OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (WJHL) – The top-seeded Sooners pushed their NCAA-record win streak to 50 games on Saturday, blanking the Lady Vols, 9-0, in a Women’s College World Series matchup.
Kiki Milloy looked to have Tennessee starting on the right foot, as she roped a double down the left-field line in the game’s first at-bat. However, she would be stranded to end the inning.
Oklahoma’s offense took over from there. Tiare Jennings cracked a three-run homer to center field to open the scoring in the second inning. Kinzie Hansen added a two-run shot of her own in the third, pushing the lead to 5-0.
Rylie Boone looped a 2-RBI triple in between a pair of Lady Vol outfielders, lifting OU to a 7-0 advantage. A pair of runs scored on wild pitches rounded out the scoring.
The Lady Vols were held to one hit, Milloy’s double, in five innings of offense.
Karlyn Pickens took the loss in the circle for UT, as she went 1.2 innings and allowed three runs on three hits, while striking out three. Instead of looking to veterans Payton Gottshall or Ashley Rogers, head coach Karen Weekly went to some arms that hadn’t seen much action in the last few weeks.
Charli Orsini, Nicola Simpson and Ryleigh White pitched the remaining 2.1 innings, allowing six runs on four hits.
After the game, Weekly addressed her team’s resolve to rally from a big deficit.
“They’ve done it really, really well all season – today we didn’t,” she said. “It does also speak to their pitching and their team – once they get you down, there’s not a whole lot of room there. They’re not going to give you anything to help you get back in the game.”
“Last year out at Palm Springs we got down 4-0 and then we just played a whole lot looser,” she continued. “Today we didn’t, but that’s not characteristic of this team.”
Tennessee will play (6) Oklahoma State on Sunday in an elimination game. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m. ET.
