KNOXVILLE - Chelsea Seggern batted in six runs and freshman pitcher Ashley Rogers struck out 13 of the 22 batters she faced as the 12th-ranked Tennessee softball team defeated Longwood 8-0 in NCAA regional play Friday at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
Tennessee (40-14) will face Ohio State (35-16), a 1-0 winner over North Carolina in the first game of the day, at noon Saturday. Longwood (37-21) will meet North Carolina (35-19) in the losers bracket at 2:30 p.m., and that winner will play the Tennessee-Ohio State loser in an elimination game.
The two teams alive on Sunday will play in the championship round at noon, with an if-necessary game to be played at 2:30.
Seggern had a pair of home runs, a two-run shot in the third inning that also scored Jenna Holcomb and a three-run blast in the bottom of the fifth that scored Holcomb and Aubrey Leach. She added an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to score Holcomb a third time, setting career highs in home runs and RBIs in the process.
Cailin Hannon stole home for a Lady Volunteers run in the bottom of the fifth, and Haley Bearden's groundout in the sixth scored Leach and ended the game.
Rogers, the former Meigs County High School ace, was in control all game. She threw 64 strikes in her 86 pitches while allowing only two Longwood hits - a double to start the game by Alexis Wayland and a bunt single by Chelsea Whitcomb in the top of the fourth, after Kasey Carr reached on a fielding error. Sydney Jacobsen fouled out to Holcomb in left field to end that mild threat.
Jacobsen was the only other runner to reach base for the Lancers, by virtue of a two-out walk in the top of the second, but Rogers struck out Jessica Smith swinging to end that at-bat.
The 13 strikeouts tied her season high, set against Boston University on Feb. 9.
"This team has the potential to play with anybody in the country, anybody in the conference," Lady Vols co-head coach Ralph Weekly told the Vol Network after the game. "They've just got to bring it every day."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.