Tennessee softball brought the thunder early and often, drilling seven home runs en route to a dominant 32-0 win over the Tusculum Pioneers.

Maddi Rutan took center stage with her two-way skill once again, clubbing two homers herself, the latter of which was a rocket that landed halfway up the scoreboard in left-center field, and throwing three hitless innings. Adding home runs were Makenzie Butt, Ella Dodge, Emma Clarke, Camryn Sarvis and Meredith Barnhardt, who hit a grand slam. In all, seven Lady Vols drove in multiple runs.

Clarke was Tennessee’s best hitter of the night, reaching in all plate appearances, driving in six runs, and adding a triple with a pair of doubles. In fact, the only thing she did not do was record a single, which would have given her a cycle.

Regarding the pitching staff, each Lady Vol pitcher was highly effective in their work. Erin Nuwer followed Rutan’s three scoreless innings with four scoreless frames of her own. Both did their job in missing bats, combining for 12 strikeouts and surrendering just one hit. While Rutan demonstrated more of a power style, Nuwer’s finesse was highly effective, missing barrels and generating weak contact most of the time the ball was put in play. Kailee Plumlee polished off the night with a scoreless inning of work and two additional strikeouts.

Tennessee softball routs Tusculum: Observations

Rutan’s pair of homers and seven strikeouts were impressive, but she truly did it all for the Lady Vols at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, snagging a soft line drive to third base and throwing across to first to record a double play. Further, she was quite vocal all night in support, highly encouraging both Nuwer and Plumlee. All around, it was another highly impressive night for the transfer from Eastern Kentucky.

Unofficially, all four of her Clarke’s hits went for extra bases, and she had two opportunities to complete a cycle. She walked in her first opportunity, but in her second, she smoked a ball into the right-center field gap. However, she dared not stop at first to complete a cycle. As a spectator yelled to ask why she didn’t stop at first base, she shook her head and put on a wry smile.

Tusculum’s defense showed plenty of respect to the Tennessee lineup, playing multiple hitters at warning track depth on a consistent basis. It did no favors on the home runs, and on multiple occasions, it came to bite them as the Lady Vols came up with a few bloop hits.

Freshman catcher Elsa Morrison did not have a flashy night, but she was productive nonetheless. She recorded three hits, scored each time she reached base and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. She figures to play a strong role in replacing Sophia Nugent, the Lady Vols’ former two-year starting catcher who graduated in the spring.

The pitching staff was consistently aggressive and attacking the zone. They consistently pitched ahead in the count and quickly got to two strikes, putting the Pioneers’ hitters at a disadvantage most of the night. They did give up four walks as a staff, but they only gave up one hit, which came off of Nuwer in the seventh inning. All in all, a tidy night of work for the Lady Vols’ staff.

Tennessee will be back at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium to wrap up its fall ball schedule against Tennessee Tech on Saturday.