Tennessee Softball hit the ground running after sophomore pitcher Erin Nuwer tossed a five-inning no-hitter against BYU to open the season, but things didn’t stop there.
The high-level play stayed prevalent heading into Friday’s doubleheader with Liberty and Rutgers. After defeating the No. 23 Flames just a few hours prior, the Lady Vols defeated Rutgers by run-rule, 8-1 in five innings.
The No. 4 Lady Vols’ (3-0) win over the Scarlet Knights (1-1) marked the third win of the season, and the second run-rule in three games.
With the array of games being played, the lineups were far from a consistent draw-up, yet the offense stayed hot with a handful of underclassmen and upperclassmen alike putting runs on the board.
The scoring on Friday night began with simple heads-up baserunning, something that head coach Karen Weekly has preached during recent seasons.
Junior Sophia Knight advanced home on a wild pitch, giving the Lady Vols an early 1-0 lead. Saviya Morgan later scored when a fielding error allowed her to reach home. Emma Clarke became the first to score a run through an RBI on the night. She ripped a single into center field, scoring Elsa Morrison and pushing the lead ahead to 3-0. Still in the first inning, Ella Dodge scored when another wild pitch allowed her to reach home from third base.
After a Bella Faw sacrifice fly to put the Lady Vols up five runs in the first inning, Knight came up to bat for her second appearance of the game in just the first inning. She kept the ball rolling with a double, scoring the sixth run of the inning.
Rutgers’ starting pitcher Brooke Shifflett finished her start with just 0.1 innings tallied and six runs allowed, four being earned.
Opposite of Rutgers, the Lady Vols started two-way Maddi Rutan at pitcher, where she pitched 2.1 innings while allowing one run from a solo shot.
After her no-hitter on Thursday, Nuwer was called upon yet again the next day to finish the job against the Scarlet Knights.
Before Nuwer did just that, the Tennessee offense went back to work. In the bottom of the second, Boise State transfer Makenzie Butt launched a two-run home run to center field, scoring freshman Taelyn Holley and pushing the lead to eight. Rutgers responded with their lone run of the night in the third, making the score 8-1.
After the home run and two more singles allowed, Ruttan’s day was done, and she handed the ball over to Nuwer, who tossed 2.2 more innings of hitless softball while striking out two.
While Nuwer shut things down on the mound, Faw delivered the soon-to-be final run of the night off a single to third base, scoring Holley due to a throwing error to second base. Leading 9-1, Nuwer made quick work of the final three batters, forcing two groundouts before a pop-out to first ended the night.
The Lady Vols have outscored their first three opponents 25-2 over the first three games. Tennessee looks to keep things going against Boston College and Oregon on Feb. 7.
