Tennessee softball needed a win after Saturday’s rough outing.
After being shut out not even 24 hours earlier, the No. 9 Lady Vols took down No. 2 Alabama 2-0 in a game led by the two teams’ starting pitchers.
The Lady Vols (39-8, 13-7 SEC) had to have a short-term memory after Saturday’s loss, which saw the team’s largest deficit of the season. The Crimson Tide (44-5, 16-4) was looking for similar fortunes after touching up Karlyn Pickens the day prior.
Looking to pick up her teammate, game two starter Sage Mardjetko hit the ground running against Alabama. She forced a quick three-up, three-down to the top of the Alabama batting order, including a strikeout of Alexis Pupillo.
The strong start led to an even stronger outing for Mardjetko. She finished her day with seven innings, one hit, no earned runs, three walks and six strikeouts.
“Sage is a competitor,” Tennessee softball head coach Karen Weekly said. “She’s going to give you everything she has, she’s going to compete freely, she’s going to one pitch at a time, and she’s got the stuff to beat anybody.”
The dominance continued for Mardjetko in the second. She sat down three more, moving her total to six straight batters retired to start the game. She made it all the way through the order once without allowing a baserunner.
It wasn’t until Brooke Wells reached in the top of the fourth with a one-out walk that Mardjetko’s perfect-game bid ended.
With a runner on first and one out, Mardjetko hit Jena Young with a pitch, putting two runners on first and second with only one away. In her biggest jam yet of the afternoon, Mardjetko bunkered down, striking out the next two Crimson Tide hitters and leaving the inning with no damage.
While Mardjetko battled through her first four innings with minimal friction until the top of the fourth, neither did Alabama’s starter, Vic Moten.
The Crimson Tide has had no shortage of impressive pitching this season, and while Joceyln Briski handled Saturday with ease, it felt as though Moten was just as locked in. Moten finished her day with six innings, four hits allowed, two earned runs, two walks and seven strikeouts.
Moten sat down her first six hitters of the day before Taelyn Holley continued to ride her hot streak with a leadoff single in the bottom of the third inning. Despite the single, Moten sat down the next two batters via a jammed popout, before forcing Sophia Knight to ground out and end the threat.
The Lady Vols led off the next inning with another single, this time by Ella Dodge. Yet more of the same fortune passed, as Moten once again found her groove and shut down the Lady Vols without allowing the leadoff runner to score.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning, which started with a quick three-up-three-down frame for Mardjetko, that Gabby Leach broke through with one swing. A solo home run, her 10th of the season, put the Lady Vols up one big run in the fifth.
“I love playing behind her, Leach said. “She’s such a good pitcher, when I’m out there I know she’s going to deal and she’s going to do her job. Just being able to have her back and then come in on offense and being able to get those runs for her, knowing she’s working hard.”
Emma Clarke followed up her teammate in the bottom of the sixth, connecting with a two-out pitch that hit off the scoreboard in left field. Clarke’s 10th home run of the year gave the Lady Vols big insurance entering the seventh.
Mardjetko had made it all the way to the seventh inning with a no-hitter intact, despite the leadoff hitter walking. She was able to sit down the next batter for the first out.
After a final meeting in the circle, Mardjetko was ready to go.
A one-out single to center field ended the no-hit bid, but the jam didn’t seem to phase Mardjetko in the slightest. She forced the next two hitters to pop out and ground out, the final out coming from none other than Mardjetko, who gloved a hard hit ball back to first, ending the duel.
“They were just telling me to take a breath, slow down and just get the next hitter,” Mardjetko said. “The staff is great, they’ve poured a lot into every single one of us, especially me this season, so just knowing we have that communication and trust between each other, it means everything.”
The extra attention is paying off, and the numbers show that. Mardjetko this season has now posted 105 innings, with a 0.87 ERA and 142 strikeouts to go with.
The Lady Vols go for the series win Monday against Alabama.
