by Tristan Thornhill
No. 7 Lady Vol softball dropped the series against No. 16 Arkansas after a 9-0 loss on Sunday. It’s the first series loss for Tennessee this season, giving them a 26-6 record and dropping to 2-3 in conference play.
Erin Nuwer was tagged with her first loss of the year (4-1) while Razorback pitcher Payton Burnham grabbed her sixth win of the year.
Nuwer was not helped in this one. Anytime there was a borderline pitch on the black, it went in favor of Arkansas. Regardless, it’s her job to ensure her squad gets outs, and that wasn’t the case on Sunday.
While there was only one official error in the final scorecard, the Lady Vols played one of their sloppiest games yet this season, allowing pop-ups to fall for hits numerous times throughout the game.
In the second inning, third baseman Taylor Pannell made two spectacular plays, but immediately followed it up with an error, and a misread on a ball that was laced down the line, which allowed Arkansas to grab a 1-0 lead. Pannell had four straight plays involving her, and unfortunately for the Lady Vols, she couldn’t quite handle the last two that would’ve gotten Tennessee out of trouble.
In the top of the third, Bri Ellis doubled down the right field line, setting up the Razorbacks to do more damage immediately. Atalyia Rijo came up with two outs, and one on, and hit a double to left, scoring Ellis. Then, on the very next pitch, Karlie Davison hit a home run to left field, extending the lead to four.
Anytime the Lady Vols had a chance to get out of an inning with two outs, they squandered the opportunity.
It would stay a 4-0 ball game into the final frame, even though the Lady Vols had opportunity after opportunity. One issue they faced in the loss in the first game of the series was a lack of timing up the pitching, and it was no different on Sunday. A lot more off-balance swings, foul balls, and reaching out of the zone.
Lots of three up three down all over the scorecard for the Lady Vols but they finally had something brewing in the bottom of the sixth. Pannell drew a leadoff walk and Sophia Nugent singled through the right side. With two on, Destiny Rodriguez lined out sharply to third, and Ella Dodge struck out swinging, wasting another opportunity for the Lady Vols.
“They lacked discipline today, simply put. There was a lot of swing-and-miss and not working counts after four-pitch walks. It wasn’t a good effort. But it happens.” – An anonymous Lady Vol fan after Tennessee’s loss on Sunday.
In the top of the seventh, the wheels fell off. Courtney Day lead-off with a home run to left field that cleared the smokey grey mountain makeshift wall in left field.
Peyton Tanner walked Rijo and Davison, and once Nuwer reentered the game, she walked Kennedy Miller, loading the bases for the Razorbacks. Reagan Johnson followed with an RBI single through the left side, while the Razorbacks just played musical chairs, and left the bases loaded for Kailey Wyckoff.
Wyckoff worked a full count before she slapped a double to right field out of the reach of either Tennessee fielder. And once more, the Lady Vols added insult to injury by allowing her to get into a rundown between second and third, allowing Johnson to reach the plate safely, scoring all three runners on base, making it 9-0 Arkansas.
At this point, the Lady Vols were just playing for something to build on. Back-to-back games of sloppy play is fixable, but they needed to get out of their own way.
Gabby Leach started the bottom of the seventh with a walk and advanced to second on a bunt single by Saviya Morgan. However, Arkansas catcher Kennedy Miller came up firing to second after seeing Leach round the base hard and got her with a nice tag from Davison at second, once more adding insult to injury.
Even after a Kinsey Fiedler single, and Pannell reaching via a hit by pitch, the Lady Vols went down quietly once McKenna Gibson popped out to shortstop on the first pitch of her at-bat.
The Lady Vols have one final game against Arkansas on Monday, hoping to get back on track and readjust their focus on winning, and do away with their recent sloppy play. First pitch is at 7 PM from Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville.