An early surge of power by the Lady Vols proved game-changing in the team’s Wednesday matchup against in-state opponent Tennessee Tech. The Lady Vols would go on to handle the Golden Eagles 6-1, marking Tennessee’s 19th straight victory against Tech.
Co-head coach Karen Weekly said after the game that playing against Tennessee Tech (17-14, 4-3 OVC) is never a walk in the park.
“Their whole lineup worried me because they attack the ball,” Weekly said. “I thought our pitches did a nice job. We didn’t get ahead in the count as much as I would have liked, and I don’t think we commanded the at-bats as well as we could have, but we got ourselves out of some tough situations.”
Tennessee Tech delivered the first blow after Angi Sakamoto scored on a passed-ball after her leadoff double to give the Golden Eagles the early 1-0 lead.
“Their (Tennessee Tech’s) leadoff hitter is fantastic,” Weekly said. “She’s one of the best hitters we’ve faced, and we’ve known that every year we’ve played them.”
Then, it was all Lady Vols. After an early Meghan Gregg RBI double, Annie Aldrete would crush a three-run shot off the scoreboard to give the Lady Vols a 4-1 lead.
Tennessee (23-7, 3-3 SEC) wasn’t done there. Gregg continued showing off her hot bat by bringing Megan Geer home on an RBI-triple. Another run in the bottom of the second and strong pitching from Rainey Gaffin, Cheyanne Tarango, and Gretchen Aucoin helped pave the way to a Lady Vols’ victory.
Aldrete was excited about the opportunity to catch for Gaffin, who made her first appearance on the mound since March 17.
“She came out so ready. She was attacking hitters, and her drop-ball was so nasty,” Aldrete said. “I love catching her. I get so excited, and I love seeing hitters go up there and struggle.”
After picking up two wins during the week, the Lady Vols turn their attention to a familiar foe: SEC East rival, and No. 7 ranked, Georgia. This will be the first time since 2013 that the Lady Vols have faced off against the Bulldogs.
“(In) the midweek games, you want to try and work on things that you need to do to get better and to be ready for your SEC games,” Weekly said. “We’ve done some nice things offensively over the Missouri weekend and these past two games. I’d like to see our pitchers do a better job of commanding the zone and staying ahead of hitters.”
Tennessee will take on Georgia (29-5, 6-3 SEC) beginning on Saturday and running through Monday. First pitch for Saturday is scheduled for 3 p.m., while 7 p.m. is the starting time for the latter two games.
Aldrete, who has never faced Georgia, is ready to get a crack at one of the top dogs in the SEC.
“I’ve heard nothing but good things about them,” Aldrete said. “That’s the kind of team I wanna play. I wanna play the best…We need to come out with as much intensity, and more, and be on top. We can’t let up at all. We need to go out there like it’s the last game.”
