Courtesy of Tennessee Athletics
BATON ROUGE, La. — Meghan Gregg’s two-run, walk-off hit gave No. 11 Tennessee a 5-4 victory over No. 24 Kentucky on Wednesday in the first round of the 2015 SEC Tournament at Tiger Park.
Down 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Gregg delivered with the bases loaded and no outs to give Tennessee (40-13) its third-straight walk-off win over Kentucky (29-24) and its fourth-straight win over the Wildcats in less than a week. Earlier in the game, Megan Geer hit a key two-run homer that tied the game at 3-3 and sparked UT’s late surge.
With the win, Tennessee has now recorded 40 or more wins in 13 consecutive seasons, all under the direction of Ralph Weekly and Karen Weekly.
Tennessee will next face LSU, the No. 4 seed and tournament host, in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised live on SEC Network with Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza and Michele Smith in the broadcast booth and Holly Rowe reporting from the dugout. WNML 990 AM and UTSports.com will also carry a live audio broadcast of the game with Brian Rice on the call.
Gregg finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Geer had the two-run blast and three runs scored.
Rainey Gaffin (13-2) earned the win after starting and throwing 4.1 frames with two earned runs allowed. Gaffin exited the circle in the third and re-entered in the sixth. Gretchen Aucoin threw one inning with on unearned run allowed. Erin Gabriel tossed 1.2 frames with no runs allowed.
Kentucky ace Kelsey Nunley started and allowed three runs over 4.2 innings. Emily Rethlake (4-1) pitched 1.1 innings and took the loss as she put the game-tying and game-winning runs on base.
Kentucky struck first, plating the game’s first run in the top of the second inning when Erin Rethlake hit an RBI double to right field to score Maisie Steed from third base. Tennessee prevented more runs from scoring when Scarlet McSwain, Taylor Koenig and Annie Aldrete combined for a 5-3-2 double play to end the inning with Aldrete tagging out Rethlake at home plate.
The Wildcats extended their lead to 2-0 in the top of the third. Gabriel relieved Gaffin in the circle, inheriting two runners in scoring position and one out. Griffin Joiner plated Nikki Sagermann from third base with an RBI double to shallow right field.
Tennessee got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth when Tory Lewis drew a bases-loaded walk. Lewis had an 11-pitch at-bat, taking ball four to bring home Geer from third base.
Kentucky pushed its lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning when Sylver Samuel scored on a passed ball.
Geer evened the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth when she hammered a two-run home run off Nunley over the wall in left center. Aldrete hit a one-out single to left field and Hannah Devotie pinch ran for her. Geer was patient at the plate and on a full-count, hit her 12th blast on the year to spark new life into Tennessee.
Kentucky struck back in the sixth inning, scoring a run off an error to reclaim the lead. Gaffin re-entered the circle and, with one on and one out, Christian Stokes reached base on a fielding error at third and Kara Howard scored from third base.
Tennessee closed the game in dramatic fashion for the third-straight time. Aldrete drew a leadoff walk. Geer reached base on a fielder’s choice with Aldrete safe at second after UK’s Ansley Smith dropped the toss from the shortstop. Aucoin drew a walk to load the bases and Nunley re-entered the circle. Gregg made the Wildcats pay, sending a 2-2 pitch to left field for a two-run, game-winning single.
