Matty Moss leads Tennessee to win in NCAA Tournament opener
Matty Moss delivered her sixth complete-game shutout as she led Tennessee to a win in Friday’s NCAA Regional over Longwood.
KNOXVILLE, TN - MAY 19, 2017 - Pitcher Matty Moss #1 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the NCAA Regional Tournament game between the Longwood Lancers and the Tennessee Volunteers at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Austin Perryman/Tennessee Athletics
Led by a dominating pitching performance from Matty Moss, No. 8 Tennessee beat Longwood 5-0 on Friday night to win game one of the Knoxville Regional in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Moss pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit in her sixth complete-game shutout of the season. The sophomore tied her career-high in strikeouts, striking out ten and walking just one hitter to earn her 24th win of the season.
The spectacular outing from Moss helped earn co-head coach Ralph Weekly his 1,300th win of his career. Weekly is now just the fourth coach in Division 1 history to reach 1,300 wins and is now fourth all time in career wins.
Tennessee jumped out to an early lead as they scored two runs in each the first-and-third inning.
Vols’ second baseman Aubrey Leach led off the bottom of the first inning with a single. After advancing to second on a passed ball, Leach scored on an RBI single from Jenna Holcomb. Tennessee would
The Vols extended their lead to 4-0 in the third inning following Holcomb’s second RBI single of the game and a massive solo home run from Meghan Gregg.
Brooke Vines would tack on another run in the sixth, smacking a solo home run to right center to make it a 5-0 game.
Tennessee now turns its attention to USC Upstate, who beat Ohio State 7-3 to advance. The Vols and Spartans will square off tomorrow at noon from Sherri Parker Lee Stadium with a chance to advance to the Knoxville Regional final.
Edited by David Bradford
Feature image courtesy of UT Athletics.
