OKLAHOMA CITY — Top-seeded Oklahoma softball overwhelmed Tennessee in the teams' winner-bracket matchup to hand the Lady Vols their first loss of the Women's College World Series at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon.
Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly opted not to play star pitchers Ashley Rogers and Payton Gottshall in the matchup, and the Lady Vols paid the price in a 9-0 run-rule defeat against the Sooners.
SEC Freshman of the Year Karlyn Pickens started the matchup but only went 1.2 innings after allowing a three-run home run to Tiare Jennings with two outs in the bottom of the fifth as OU went ahead 3-0 and ended Pickens' day.
Charli Orsini, another Lady Vol freshman, relieved Pickens in the second and managed to get Tennessee out of the inning, but let up a two-run home run in the third inning as the Sooners extended their advantage to 5-0, and Orsini was replaced by sophomore Nicola Simpson.
Simpson could not make it out of the third inning after allowing a two-run triple and another baserunner after the fact. She let in a run with a wild pitch to give Oklahoma their eighth run of the ball game, and a Ryleigh White wild pitch allowed a ninth OU runner to come through.
Tennessee managed just one hit in the loss, which came by way of a Kiki Milloy double in the very first at-bat of the game.
The Lady Vols fall to the elimination bracket, where they will match up with No. 6 Oklahoma State on Sunday, June 4 at 7 p.m.
