KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee softball took down Texas in Friday’s Super Regional matchup to take a 1-0 series lead at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
Lady Vols’ infielder Zaida Puni’s scorching-hot NCAA Tournament continued with her fifth home run in four games to break the game open in Tennessee's 5-2 victory over Texas.
Kiki Milloy got the scoring started for Tennessee with a two-out single to bring Jamison Brockenbrough home before Puni’s three-run blast made it 4-0 Lady Vols to end the second inning.
Texas got one back in the third when Bella Dayton hit an RBI single to make the score 4-1, but Tennessee pitcher Ashley Rogers left two Texas runners stranded to get out of the inning.
The Lady Vols added to their advantage in the fifth inning. Rylie West hit an RBI double with no outs to increase the Tennessee lead to 5-1. Jamison Brockenbrough stepped up to the plate with a one-out, bases-loaded situation, but flew out to left field and the Texas outfielder caught the runner trying to score on the sac fly.
Texas plated a run on a sac fly in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 5-2, and Ashley Rogers stayed in the game despite multiple mound visits to leave two more Longhorn runners stranded.
Rogers turned in a 138-pitch complete game with eight strikeouts and two earned runs in the victory.
Tennessee will have a chance to sweep the Longhorns and punch its ticket to the Women's College World Series in game two on Saturday at 3 p.m.
