Tennessee softball's bats go cold, Lady Vols unable to seal series win vs. Ole Miss Rebels
After two days of consistent hitting, Tennessee softball's bats went cold Monday night in a 3-1 loss to Ole Miss, which gave the Rebels the series win in Oxford.
Ole Miss (36-15, 10-11 SEC) wasn't able to retire Tennessee batters in order Sunday before the No. 13 Lady Vols (35-14, 12-8) won the game 10-1 in the sixth inning on Ashley Morgan's two-run home run, which was her second of the game. But left-handed pitcher Anna Borgen – who pitched a complete game – struck out four and allowed five hits. Tennessee had 19 hits in the first two games of the series and scored 14 runs.
Three runners walked and UT was able to get in scoring position multiple times on Monday – it even had bases loaded at one point – but was only able to score off of Ivy Davis' solo homer, leaving seven on base. UT was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position Monday after going 6-for-18 Sunday.
The Lady Vols are still in third place in the SEC heading into their final regular-season series at home against Auburn starting Friday.
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Tennessee approaching home run record
The Lady Vols hit one home run in Saturday's loss but got the bats going Sunday to send four over the fence and rack up 10 runs.
Davis was the only batter to keep the energy going in Monday's loss. She had to battle Borgen for it, taking her to a full count in the fourth and fouling off four pitches before putting Tennessee on the board.
"Ivy Davis showed us the way," Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said on the SEC Network broadcast in the fourth inning. "That was a heck of an at-bat. It ended in a big way, but just her battling one pitch at a time and continuing to get rid of pitches and fight for what she wanted, that's what we all need to do."
Davis' homer was the team's 82nd of the season, which is second-most in in program history. The Lady Vols are quickly approaching the 100-home run season record set in 2015, showing assistant coach Chris Malveaux's impact in his first season with Tennessee's hitters.
"It's really been some different mechanical things to get on plane and use our bodies a little bit better, hit the ball with a little more power," Weekly said "So I think that's why you've seen the home run numbers go up."
Ashley Rogers has strong weekend as starter and closer
Tennessee went through four pitchers Monday after Ashley Rogers pitched all six Sunday, throwing 111 pitches and only allowing four hits in the win. She came in for the sixth inning Monday and retired batters in order, but Tennessee couldn't get offense going in the seventh to come back.
Erin Edmoundson didn't have her best weekend, giving up four runs on four hits Saturday, negating her seven strikeouts. She pitched 4⅔ innings before getting relieved by Ryleigh White.
Edmoundson only made it two innings before getting pulled Monday. She had only given up two hits but was already 53 pitches in and only had one strikeout to show for it. Ole Miss battled at the plate and freshman Nicola Simpson wasn't able to get Tennessee out of the third inning without the Rebels going up 3-0.
Two of those runs were scored on wild pitches, and the third was counted as an unearned run off a double to center field. Simpson was relieved after two innings by White, who pitched one hitless inning before Rogers came in.
Cora Hall: Covering UT women's athletics
Twitter | cora.hall@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee softball comes up short Monday, drops series to Ole Miss
