KNOXVILLE, Tenn (WATE) — For the first time since 2019, the Lady Vols have advanced to Super Regionals. It will be Tennessee’s first time hosting since 2017.
No. 4 Tennessee took down Indiana for the second time in as many days, following up Saturday’s 9-1 run-rule victory with a 7-3 win on championship Sunday.
The Lady Vols hit four home runs in their first meeting and continued that trend in Sunday’s matchup. After being walked, Kiki Milloy stole second. That’s when Zaida Puni brought her home on a two-run blast into the right field bleachers. It marked the junior’s third homer of the regional.
Indiana threatened in the bottom of the inning with bases juiced. The Lady Vols got out of the jam, but found themselves in the same situation in the second frame.
With just one out, a single, a sac bunt and a walk led to bases loaded once again for the Hoosiers. A Payton Gottshall strikeout and a pop up caught by Puni put an end to that.
It stayed pretty quiet the next couple of innings as the Lady Vols failed to get on base in the third and fourth. Indiana’s Kinsey Mitchell singled in the fourth, but back-to-back strikeouts by Gottshall kept the Hoosiers off the board.
The Lady Vols got the offense going again in the fifth. Kiki Milloy knocked a triple perfectly down the right-field line and then scored on a wild pitch for the 3-0 lead. Puni followed up with her second home run of the afternoon, a solo shot to give Tennessee a 4-0 advantage.
Karen Weekly’s squad added three more runs to cap off a seven-run fifth inning. With the bases loaded, McKenna Gibson scored on a sac fly, and then Giulia Koutsoyanopulos brought home the other two runners on a single through the left side for the 7-0 advantage.
The Hoosiers tacked on three runs in the seventh, but Karlyn Pickens struck out the final batter to secure the 7-3 win.
The Lady Vols will now host No.13 Texas after the Longhorns won the Austin Regional. The Knoxville Super Regional is set to begin May 26.