KNOXVILLE - The Tennessee softball team moved to within one win of an NCAA regional championship with a 12-4 victory Saturday over Ohio State at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
The Lady Volunteers (41-14) will play today against North Carolina (37-19) and would have to lose twice to keep from advancing to a super regional. North Carolina defeated Longwood 3-1 Saturday afternoon and then eliminated Ohio State (35-17), 5-3, after a long lightning delay.
Dominant pitching played a big role in Tennessee's Friday win over Longwood, and the offense came alive Saturday. The Lady Vols had 11 hits, with Aubrey Leach collecting two and scoring three runs. Haley Bearden also had a pair of hits and batted in two runs, while Cailin Hannon hit her fifth home run of the year, a three-run blast in the top of the third inning that gave Tennessee a 4-2 lead.
The Lady Vols added two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and four in the seventh to thwart any shot of a comeback by the Buckeyes.
"We needed to keep scoring," Tennessee co-head coach Karen Weekly said on the Vol Network. "(The Buckeyes) had a very good offense, and I was concerned every time they got back to two, three and four in their lineup. We needed to be challenged; our backs were to the wall and we kept talking about fighting. Even when we got up 4-2 on Cailin's home run, we talked about fighting the whole time, not just from behind."
Ohio State's Ashley Prange hit two home runs - a solo shot in the first inning and a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth - while Lilli Piper also had a solo homer in the first inning off former Meigs County standout Ashley Rogers.
She was replaced by Matty Moss after the first inning. Moss faced six batters in the second and third innings before giving way to Caylan Arnold, who pitched the final 4 2/3 innings and struck out five to improve to 9-8 for the season.
"I'm really glad she got the win," Weekly said of Arnold. "Of the last three times she's pitched, today was probably the worst, but she was probably more effective and had better stuff the other two times and didn't get the win.
"I don't think any of the pitchers were sharp, but they battled."
Former Silverdale Baptist Academy star Kaili Phillips was 1-for-4 Saturday with a pair of runs batted in.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.