Tennessee softball defeats Virginia to stay unbeaten in Knoxville Regional
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee softball and the Virginia Cavaliers met at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium to begin day two at the NCAA Softball Knoxville Regional. The Lady Vols moved to 2-0 in the regional with a 7-5 win.
Emma Clarke and Makenzie Butt had big swings on the day for the Lady Vols. Sage Mardjetko and Karlyn Pickens handled things in the circle for Tennessee, with Mardjetko recording her 13th win of the season.
Mardjetko came in with a 12-2 record, 150 strikeouts to 36 walks with a 0.96 ERA and 0.83 WHIP, and retired the opening frame in order, including a leadoff strikeout of Jade Hylton.
Tennessee started off with hot bats as Sophia Knight and Alannah Leach reached on back to back singles. Then Elsa Morrison nailed a 2RBI double off the right center field wall to put the Lady Vols up 2-0. Leach was initially called out at the plate, but review overturned the call.
Eden Bigham was knocked off her game early by Tennessee, which affected her command. Makenzie Butt placed an RBI single down the right field line, and with bases loaded and one out, Taelyn Holley worked an eight-pitch RBI walk to make it 4-0 Tennessee.
Bigham was pushed from the game, and Virginia went to Taylor Smith to face Bella Faw, who fought off 11 pitches before reaching on an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 5-0.
The first inning lasted 33 minutes total, and the Cavaliers threw a total of 40 pitches with the Lady Vols batting through the order once, with Knight seeing the plate twice. Tennessee was intentional and patient at the plate.
”It was definitely a breath of fresh air, you know,” coach Karen Weekly told Southeastern Softball Wire. “And I think a lot of that was keyed with our leadoff hitter getting on to start a game. That’s something that we haven’t done in a while. When you can get your leadoff hitter on in any inning, good things tend to happen.”
Mardjetko came back after the long break and retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the second inning. The change of speeds and locations were on point. In her first 27 pitches, 20 were strikes.
Then, after Smith settled things in the second by retiring the Lady Vols in order, the Cavaliers put two on with one out. That set up a big three-run home run from Macee Eaton to cut Tennessee’s lead to two.
Clarke answered with a leadoff home run for her 12th of the season in the bottom of the third to put Tennessee up 6-3. That makes back-to-back games that she has homered.
”Really, it’s just been more of a sellout process and just making sure that whenever I swing, I swing with conviction and just let my stuff work,” Clarke said.
Mardjetko recorded her sixth strikeout of the game to begin the fourth. Then with one out, Alex Call singled to center for the Cavaliers third hit of the game but that was all they could muster.
That was the end of the day for Mardjetko, who finished with 4.0 innings pitched with three runs allowed on three hits, and six strikeouts to no walks in 71 total pitches.
”Like Karen said, it’s just about win and move on,” Mardjetko told Southeastern Softball Wire. “So it doesn’t have to be pretty, and today definitely wasn’t my prettiest performance. But it just goes back to being a competitor and doing whatever it takes to, you know, win.
“And just keeping the mindset of, you know, flush it and move on. So not holding anything, you know, detaching yourself from the results and just doing whatever it takes to win.”
Other than Clarke’s home run, Smith kept Tennessee at bay. Smith was great in relief and mixed really well. That made the Lady Vols a little aggressive in some plate appearances and hit right into the Cavalier defense.
”I would say I don’t necessarily focus as much on them, just more on myself, and staying sharp with my pitches,” Smith told Southeastern Softball Wire. “I would say just having all the confidence in myself allowed me to go against these really good hitters and be successful.”
Pickens took the ball to begin the fifth inning to make her first appearance in 10 calendar days. After back-to-back outs, including a strikeout of Jaiden Griffith, Hylton reached on a single, but Faw made a great play at shortstop on an Eaton groundout to retire the side.
Tennessee woke up with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. After Smith recorded her third strikeout of the game, Clarke and Gabby Leach recorded back to back singles. Then, a base running mistake from Leach ended the inning as she was caught between first and second in a steal attempt.
Pickens pounded the zone to begin the top of the sixth and after a strikeout of Reagan Hickey for the second out, Hannah Weismer worked a walk and then Call smashed a two-run home run to left center to cut the Lady Vols’ lead to 6-5.
Pickens then responded with a strikeout of Kassidy Hudson to get out of the inning. That was her third strikeout in 2.0 innings pitched.
Tennessee needed some insurance, and Butt answered with a bottom of the sixth leadoff home run to left field to push the lead to 7-5. Then Pickens returned for the seventh inning to shut the door on Virginia. She retired the side in order and recorded her sixth save of the season.
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