By Jay King
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Lady Vols get the win over the Auburn Tigers by a score of 4-1 to complete their first sweep in conference, and their second of the season.
This low-scoring game was hard fought, as runs were scarce for the first few innings. In the first inning, the Lady Vols went hitless. The second inning looked more promising, as they were able to load the bases as Gabby Leach and Ella Dodge were able to draw walks, and Emma Clarke got on safely by an error. A wild pitch during Destiny Rodriguez’s at-bat as the pinch hitter for Saviya Morgan brought home Leach safely to take the early lead. Rodriguez then struck out to end the inning.
The third inning looked like it would lead to more scoring as Kinsey Fiedler and Taylor Pannell got the early singles, but three straight outs by McKenna Gibson, Sophia Nugent, and Laura Mealer ended the chance to do that. They then went hitless in the fourth, but Emma Clarke was able to draw a walk. They were still unable to score.
Thankfully for the Lady Vols, despite their slow start, they were great on defense. This included pitcher Sage Mardjetko getting five shutout innings and only allowing one hit.
After those shutout innings, the Lady Vols were able to get their scoring up in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Kinsey Fiedler started with a double, followed by a Taylor Pannell intentional walk. The scoring was then started by a McKenna Gibson RBI single that brought home Fiedler. Sophia Nugent then also got intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs. Laura Mealer then hit a two-run RBI single to bring home Amanda Ahlin, who pinch ran for McKenna Gibson and Taylor Pannell. The scoring run then ended on three straight outs.
Auburn was then able to get a couple of hits from Abbey Smith and AnnaLea Adams, and Smith was able to score to cut the deficit down to three.
In the bottom of the sixth, Tennessee was unable to score any insurance runs despite a Saviya Morgan single and walks to Taylor Pannell and Sophia Nugent.
Karlyn Pickens then came into relief in the top of the seventh and shut down Auburn, as she only gave up one hit and got all three outs to complete the save, her second one in a row, to complete the sweep.
Head coach Karen Weekly said this about getting the much-needed sweep heading closer and closer to conference play: “It’s huge. It’s our first SEC sweep. And it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. It’s really tough. And I thought we were just really gritty this weekend. We found a way to just make it happen each game. None of them were what we wanted. None of them were pretty, but, you know, pitching is the name of the game. And we got really, really good pitching, and I couldn’t be more pleased with Sage.”
The Lady Vols’ next game is this Tuesday night, April 22nd, versus the Clemson Tigers in a midweek game at six pm EST, as they prepare for their weekend series versus the Ole Miss Rebels on the road in Oxford, MS.