Saturday Recap

Tennessee grabbed win #20 in a row, defeating LSU 6-4. The Volunteers had to jump back in front after the Tigers went up 4-2 in the first inning, but were able to do so and then keep them off the board to remain a constant in the win column. Meagan Gregg hit her 10th home run of the year, a 2-run blast in the top of the third inning that brought Jenna Holcomb home. Gregg also brought a runner home on a fielder’s choice in the first inning.

Speaking of Holcomb, she went 1-4 at the plate and made not one but TWO diving catches in the game.

The big inning for LSU in the first saw Sahvanna Jaquish, Amanda Doyle and Nicky Dawson all get in on the fun. Each picked up an RBI in the first inning with the only other run coming off of a throwing error. The Tiger bats would go quiet after that as they would only see three opportunities with RISP the rest of the way.

Caylan Arnold got the win and saw her ERA balloon up to 1.77 while Matty Moss picked up the save to trim her ERA down to 1.30. The two combined to allow six hits and four strikeouts over the course of the seven inning affair.

No. 1 Florida took down Ole Miss 3-0 to move to a gaudy 43-3 on the year. Delanie Gourley was excellent again, tossing a complete game shutout while allowing just two hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Gourley’s ERA is now a minuscule 0.78 as she obviously stands as one of the best pitchers in the country, not just the SEC on its own.

Amanda Lorenz hit her seventh home run of the season to lead off the fourth inning, which padded the lead up to the 3-0 mark they would eventually win by. Previously, the Gators struck for two runs in the second inning. In that inning, after a double by Jaimie Hoover to lead off the inning and a walk by Lorenz, Nicole DeWitt stepped up and singled to bring Hoover in. Kayli Kvistad, the ensuing batter, also racked up a single that brought Lorenz home.

The big blow for Ole Miss in the game was a triple off the bat of Kaylee Horton. Elantra Cox, the team’s leading hitter, was held to an 0-3 mark and fell to 0-6 in the series so far. It’s not hard to figure out why the Rebels have struggled so mightily so far with their top hitter having no sign of life at the plate so far. Morgan Bruce was the pitcher of record, tagged with a loss after 3.1 innings of work with seven hits, three runs, four walks and one strikeout.

No. 12 Alabama couldn’t figure out No. 10 Washington again, falling 3-0 to the Huskies on Saturday. Huskies pitching kept the Tide’s bats quiet as they couldn’t muster up any extra base hits in the shutout loss.

Only four ‘Bama batters were able to record a hit with Sydney Booker being the only Tide hitter to record a multi-hit performance (2).

Sydney Littlejohn and Alexis Osorio allowed a combined three home runs, two coming off of Littlejohn, all of the solo variety to provide the offense that the Huskies needed. Ali Aguilar, Sis Bates and Juila DePonte were all credited with the solo blasts. Taran Alvelo picked up the win, allowing five hits and struck out five Tide batters. Madi Schreyer stepped in for the final 1.1 innings of the game, didn’t allow a hit, issued a walk and kept the Tide quiet, all told.

No. 21 Kentucky shut out Mizzou 4-0 to clinch a series win. The victory propels UK up to 29-13 on the season and subsequently sends Mizzou down to 27-20.

The Wildcats got it going from the jump. Katie Reed, the team’s leading hitter, hit a leadoff single and promptly scored on a sac fly by Breanne Ray three batters later. Abbey Cheek, not too far behind Reed for the team lead in batting average, singled to bring Bailey Vick home right after Ray’s sac fly. UK tacked on two more runs, one in the fifth and one in the sixth, thanks to Reed who brought Erin Rethlake home with a fifth inning single and Cheek stepped up to hit a leadoff homer in the sixth. The home run was Cheek’s seventh of the season.

The aforementioned Rethlake pitched a pretty great game. While she issued five walks, she went seven innings, allowing only three hits, struck out four and allowed zero extra base hits to the Tiger batters who were stymied from bell to bell. Regan Nash was the only Tiger to have a multi-hit day and Anna Reed was the only other Mizzou hitter to record a hit.

