{"id":617901,"date":"2026-03-11T04:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617901\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T04:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:34:29","slug":"top-ranked-lady-vols-improve-to-24-0-with-9-1-victory-over-austin-peay-local-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617901\/","title":{"rendered":"Top-ranked Lady Vols improve to 24-0 with 9-1 victory over Austin Peay | Local Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Top-ranked<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy: Tennessee Athletics <\/p>\n

COLUMBIA, TN (utsports.com) – The No. 1-ranked Lady Vols earned a 9-1 six-inning run-rule victory Tuesday night in Columbia, Tennessee, as they hosted Austin Peay at the Ridley Sports Complex for the annual Midstate Classic.<\/p>\n

The win improves Tennessee to 24-0 on the year and ties the 2006 team for the best start to a season in program history.<\/p>\n

The Lady Vols opened the scoring quickly in the first inning as\u00a0Sophia Knight\u00a0singled, stole second and later scored on an RBI single to center field by\u00a0Makenzie Butt\u00a0to give Tennessee a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Austin Peay (16-9) held UT scoreless through the second and third and then tied the game in the fourth when Natalie Burns doubled down the right-field line to drive in a run.<\/p>\n

Tennessee quickly responded with a four-run bottom of the fourth inning to take control. After a pair of walks put two runners on, Knight singled to load the bases.\u00a0Ella Dodge\u00a0then delivered the key hit of the inning, ripping a three-run double to left-center field and advancing to third on the throw.\u00a0Gabby Leach\u00a0followed with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 5-1.<\/p>\n

The Lady Vols added to their lead in the fifth, thanks to an\u00a0Alannah Leach\u00a0two-run home run to left-center to extend the lead to 7-1.<\/p>\n

Tennessee capped the scoring in the sixth when Butt blasted a two-run home run to center field, for the walk-off run-rule.<\/p>\n

Erin Nuwer\u00a0started in the circle and allowed one run on two hits while striking out three over four innings.\u00a0Maddi Rutan\u00a0worked the final two innings in relief to close out the win. She notched two strikeouts and a walk.<\/p>\n

MULTI-HIT QUEEN<\/p>\n

Sophia Knight\u00a0continues to rack up multi-hit outings. On Tuesday, she went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. It marks her 15th multi-hit game of the season and her fifth three-hit performance.<\/p>\n

DUE UP<\/p>\n

Tennessee is back in action on Wednesday as it plays Lipscomb at Draper Diamond in Nashville. Due to inclement weather expected in the area, the game time is set for 2 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo Courtesy: Tennessee Athletics COLUMBIA, TN (utsports.com) – The No. 1-ranked Lady Vols earned a 9-1 six-inning run-rule…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[2315,2309,5,2316,2323,2314,2317,2313,2325,2335,57,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,35196,2307,2327,2321,185,2324,2350,2311,2045,2312,1039],"class_list":{"0":"post-617901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-postseason","8":"tag-athletic-sports","9":"tag-ball-and-bat-games","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-baseball-competitions","12":"tag-baseball-events","13":"tag-baseball-finals","14":"tag-baseball-games","15":"tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","16":"tag-baseball-teams","17":"tag-home-run","18":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","19":"tag-major-league-baseball","20":"tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","21":"tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","22":"tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","23":"tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","24":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams","25":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","26":"tag-mlb","27":"tag-mlb-playoffs","28":"tag-mlb-postseason","29":"tag-october-in-sports","30":"tag-outdoor-sports","31":"tag-seasons-in-american-sport","32":"tag-seasons-in-baseball","33":"tag-sports","34":"tag-sports-events","35":"tag-strikeout","36":"tag-team-sports","37":"tag-tennessee-volunteers-football","38":"tag-turf-sports","39":"tag-world-series"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}