Tennessee was able to repeat last season’s Southeastern Conference regular-season softball championship.
The Lady Vols were not able to repeat last year’s SEC tournament title. LSU pitcher Sydney Berzon wouldn’t allow it.
After throwing 208 pitches during Wednesday afternoon’s 14-inning win over Alabama, the former Baylor School All-American recorded the final seven outs of Thursday night’s opening quarterfinal as the eighth-seeded Tigers upset the top-seeded Lady Vols 2-1 at Auburn’s Jane B. Moore Field. Berzon retired three Lady Vols batters by strikeout, including Zaida Puni on three pitches for the second out of the seventh inning, and she allowed only one hit.
“She would do anything for this team,” LSU left fielder Ali Newland said of Berzon on the SEC Network. “She would get in the box and take a pitch. She would go lay out in the outfield. We all know that she would do anything for us, and that makes it so easy to play defense behind her and so easy to hit for her.”
Berzon’s 14 innings of work Wednesday set an SEC tournament record.