Courtesy of Utah Athletics
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – The Utah softball team picked up a neutral-site win over a top-25-ranked team for the first time since March 20, 2008 with a 4-3 victory over the No. 13/10 Tennessee Lady Vols Saturday afternoon at Big League Dreams Park.
Utah won its sixth-consecutive game and moved to 10-4 overall on the season, while Tennessee dropped to 11-2 overall with the loss.
The Utes jumped out to an early lead after plating home a pair of runs in the first inning and then took a 4-0 lead with another two runs in the second inning, and freshman Katie Donovan (W, 4-1) did the rest for Utah inside the circle.
Sophomore Hannah Flippen led off the contest with a single to right field and she came around to score on senior Kate Dickman’s double to the left field gap. UT’s center fielder bobbled the ball on the play, which allowed Dickman to move to third base and she later scored when junior Kristen Stewart drove her in after reaching base on an error.
After Donovan sat the Lady Vols down in order in the bottom half of the first inning, Utah opened the second inning with a walk from junior Pacheco and she moved over to second base on senior Maddy Woodard’s sacrifice bunt. Pacheco then moved to third on another sacrifice bunt, this time from Flippen, and then she scored on a triple from Dickman. Dickman was rounding third base on the play and when she noticed that the shortstop was having trouble handling the ball, she headed for the plate. The throw was off-line and Dickman scored Utah’s final run of the game, which gave them a 4-0 lead at the time.
Donovan shut down the Lady Vols in three of her first four innings of work before giving up a solo home run to Tennessee’s Meghan Gregg in the fifth inning. An inning later, Taylor Koenig drove in a pair of runs with her two-run shot over the left field fence to pull the Lady Vols within a run, down 4-3, but Donovan got out of the inning and then shut down the Lady Vols in one-two-three fashion in the seventh inning to preserve the upset win.
With the Lady Vols coming into the game ranked No. 10 in the latest ESPN.com poll, Saturday’s victory also marks the first win for the Utes over a top-10-ranked team at a neutral site since downing then No. 9-ranked Michigan back on March 19, 2006.
Dickman led the Utes at the plate with a 2-for-4 effort on Saturday and she also scored a team-high two runs on the day. Dickman extended her current team-leading hitting streak to 13-straight games, as well.
UT came into the game averaging 8.4 runs-per game, but Donovan earned her fourth win of the season – second of the tournament – after giving up just the three runs on four hits and striking out three Lady Vol batters in the process. Meanwhile, UT’s Erin Gabriel (L, 4-1) dropped her first contest inside the circle this season after giving up four runs on four hits to the Utah offense.
