The largest crowd ever to witness a home game for the University of Tennessee softball team collectively rose to its feet in the bottom of the fifth inning Sunday as another opportunity to end three days of frustration began to materialize.
No. 1 Florida had blanked the No. 8 Volunteers on Friday and Saturday and was threatening to leave town with three shutout victories.
But 2,239 spectators and Tennessee's offense picked up energy together, and the Vols finally broke through.
The bottom of Tennessee's lineup started a two-out rally that Megan Geer finished with a no-doubt grand slam, giving Tennessee its first runs of the weekend and lifting the Vols to a 5-1 win at Lee Stadium.
Geer's heroics helped the Vols (42-8, 14-6 Southeastern Conference) avoid a sweep and remain in position to potentially host an NCAA super regional.
"It was super important, not only for going into next weekend, but for seeding," Tennessee co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. "We want to hang around that eight or nine slot if we can."
Tennessee closes the regular season with a weekend series at No. 5 Texas A&M before hosting the SEC tournament May 10-13. The nation's top 16 teams then host NCAA tournament regionals. Eight will host super regionals the following round, starting May 25. The Women's College World Series begins a month from today.
For Geer, the only senior who is a regular member of the lineup, the grand slam was a fitting cap to her last regular-season home game and a slice of redemption after going 0-for-5 against the Gators' juggernaut pitching staff in the series' first two games.
"I feel really good for Megan," Weekly said. "I'm not kidding you, that was a clutch hit at a clutch time. You know she's done that all through her career, but with this being senior weekend, what a better thing."
The California native had talked with assistant Madison Shipman about and formulated a goal before stepping into the batter's box.
"Not to get too excited with the bases loaded in a clutch situation," Geer said. "I guess I did a good job."
She quickly credited her teammates for loading the bases in the fifth. Pinch-hitter Tianna Batts slapped the two-out single that started the rally, CJ McClain followed with an infield single and leadoff hitter Aubrey Leach walked to bring Geer to the plate.
McClain added an RBI single in the sixth.
Florida (46-4, 20-3) entered the day with the league's top three pitchers on its staff, each with an ERA under 1.o0. The Gators' third pitcher of the weekend, Aleshia Ocasio, kept Tennessee's bats silent until the fifth-inning rally that ended a streak of 26 straight scoreless innings for the Vols.
Matty Moss pitched the first and last innings for Tennessee, but Caylan Arnold earned the win by allowing just one hit during the five innings in between. Just a day before, the Gators had tagged Arnold for seven runs, four of them earned, in a 9-0 Florida win that came on the heels of a 5-0 Gators victory Friday.
All three games sold out, making it the highest-attended series in program history. Weekly said the team felt like it had disappointed the fans Saturday.
The Vols made up for it Sunday.
"When you get (shut out twice) and you can turn around and beat the number one team in the country, you've really done something," he said. "I'm proud of them."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.