As the game turned: After going down early to Tennessee Tech ,the Lady Vols fought back and had the lead going into the second inning.
Freshman Meghan Gregg got the scoring started for the Lady Vols in the bottom of the first with a double off the wall. Later in the inning, sophomore Annie Aldrete hit a three-run home run to give Tennessee a 4-1 lead going into the second.
Aldrete has now hit three home runs in the last two games. Co-head coach Karen Weekly opined that Aldrete’s success comes from her hard work and drive to be successful.
“I’m really working a lot with Karen just tryin to stay short because my hands get really long and I get excited,” Aldrete said. “I’ve just been working on hitting line drives and if it goes out it goes out. I’m not trying to do anything special, nothing big, it’s actually worse if I try to hit home runs.”
In the bottom of the second, Tennessee expanded the lead when Gregg hit a triple to push sophomore Megan Geer across the plate. After a pitching change for Tech brought Taylor Ketchum into the game, her first pitch was a wild pitch that Gregg was able to score to give Tennessee a 6-1 lead.
Hot Topic: Volunteer pitchers fell behind in the count often during the game but only gave up a total of five hits and three walks. Starting pitcher Gretchen Aucoin pitched one and two thirds innings and gave up two hits one run and walked two while sticking out one batter. She was replaced by senior Cheyanne Tarango who gave up two hits and one walk and one strike out. Tarango was credited with the win.
Junior Rainey Gaffin came on in relief and only gave up one hit no walks and sat down three batters. The outing was Gaffin’s first since March 17 against Western Kentucky.
“She hasn’t been on the mound, and we really need her on the mound in the late innings,” Weekly said. “That was a real boost to our team. For Rainey to come in and be able shut somebody out in the last couple innings of the game is huge.”
The other guys: Tennessee Tech leadoff hitter Angi Sakamoto had four at bats with two hits and a run. Relief pitcher Taylor Ketchum went four and one thirds innings walking three and striking out two batters. She only gave up one hit.
By the Numbers:
28: Annie Aldrete now has 28 home runs for her career. She is tied for seventh on the Tennessee all-time home run list and is just three home runs away from being fifth all-time.
Up Next: Tennessee will now face conference foe Georgia. The Bulldogs are seventh in the nation and are riding a five game winning streak coming into Knoxville. The three game series starts Saturday March 28.
