KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee capitalized on a pair of two-out singles in the third and fourth inning and Erin Gabriel posted 13 strikeouts, as No. 8 overall seed Tennessee earned a 2-0 victory Friday evening over Longwood to open the Knoxville Regional in the NCAA Softball Championships.

The Lancers, who came into the Knoxville Regional on the second longest current winning streak in the country with 13 straight wins, saw their win streak come to an end. It marked Longwood's first loss since April 15 at Virginia.

The game marked the return to the NCAA Regionals for the Lancers for the second time in three seasons and marked the first time the Lancers have faced Tennessee since that Regional appearance. In that game, the Lancers were run-ruled by the Volunteers in five innings of play, but that was certainly not the case in Friday's Regional opener.

"When we came here in the 2013 tournament, it was our first time being able to compete in a Regional," said head coach Kathy Riley. "One of the things I was proud of was the way we handled ourselves when Tennessee got a couple runners on base and we responded by getting outs in critical situations."

Gabriel (16-6) tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing just one Longwood single from Emily Murphy while recording 13 strikeouts to finish three punchouts shy of her season and career-high of 16 earlier this year. Gabriel allowed just four Longwood base runners in the game, including two that reached on an error.

"She did a great job locating her pitches," senior catcher Megan Baltzell said. "She had a great rise ball and she didn't really miss any of her pitches."

Libby Morris and Elizabeth McCarthy were nearly as spectacular for the Lancers, limiting the Lady Volunteer offense to two runs on eight hits for the day. Morris, the Big South Tournament MVP, started the game and gave up two runs on six hits in four innings of work.

McCarthy came on for Morris in the fifth inning and gave up just two hits and a walk in 2.0 innings

"I felt like we did a real nice job on the mound and calling pitches tonight," Riley said. "We had the opportunity to make the game tight, but we just couldn't come up with that big hit we needed in critical situations."   

Tory Lewis and Lexi Overstreet led the Tennessee offense with two hits apiece, as six different Tennessee batters notched a hit in the game.
Gabriel came out firing early, getting the Lancers to chase a rise ball up in the zone. She was able to get into a rhythm and recorded seven strikeouts over the first three innings of the games.

However, Morris was also solid in the circle for the Lancers. Morris, the Big South Tournament MVP, opened the home half of the second inning by hitting Taylor Koenig on a 3-0 pitch and allowing a one-out single to Overstreet two batters later. With the Lady Volunteers threatening with two-on and one-out, Morris was able to get out of the jam with a strikeout against Rainey Gaffin and a groundout to third base from Lewis.

"Both pitchers focused on hitting their spots and mixing it up with each batter, not throwing the same pitch sequence each time," Baltzell said. "I thought our pitchers did a good job keeping them off balance with their change-up. They were swinging for the fences a few times and that's when I called for the changeup. I was pretty proud of my pitchers for hitting their spots when they needed to."

An inning later, Meghan Gregg doubled up the middle to lead off the inning, before Morris was able to get a foulout and a groundout. However, Megan Geer was able to notch a two-out single just over the outstretched glove of Murphy at short to bring around Gregg and give the home team a 1-0 lead.

The fourth inning gave the Lancers their best opportunity to score. Baltzell was Longwood's first base runner of the day after she reached on an error, before Chelsea Sciacca drew a walk on five pitches. That brought up Murphy, who knocked a single into left field to give the Lancers runners on each base.

However, Gabriel was able to hit her spots and escape the jam by getting Glenn Walters and Carly Adams to strikeout swinging.

Tennessee extended its lead to 2-0 in the bottom half of the inning following a two-out single up the middle from Lewis to bring around Overstreet, who doubled down the right field line two batters earlier.

The Lancers held the Lady Vols scoreless in the bottom half of the fifth inning to keep within striking distance. The inning was highlighted by a spectacular play from Murphy at the shortstop position that landed No.9 on SportsCenter's top ten plays. She dove to her left to snag a ground ball from Annie Aldrete and threw across the diamond from her knees to get Aldrete by a half-step at first base.

Tennessee threated to break the game open in the bottom of the sixth inning, placing a runner on each base with just one out in the inning. However, McCarthy was able to get Gregg to strike out looking before Shalivah Geathers flied out to left field to end the inning.

Down to their final three outs of the game, Gabriel struck out Walters and Adams to start the inning before Kelsey Sweeney came on as a pinch hitter and grounded out to third base to end the game

Longwood will face Virginia Tech in an elimination game Saturday afternoon with the game set to start at 3:30 p.m. The winner will face the loser of Tennessee and Utah later in the afternoon for the right to go to the Regional Final.

#WoodYouBelieve