After a dominating win on Saturday over Central Michigan, the Lady Vols took to the diamond again Sunday for a doubleheader.
The first game of the day was against Central Michigan, and Tennessee was able to get by, 3-0.
While the Lady Vols didn’t have an offensively dominant performance like they did last game, they were exceptional on the mound. Ashley Rogers set a career-high with 18 strikeouts, one higher than the career best she set earlier this week versus Illinois State.
“Ashley came out really strong, and then she stayed strong the whole game,” co-head coach Karen Weekly said. “But the second time through the lineup there was a little bit more contact and foul balls and things like that. What was most impressive was she got even stronger the third time through the lineup.”
Rogers pitching numbers today tied her for eighth all time in single-game strikeouts. Rogers joined some elite company today, including current pitching coach Megan Rhodes Smith.
“It’s a really cool feeling to be up there with some of the greats that have been through here,” Rogers said.
As far as scoring goes, the Lady Vols first got on the boards after Rylie West singled to center field to bring in Kiki Milloy in the second inning. Also in the second, Kaitlin Parsons hit a single to drive in Madison Webber and put the Lady Vols up 2-0.
Tennessee’s only other run came in the sixth, when Cailin Hannon stole home.
In the second game of the day, the Lady Vols picked up a dominating win over Northern Kentucky.
Scoring for the Lady Vols began early, as Amanda Ayala homered to center field to get things started.
The Lady Vols had a big third inning, beginning with a ground out that brought Parsons in to score. Later on in the inning, Ayala was able to score after a wild pitch that brought the catcher away from the plate. Ivy Davis closed out the inning with a three-run homer to put the Lady Vols up 6-0.
In the fifth and final inning of offense for the Lady Vols, Webber hit a two-run RBI double to drive in Milloy and West, putting Tennessee up 8-0.
While the Lady Vols were impressive on offense, the story once again in game two was the pitching. Sam Bender threw the first solo no-hitter for the Lady Vols since 2016.
“I wanted to give her a start today just to really get her some innings because in the relief roles she hasn’t had too many innings with the way the games have gone,” Weekly said. “What more could you ask than a no-hitter. She did what we needed her to do, just let the defense play behind her and pitch really well.”
Bender credits her no-hitter to her defense for supporting her as much as possible.
“We know that our team has our back,” Bender said. “Defensively, Chelsea [Seggern] and Ivy [Davis] and my outfield eating up every ball that they’re hit. It’s an awesome feeling as a pitching staff to know that they have our backs, and it makes us want to work harder for them.”
The Lady Vols will have a bit of a break, as they don’t play again until Friday, when they travel to College Station, Texas, to take on Campbell University at 11 a.m. ET in the Reveille Classic.
“What’s going to be really important for us is practice,” Weekly said. “We’ve played a lot of games this week but we got a lot of rest with our off day on Tuesday and Friday we didn’t play. We’re pretty well rested but we just haven’t practiced in so long.”
