By Gabriel Daniel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- With the wind blowing hard, No.6 Tennessee (12-1) continued its six- game win streak Friday night in its home opener with a 19-0 win over Belmont (9-4) at Sherri Parker Lee stadium.
The Lady Vols batters got off to a hot start, scoring nine runs in the bottom of the second inning, including two home runs.
Coach Karen Weekly thought the score wasn’t the most impressive part of the team’s performance.
“That might be the best job I’ve seen a team do of staying focused from first pitch to last pitch, regardless of the score. It’s easy when you get up by eight, nine, ten runs to just kick back, but our team stayed locked in,” Weekly said.
Senior outfielder Kiki Milloy hit her seventh home run of the season during the bottom of the second that cracked the game open.
“The fact that we came out and we got the win that we did that’s just going to set the tone for the
rest of the games we play,” Milloy said.
The other home run of the inning was hit by junior Rylie West. After being out at the beginning of the year with a hamstring injury, she blasted a ball centerfield directly into the scoreboard.
“I felt great, rounding that bag at first on my home run going full speed I felt it had come full
circle,” West said.
Tennessee’s offense continued the scoring into the third inning, adding on another nine runs. The offensive success is nothing new for this Lady Vols team, having outscored opponents 40-0 in the previous weekend’s series of games.
Tennessee didn’t just have success on the offensive side, as the pitching staff had another dominant day. The Lady Vols did not allow a run to score for the sixth consecutive game, their longest streak since 2006. Starting pitcher Ashley Rogers picked up her fourth win of the year and only allowed two hits on the day.
Charli Orsini came in for Rogers in the fourth inning and only allowed one hit in her two innings of play. This seemed to be just another day at the office for the Lady Vols pitchers, who have only given up nine runs on the year.
The game came to an end in the fifth inning due to the run-rule.
The Lady Vols will take on Jacksonville State twice on Saturday, first at 3 p.m. and again at 5:30 p.m. in continuation of the Tennessee Classic.