advantage of good fielding and pitching of her own to keep South Alabama from responding in the top of the second inning, while setting up the Lady Vols’ offense for success of their own.

The Lady Vols took advantage of another stolen base by substitute runner Brooke Langston and a fielder’s error en route to another two-score inning, to put the Lady Vols up 4-0.

While Brown was able to get a three-up/three-down scenario going for the Jaguars in the bottom of the third, she couldn’t get the needed run support to close the gap on Tennessee’s lead as Moss would record two strikeouts on the following Jaguars possession, leaving them clueless as how to curtail the effective Tennessee pitching attack.

And just when South Alabama had enough of Moss, the Lady Vols decided to keep pouring it on, brining in sophomore Caylan Arnold to finish the job midway through the top of the fifth inning.

Arnold absolutely destroyed it, setting up and knocking down the next two consecutive batters, on the way to a night in which she recorded two strikeouts and just two allowed hits in a little over two innings of play.

The win puts the Lady Vols at (3-0) thus far on the weekend in tournament play. Their next matchup is a doubleheader against Charleston Souther, immediately following this game.