Arkansas' Late Comeback Falls Flat Against Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Arkansas’ comeback would fall short in Knoxville today (March 22), as the Razorbacks loaded the bases in the top of the seventh but couldn’t keep the cylinders firing as they dropped game one of the series, 6-4.

The first inning would fly by, as Arkansas’ Autumn Storms and Tennessee’s Ashley Rogers retired the opposing lineup in order.

UT would be the first to strike, with an RBI single to right field that scored a Lady Vol from second to give them a 1-0 lead.

Senior Ashley Diaz crushed a 1-1 pitch in the third inning, bouncing it off the scoreboard, scoring sophomore Hannah McEwen and giving the Hogs a 2-1 lead.

Tennessee responded in the bottom of the inning with four more runs, two of which came after a Razorback error that allowed the Lady Vols to load the bases.

Tennessee tacked on an additional run in the fifth inning, after Lady Vol Ashley Morgan reached on a double and advanced to third on back-to-back ground outs.

Now trailing 6-2, the Razorbacks stepped up to bat in the sixth inning and fought back- plating two more runs to cut the Tennessee lead to 6-4. 

Freshman Taylor Greene would start the sixth with a lead-off walk, as the Hogs called to pinch-runner Sam Torres to take the base. Torres scored Arkansas’ third run, moving to second on a single by McEwen and onto third, and then home after a Tennessee passed ball and base hit by senior Katie Warrick.

With her 2-3 performance at the plate, McEwen extends her reached base streak to 25 and her hit streak to 13 games.

McEwen would score the final run of the game, off the bat of Diaz, who sent a perfectly executed sacrifice fly to the warning track in left field.

Sophomore Mary Haff entered in relief for Arkansas and was able to keep the Lady Volunteers scoreless through two more innings to keep the game within reach.

Top of the seventh and trailing by two, sophomore Nicole Duncan was hit by a pitch for a team-leading, tenth time this season. Greene followed with a seven-pitch walk and after a Tennessee pitching change, McEwen walked the bases loaded.

The Lady Vols would put out the Razorback fire there, striking out back-to-back Hogs and ending the game in their favor.

Arkansas and Tennessee will be back tomorrow (March 23) for game two in Knoxville, with first pitch schedule for 5:00 pm (CT). Saturday’s game will be available via live stream on the SEC Network, links to live scoring also available at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

For all Razorback softball news and information, go to ArkansasRazorbacks.com and follow the Hogs on Twitter at @RazorbackSB, on Facebook at Razorback Softball and on Instagram at @Razorback_SB. Fans can also follow head coach Courtney Deifel on twitter at @CoachDeifel.