KNOXVILLE -- On a colder-than-usual May night at Lee Softball Stadium, it took Tennessee's potent bats four innings to warm up.
Or perhaps the Lady Volunteers were just settling into position for another comeback win.
Tennessee rallied from a two-run deficit with one run in each of the last three innings, and Meghan Gregg delivered the game-winning single through the right side of the infield that scored Lexi Overstreet as the Lady Vols took the first game of their NCAA Super Regional 3-2 against Florida State on Thursday night.
It was Tennessee's fourth walk-off win of the month. The second game of the best-of-three series is at 4 today; if Florida State wins, a decisive third game would also be played today.
"I guess that was a typical Tennessee game," Lady Vols co-head coach Karen Weekly said after the game. "That seems to be our story the last few weeks, to dig ourselves a hole and find a way to scratch our way out of it in late innings and make it exciting. We expect a real battle tomorrow and just talked to the team about that, that one win doesn't mean anything."
Karen WeeklyThe comeback leaves Tennessee (46-15), the No. 8 national seed in the NCAA tournament, one win away from its seventh appearance in the Women's College World Series and first since 2013, when the Lady Vols beat Alabama in the Super Regional.
It was a bit of redemption for Gregg, too, after the freshman shortstop popped out to second base with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning.
"I was nervous. But I was just up there trusting myself," she said. "I just went up there and did what I do.
"I was just relieved and happy that we won and pulled it out. Our whole team kept fighting. I was just happy that we could pull it out."
Through four innings, the Seminoles (48-13) appeared on track to hand Tennessee only its fifth home loss of the season.
Victoria Daddis lashed a double down the left-field line to score Ellie Cooper and give Florida State a second-inning lead, and Jessica Warren doubled the advantage an inning later by smacking her team-leading 17th home run over the wall in right-center field.
The Lady Vols, who entered the game with 99 home runs and averaging nearly seven runs per game, managed just two hits through four innings, and one of those could have been ruled an error.
After looping a single down the line in left to lead off the fifth, Gretchen Aucoin came around to score on a wild pitch from Florida State's Jessica Burroughs.
Aucoin notched her second hit with two outs in the sixth and wound up on third after Scarlet McSwain's walk and a passed ball. Former East Hamilton High School standout Shaliyah Geathers then delivered an RBI single up the middle.
Batting in the leadoff spot for the first time all season, Overstreet reached for the fourth time in the game by drawing her second walk with one out in the final frame.
"I love being in these situations," the junior said. "I love bases loaded, seventh inning -- like when Meghan was up. I love those situations because it really shows the kind of player you are and your competitiveness. Those are the at-bats and the games that I live for."
Rainey Gaffin, who retired all eight batters she faced after coming in to pitch in the fifth, moved Overstreet to second with a groundout and set the stage for Gregg's big hit.
"You can't celebrate long at all, because there's nothing to celebrate," Weekly said. "It's one win in a best-of-three series, but we talked to them about that immediately after the game. One thing we did right away was talk about the mistakes we made and why it made this game so difficult on ourselves and it took us so long to get going."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.