Hoos Fall At No. 3 Tennessee, Play Saturday Night Elimination Game

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Virginia softball team (33-19) dropped a 12-0 decision to No. 3 Tennessee (42-10) in five innings on Saturday afternoon (May 18) in a winner’s bracket game at the NCAA Knoxville Regional.

The Cavaliers will play again tonight against either Dayton or No. 24 Miami (OH) in an elimination game. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Back-to-back home runs in the first started the game for the Lady Vols as the home team opened up the 2-0 lead on the Cavaliers.

Tennessee pushed a third run home in the second inning and Virginia turned to Courtney Layne out of the bullpen with runners at the corners and one out. A walk, a sac fly and a home run took the lead out to 7-0 in favor of the Lady Vols.

A double off the wall in center with one out in the third took the lead to 8-0 for Tennessee. The Lady Vols then added a three-run home run to make it an 11-0 lead.

Mikayla Houge (3-4) took the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits with three walks and a strikeout through 2.1 innings of work. After leaving the game in the second inning, Houge re-entered the game in the  in the fourth and finished out the game.

Payton Gottshall (20-4) picked up the win, allowing the three hits with five strikeouts through her 5.0 innings of work.