KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Thanks to a dominant performance in the circle from Karlyn Pickens and timely offense, No. 8 [7] Tennessee punched its ticket to a fourth consecutive NCAA Super Regional with a 5-1 victory over Virginia on Sunday at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
The Lady Vols (45-10) completed a perfect 3-0 weekend in the Knoxville Regional with wins over Northern Kentucky on Friday and Virginia on both Saturday and Sunday.
With the victory, Tennessee advances to Super Regionals for the 15th time in program history and marks its second stretch of four consecutive super regional berths, joining the run from 2012-15.
As one of the NCAA’s top eight national seeds, Tennessee will host a Super Regional for the fourth straight season, marking the first such stretch in program history.
Pickens (14-7) stifled Virginia’s offense all afternoon, tossing her ninth complete game while allowing just one run on two hits. The senior right-hander struck out nine and retired the final nine batters she faced.
Tennessee opened the scoring in the third inning when a sacrifice fly by Sophia Knight brought Taelyn Holley home for a 1-0 lead. Virginia (40-15) answered in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI double by Macee Eaton.
The Lady Vols regained the lead in the fourth when an error by the Virginia second baseman allowed Ella Dodge to score and make it 2-1. An inning later, Mackenzie Butt singled up the middle to extend the advantage to 3-1.
Tennessee added two more runs in the sixth inning. Holley launched her fifth home run of the season over the wall in left-center field before Alannah Leach doubled off the wall in center to score Bella Faw and push the lead to 5-1.
Pickens closed out the victory in dominant fashion, setting Virginia down in order in both the sixth and seventh innings. After allowing a two-out single in the fourth, she did not surrender another hit.
With the undefeated regional weekend, Tennessee improved to 101-51 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 60-18 in NCAA Regional play.
DUE UP
Tennessee will welcome SEC foe Georgia to Rocky Top next week, with the Bulldogs victorious in the Athens Regional. Dates and times for the Super Regional will be announced by the NCAA on Sunday night.
