OKLAHOMA CITY – No. 7 Tennessee’s season came to an end Monday afternoon, falling to sixth-ranked Texas, 2-0, in the semifinals of the Women’s College World Series.
Facing elimination, the Lady Vols (47-17) ran out of gas following several impressive showings at Devon Park during the last week. The Longhorns (54-11) received a strong outing from their pitchers and defense, as the Big Orange finished with just three hits and two walks in seven innings, while striking out seven times and leaving five runners on base.
In the circle, Karlyn Pickens had her best showing of the week, striking out nine batters and allowing just five hits and one earned run on the day. During the third inning, she became just the third Lady Vol ever to record 300 strikeouts in a single season, joining Monica Abbott (2004-07) and Stephanie Humphrey (2002). She finished the year with 306 punchouts, moving her into sixth on the program’s single-season leaderboard.
Two of UT’s three hits in the contest came as singles from the duo of Taylor Pannell and Laura Mealer, who enjoyed two of the best WCWS performances in program history. Pannell tallied eight hits throughout the week, marking the most by a Lady Vol ever in a single trip to Oklahoma City, to go along with five runs scored and three runs batted in.
For Mealer, she posted seven hits throughout the four-game stretch, which is tied for the second most in a single WCWS with India Chiles (2007). She will always be remembered for her heroics against No. 9 UCLA, when she had the walk-off single to left field and three RBIs on the day to send the Lady Vols to a second semifinals appearance in three seasons.
Both teams were scoreless through the first three innings, but in the bottom of the fourth, Texas’ Katie Stewart got under a pitch and sent it just over the left field wall for a solo home run. The Longhorns added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a throwing error, making it a 2-0 game.
