ARLINGTON, Texas — No. 2 Tennessee Softball blasted UT Arlington 15-0 in their season opener on the road Thursday afternoon.
The Lady Vols wasted no time striking first, scoring in the top of the first inning when catcher Sophia Nugent doubled down the left field line to bring in a run for a 1-0 lead.
Tennessee poured it on in the second inning. Kiki Milloy doubled down the left-field line to bring in a run. McKenna Gibson grounded out, which brought in another run. The Nugent, a new transfer from Oklahoma, struck again with a three-run home run to give Tennessee a 6-0 lead.
Tennessee tacked on three more runs in the third inning. Milloy brought in another run with a single. Rylie West sent one over the fence for a two-run home run later in the inning to put the Lady Vols up 9-0.
Tennessee scored six more runs in the top of the fifth inning to give them what they needed to win by mercy rule.
UT is coming off a season where they made it to the College World Series and won both the SEC regular season championship and conference tournament title.
The Lady Vols play again on Friday, starting a three-game road series with No. 16 Baylor. Tennessee will play a doubleheader against the Bears on Friday with the first game starting at 6 p.m. Game two is slated to begin at 8:30 p.m. and those games will be streamed on ESPN+.
