By Sawyer Hunley
No. 9 Tennessee made the trip to Durham on Wednesday night and ultimately fell to the No. 14 Duke Blue Devils, 6-3.
Tennessee was off balance on both sides of the plate tonight, and it all started early on.
Karlyn Pickens took to the circle first for Tennessee, and to say she wasn’t herself would be an understatement.
Pickens gave up hits to the first two batters she faced and then a three-run bomb to the next.
Duke was up 3-0 in the blink of an eye, and the Lady Vols never could truly recover.
Pickens was ultimately pulled from the game after the home run and wasn’t even able to record an out.
Junior Sage Mardjetko came into the game and actually put together a solid outing as she went five innings and allowed only four hits, but gave up a two-run home run in the third that ended up being a major difference in this game.
This pitching performance was very uncharacteristic for Tennessee as the pitching staff as a whole only has an ERA of 1.23.
This is tied for the most runs Tennessee has given up all year long, along with a game against LSU back in March.
The offense was a series of missed opportunities all night, leaving a total of 11 base runners on base.
On top of that, they were only able to record five hits in the game.
The only reason the Lady Vols were in this game was because of two home runs from the twin Leach sisters, Alannah and Gabby.
Outside of those two long balls, the offense was a total no-show as only three other hits were recorded, and none of them were productive hits.
Another stat to keep in mind is that the Lady Vols got the leadoff batter on in the first four innings of this game. None of them came around to score.
Overall, this loss does not affect the Lady Vols’ conference standings, but it could have been a monumental win in the big picture, as it could have helped the Lady Vols’ case for hosting a regional and super regional in May.
The biggest takeaway from this game is that a team cannot always rely on its pitching to carry it through every game; it must be balanced on both sides. Tonight, the Lady Vols were not.
Up Next: The Lady Vols now get to take some much-needed time off, as they will not play again until next week, when they are set to have their final home stand of the regular season.
To kick it off, they will face Radford on April 21.
First pitch is slated for 6:00 PM ET.