3 hours ago
Tennessee Athletics
KNOXVILLE, TN – Tennessee’s fourth-ranked softball team clinched their Super Regionals ticket with a 7-3 win over Indiana on Sunday at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
Tennessee (47-8) will play in its first Super Regional since 2019 and host supers for the first time since 2017. The Big Orange will face No. 13 seed Texas, who won their regional by eliminating Seton Hall before to win two matches. against Texas A&M.
Junior Zaida Puni led UT offensively all weekend and continued her hot streak, hitting a pair of home runs to help propel the Lady Vols past Indiana. The Carson, Calif. native hit .556 with four home runs and seven RBIs during the region.
In the circle, Payton Gottshall picked up the win for UT as she pitched five shutout innings. The senior allowed the Hoosiers five hits and a pair of walks, but struck out six and snuffed out their offense all game.
Gottshall had two wins on the weekend and didn’t allow a run in 10 innings of work. The right-hander struck out 15 and held opposing batters to an average of .143.
Puni opened the scoring on Sunday with a two-point blast to the right — his third long ball in the Knoxville Regional — on top of the first.
Playing with the home team, Indiana (44-18) charged in the first and second innings – but Gottshall escaped traffic to keep Indiana off the board. The Hoosiers loaded the bases in both innings with just one out before Gottshall fired key outs for second and induced end-inning pop-ups to Puni at third base.
Tennessee added to their lead in the fifth, scoring five points to take a 7-0 lead. Senior Kiki Milloy hit a one-out triple in the corner of right field and came home on wild pitch. With the very next pitch, Puni threw his second home run of the day and fourth in the regional – taking his total for the season to 12.
The Lady Vols then loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a walk before Lair Beautae hit a sacrificial fly to drive in the third inning of frame A’s UT passed the ball forward to second and third for Giulia Koutsoyanopulos clears the bases with a single through the left side.
Rookie Karlyn Pickens came on as relief for Gottshall in the sixth and pitched the final two innings. The Hoosiers caught up with her in the seventh, scoring three runs on three hits and walking one.
Heather Johnson started in the circle for Indiana and went two innings, allowing two runs on four hits. Sophie Kleiman relieved her in third and gave up five runs on four hits in 2.2 innings of work. Brianna Copeland has completed the final 2.1 frames for the Hoosiers.
FOLLOWING
Tennessee will host Texas next weekend at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in a best-of-three series. The winner of the Knoxville Super Regional will qualify for the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.