Tennessee was able to stretch its softball season to another inning, though not to another round of the NCAA postseason.
The 12th-seeded Lady Volunteers lost 2-1 in eight innings to fifth-seeded Florida on Sunday in Gainesville with a berth in the Women’s College World Series on the line.
The Gators won 3-0 in Friday’s opening game of the best-of-three super regional series, but the Lady Vols bounced back for a 3-2 victory in nine innings Saturday to force Sunday afternoon’s high-stakes showdown.
The Gators (49-16) had lost two of three to the Lady Vols (43-17) in the regular-season series in Gainesville, but Florida flipped the script this past weekend to earn its place among the final eight teams that will compete starting this week in Oklahoma City.
Thursday’s first-round matchups are No. 3 seed Washington and No. 6 Arizona at noon EDT, No. 2 UCLA and No. 7 Minnesota at 2:30 p.m., Florida and No. 13 Oklahoma State at 7 and No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 8 Alabama at 9:30.