MCKEON'S WALK-OFF BLAST IN THE 10TH CARRIES NO. 11 GEORGIA OVER NO. 10 UT, 4-0

Saturday, May 15

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

University of Tennessee

53-14

Georgia

51-14

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Tennessee	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Georgia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	5	0

Starting pitcher Stacey Jennings holds Georgia to three singles in six scoreless innings.

MCKEON'S WALK-OFF BLAST IN THE 10TH CARRIES NO. 11 GEORGIA OVER NO. 10 UT, 4-0

May 15, 2004 | Softball

Box Score

May 15, 2004

Box Score

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - In a classic semifinal at the 2004 Southeastern Conference Tournament on Saturday night, third-seeded Georgia used a grand slam by senior Shannon McKeon in the 10th inning to break a scoreless deadlock and oust second-seeded Tennessee, 4-0. The clubs dealt with three different rain delays totaling two hours in a game that took four hours and 44 minutes to complete.

The 11th-ranked Bulldogs (51-14) will challenge either top-seeded LSU (48-9) or fourth-seeded Auburn (41-15) in tomorrow's title tilt at 1 p.m. CT. AU needs to defeat the Bayou Bengals twice to secure a berth in the final. The 10th-rated Lady Vols (53-14) saw their run at the event derailed in gut-wrenching fashion after knocking out No. 13 Alabama (1-0) and No. 21 Florida (7-5). Tennessee, which was eliminated from the 2003 SEC Tourney in extra frames by the Crimson Tide, must now await tomorrow night's NCAA Regional announcement to see which of the eight sites it will be playing at next weekend.

Scoreless into the bottom of the 10th, Lady Vol freshman reliever Monica Abbott (Salinas, Calif.) walked senior Julie Milner on four straight pitches and junior Michelle Green advanced her teammate with a grounder. Senior All-American Nicole Barber was walked intentionally and junior Katie Lewis followed with a bunt single to load the bases. With freshman Kelsey Todd entered to run at third, McKeon cranked Abbott's 2-1 offering over the center field wall for her 10th homer of the campaign to send the Bulldogs to the championship round for the second time.

Rookie Kasi Carroll hurled 10 scoreless frames, scattering six hits with three strikeouts and no walks, to raise her mark to 17-6. Abbott (43-8) took over in the seventh for sophomore Stacey Jennings (Aurora, Colo.) but was victimized by her second walk-off blast at the Alabama Softball Complex this season. The lefty registered five strikeouts and gave up two hits over 3.1 frames but also walked three Bulldogs. Jennings enjoyed one of her best starts of the campaign by holding the high-powered UGA offense to three singles and zero runs over six innings.

Sophomore Kristi Durant (Placentia, Calif.) singled through the right side with one out in the first for the Orange but was forced on freshman Lindsay Schutzler's (Monterey, Calif.) tapper to third. Schutzler nabbed her 15th stolen base to move into scoring position but Carroll had senior Angela Brewer (East Ridge, Tenn.) ground out. UT wasted a leadoff single in the second by senior Amber Rhinehart (Citrus Heights, Calif.), as Carroll set down the next three hitters in order.

Jennings retired the first five UGA batters before issuing a two-out walk to sophomore Courtney Knight in the second. However, the righty had sophomore Jade Jarvis fly out to sophomore Sarah Fekete (Maryville, Tenn.) in front of the warning track in center. Fekete poked a one-out base-hit to left in the third and moved to second on Durant's sacrifice bunt. Carroll buckled down to catch Schutzler looking on strikes to strand the Orange's third base-runner.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, a one-hour, 25-minute rain and lightning delay brought the action to a screeching halt beginning at 5:40 p.m. CT. When the game resumed at 7:05 p.m. CT, Jennings retired Barber on a 5-6-3 putout. However, the squads were sent back to their respective dugouts for another 15-minute delay because of lightning. Carroll moved back in the circle and put down the Lady Vols 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth.

McKeon delivered the Dawgs' initial hit with a one-out single moments later and Jennings bounced back to snare sophomore Ashley Godfrey's pop-up. Freshman Megan McAllister roped a base-knock into right field to advance her teammate to third but the right-hander speared Knight's bouncer and threw over to Brewer for the final out.

Barber ripped a single up the middle to start the bottom of the sixth and stole second base for her SEC-leading 55th theft of the campaign. A grounder from Lewis advanced Barber to third but Jennings rebounded down to whiff McKeon and had Godfrey pop up to Schutzler at shortstop.

Carroll had retired 12 consecutive batters before Rhinehart sent a drive deep to left field with one down in the seventh that was kept in the park on a leaping grab by Milner, who reached over the wall for a miraculous grab. Rookie Brittany Bessho (Marietta, Ga.) reached on an infield hit and sophomore Katherine Card (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) poked a single into shallow left to give UT a pair of runners aboard. However, Carroll induced a fly ball to center by sophomore Mandie Fishback (Banks, Ore.) to preserve the scoreless tie.

McAllister earned a free pass to begin the bottom of the stanza and was spelled at first by rookie pinch runner Melissa Cook. The Weeklys then elected to replace Jennings with Abbott and the flame-thrower overpowered the trio of Knight, Jarvis and Milner to put the contest into extra innings. Carroll retired UT in order to start the eighth before another 15-minute rain delay interrupted the proceedings. Soon after, Abbott countered with her own 1-2-3 effort. Rhinehart was plunked by a pitch with two down in the ninth for Tennessee but Carroll fooled senior Lauren Mattox (Charlotte, N.C.) on strike three.

Abbott hit Godfrey with a pitch with one out in the bottom of the stanza and McAllister followed with a walk to put the Red and Black in prime position. The southpaw proceeded to blow away Knight on three pitches and had Jarvis fly out to Jennings in right field. Card started things off in the 10th with a double close to the chalk line in left field but was erase at third base on Fishback's fielder's choice. Jennings smashed a hot-shot to third that forced Fishback at second and Carroll removed herself from the jam by having Fekete ground out, setting the stage for McKeon's heroics. The slugger wound up 2-for-5 with four RBI, while Card (2-for-4) was the only Tennessee player with multiple hits.

The 64-team NCAA Regional field will be revealed on ESPNEWS between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. The eight regional host sites are Arizona, Baylor, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, Stanford and UCLA. The double-elimination event will begin on Thursday, May 20, and run through Sunday, May 23. The eight regional winners will advance to the Women's College World Series to be held in Oklahoma City, Okla., starting on Thursday, May 27.