Auburn was able to triumph over South Carolina to earn yet another series victory. Their 2-0 win over the Gamecocks brings them up to 39-7 on the season and came on a day that the Tigers were named the No. 5 team in the country by the Division 1 Softball Committee in their first Top 10 rankings board.

Ashlee Swindle docked her ERA down from 3.82 to 3.07 after pitching 5.1 scoreless innings en route to getting the win. Her strikeout numbers may not have been there (just two) but she kept the Gamecock bats quiet, allowing zero extra base hits in her first ever start. Kaylee Carlson came in and got the save, throwing 1.2 shutout innings with a strikeout to trim her ERA down to 1.18 on the season. It was Carlson’s second save of the year.

Kendall Veach flashed her power in the win, socking her 11th home run of the season. The homer was of the solo variety, and was a leadoff blast in the fourth inning. The other run came off the bat of Courtney Shea, as Shea drew a bases loaded walk in the top of the first that allowed Victoria Draper to trot home. Draper, who came into the game as Auburn’s leading hitter, went 1-4 to push her average down to .376. That still leads the team among qualified hitters, though Alyssa Rivera’s gaudy .429 is still ‘tops’ on the team. Speaking of, Rivera went 2-4 at the dish with a double (her seventh of the season) and the aforementioned Veach also grabbed a double (her eighth) to give her two extra base hits on the afternoon.

South Carolina’s lone hits of the day were amassed by Krystan White and Taylor Williams. Nickie Blue had a solid outing in spite of the two runs she allowed, as she struck out six and allowed merely five hits. Her ERA jumped up to 2.43 following the loss. Jessica Elliott also appeared, throwing one scoreless inning.

Texas A&M scored another win over Georgia, but this one was a lot tighter than their 10-3 dub on Friday. The Aggies defeated the Bulldogs 1-0 with the lone run coming in the first inning.

Riley Sartain took Kylie Bass deep with a solo homer, the 11th long ball of the season for Sartain, in what proved to be all the offense the Aggies would need.

Samantha Show dominated on the circle, throwing a complete game shutout, allowing just five hits while issuing one walk and struck out eight Georgia batters.

Finally, Mississippi State, who’s enjoyed a recent surge, defeated Arkansas 3-0. The Bulldogs scattered those three runs in the six innings that they got a chance to bat, scoring them all in the even innings (2, 4 and 6).

Katie Anne Bailey got the scoring started as she hit a sacrifice groundout in the second that plated Caroline Seitz. Then, in the fourth inning, Kat Moore led off with a home run, her first of the season, to put the lead up to 2-0. Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, Seitz decided to get in on the fun of driving in runs (as opposed to scoring, as she did in the second) and drove in Bevia Robinson with an RBI single.

On the mound, Cassady Knudsen pitched well despite control issues that arose (four walks issued). She struck out three and allowed six hits over 4.1 innings. Alexis Silkwood came in and threw 2.2 innings of shutdown baseball, striking out three while allowing no hits.

There are pivotal matchups around all over the place. Tennessee aims for win #21 in a row and hope to put more pressure on Florida, who still owns a one game lead over the Vols in the loss column.

Those same Gators will look to keep the Rebels’ woes going as Ole Miss has dropped their last two. UF will be looking to win their fifth contest in a row and hope to maintain their stance as the top team in the SEC and the nation as well.

Texas A&M, tied up with Tennessee in SEC play right now, looks for the sweep over Georgia who has fallen on hard times. The Bulldogs are now an SEC-worst 3-14 in league play and doesn’t figure to get any better unless they can avoid the sweep on Sunday.

Auburn seeks win #40 on the season against South Carolina and victory #6 in a row as they look to push themselves up towards the tippy top of the SEC standings. The Gamecocks, on the other hand, are just looking to avoid the cellar and get into the company of four wins as they stand with the aforementioned Bulldogs with three league wins to this point.

At 8-9, Kentucky is looking to achieve the .500 mark while Mizzou looks to keep them in the company of sub.-500 clubs in the conference. And finally, Mississippi State’s push to get to .500 will continue against Arkansas, who looks to avoid moving to a meager 5-15 mark in conference play.