Tennessee sweeps doubleheader against Liberty

Tennessee softball (28-5, 6-3 SEC) treated Liberty (18-15, 5-1 Big South) like a dirty floor and swept the Flames on Tuesday evening, winning the first match 6-1 before shutting Liberty out in the second match, 6-0. The pair of victories extends the Vols’ winning streak to seven games.

Matty Moss almost throws a no-no

Matty Moss nearly pulled off a no-hitter in the first match, going 5.1 innings without allowing a hit (hence the term no-hitter). The culprit? Tori Savondy, who singled to shortstop and ensured an awkward postgame handshake between the two.

The win puts Moss’ record to 14-1 on the season. She also recorded four strikeouts, pushing her season total past the century mark (101).

Kelsey Morrison and others gain valuable experience

Before Tennessee gets into the meat of its conference schedule, it must use every opportunity it can to add depth to the pitching rotation. Thus far, Moss and Caylan Arnold have been workhorses on the mound, but fortunately for the orange and white, Tuesday’s second match was an opportunity for sophomore Kelsey Morrison to gain experience.

“(Morrison was) Phenomenal,” co-head coach Karen Weekly said after the game. “Like Ralph (Weekly) said, one of the best-pitched games he’s seen… her off-speed was working incredibly well, kept the hitters off balance all night.”

The Orlando native recorded the first win of her career, pitching a two-hit, complete-game shutout for the orange and white.

“This was definitely a confidence booster,” Morrison said. “I’m still nowhere near where I want to be, but it definitely feels good.”

In addition, sophomore Savannah Huffstetler made the most of her opportunity and recorded an RBI during the first game of the doubleheader.

Quick stats

Sophomore Brooke Vines drove in half of Tennessee’s runs during the doubleheader. The outfielder knocked in three runs after drilling a double into right-center field during the bottom of the fourth in the first game. During the second game, her single in the bottom of the fifth drove in an additional three runs.
Meghan Gregg continues to terrorize opposing pitchers. The junior shortstop went 3-for-5 with three RBIs during the doubleheader. Gregg leads the team in batting average (.446), home runs (8) and runs batted in (46).