#14 Softball Muscles Past #18 Mizzou, 10-7

Sunday, March 22

Knoxville, Tenn.

1:30 PM

University of Tennessee

21-7, 0

#18 Missouri

20-5, 0

Missouri

Tennessee

March 22, 2015 | Softball

Box Score

March 22, 2015

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Meghan Gregg, Shaliyah Geathers and Megan Geer homered and No. 14 Tennessee defeated No. 18 Missouri, 10-7, on Sunday at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium to take the season series.

UT (21-7, 3-3 SEC) took two out of three games against the Tigers (20-5, 4-2 SEC) this week. The Lady Vols won Game 1 on Friday, 12-4, in six frames. On Saturday, Missouri rallied late to take Game 2, 9-8.

Tennessee hit 10 home runs in its three-game series against Missouri, setting a new program record for home runs in an SEC season series.

On Sunday, Tennessee scored two runs in the first and six in the second before adding runs in the third and fifth. Missouri plated two in the second, one in the third and four in the top of the fifth. The Tigers twice left the bases loaded.

Gregg finished 2-for-3 with the home run, three RBIs, and three runs scored. Geathers had a homer and three RBIs. Geer had a solo homer and scored three times. Annie Aldrete drove in a pair of runs with a two-RBI double.

Gretchen Aucoin (8-2) earned the win after throwing 4.1 frames with five strikeouts and six runs allowed. Cheyanne Tarango recorded one out in the fifth and allowed one unearned run. Erin Gabriel earned her first save of the season by throwing the final 2.1 frames with two strikeouts and now runs allowed.

Tori Finucane (9-5) took the loss after issuing eight runs over 1.1 innings. Paige Lowary gave up two runs in 4.2 relief frames.

Gregg gave UT a 2-0 lead in the first inning when she sent a 0-2 pitch from Tori Finucane to right center for a 2-run homer, scoring Megan Geer from first base. The homer was Gregg's seventh of the season and her 13th extra-base hit.

Missouri knotted the game at 2-2 in the top of the second when Roth hit a one-out, two run homer to center field off Aucoin.

Tennessee scored six in the second inning to go up 8-2. UT retook the lead in the bottom of the second inning when Geathers crushed a 2-0 pitch to left for a two-run homer, marking her second blast of the season. The Lady Vols poured on three more runs off Finucane. Gregg drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Tory Lewis and Aldrete clubbed a two-RBI double off the wall in left field in the next at-bat. Lowary entered in relief and Geathers drew a bases-loaded walk, plating Gregg for Tennessee's eighth run.

The Tigers scored added another run in the third inning when Taylor Gadbois scored from third base on a wild pitch. Mizzou loaded the bases with two outs but left them stranded when CJ McClain chased down a foul ball down the right field line for the third out.

With two on and two outs in the bottom of the third, Aucoin ripped an RBI single through the right side, plating Gregg from second base and pushing UT's lead to 9-3.

For the second-straight game, Missouri rallied late, plating four in the fifth inning to pull to within 9-7. With one on and no outs, Sami Fagan ripped an RBI single through the right side, scoring Emily Crane. Two batters later, Amanda Sanchez hit a two-run homer to right field to bring the Tigers to within 9-6. Tarango entered in relief and gave up one run when Jordan Zolman hit a pinch-hit RBI single to left field. Gabriel followed Tarango in the circle and Mizzou loaded the bases with a Gadbois infield single. Mizzou left three runners stranded when Crane grounded out to second base to end the inning.

Geer pushed Tennessee's lead to 10-7 in the bottom of the fourth when she hit a one-out solo homer to right field.

Tennessee has a pair of midweek non-conference games this week, hosting ETSU on Tuesday, March, 24, and Tennessee Tech on Wednesday, March 25. Both games are slated for 6 p.m. ET starts. UT's next SEC series is against Georgia from March 28-30 at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.