Vols Tame Wildcats in 8-2 Victory

Saturday, February 13

Tempe, Ariz.

4:30 PM

University of Tennessee

4-2

Northwestern

2-1

Northwestern

Tennessee

February 13, 2016 | Softball

Box Score

Feb. 13, 2016

Box Score

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Erin Gabriel continued her dominance in the circle while Megan Geer provided the offensive firepower in an 8-2 victory over Northwestern to close out the Kajikawa Classic on Saturday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz.

Gabriel pitched her third complete-game in as many starts to improve to 2-1 on the year. The junior right-hander allowed only two runs on four hits while striking out 10 batters against a Northwestern team that scored 37 runs in their first two games of the season. Gabriel has recorded 10-plus strikeouts in all three of her appearances and already has 34 total this season.

Geer had her best game of the young season, setting a new-career high with four runs while ripping off three hits, including a 3-run homer to bust the game open in the fifth inning.

For the second straight game the Vols jumped out to an early lead. Geer led off the game with a single and ended up scoring from third on a throwing error by Northwestern's catcher while she was trying to throw out Meghan Gregg at second.

No. 8/9 Tennessee took advantage of a couple of errors by the Wildcats (2-1) in the second inning, adding three more runs to take a 4-0 lead. Scarlet McSwain scored on an error by Wildcats' second baseman Brooke Marquez to start the scoring in the frame. Gretchen Aucoin also drove in a run after getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Shaliyah Geathers scored on a single by Lexi Overstreet to give the Big Orange an early 4-run lead.

A 2-run homer by Andrea Filler in the top of the third got the Wildcats on the board and cut the Tennessee lead to 4-2. That would be the extent of the scoring for Northwestern, however, as Gabriel allowed only two hits the rest of the way.

Gregg came through with an RBI single down the right-field line to get a run back in the fourth and Geer continued her monster afternoon with a 3-run bomb to left field in the fifth inning to extend UT's lead to six.

Gregg and Aubrey Leach also recorded multi-hit performances for the Volunteers on the afternoon. Leach, a freshman from the Woodlands, Texas, posted a hit in five of the team's six games this week.

Tennessee finishes the Kajikawa Classic with a 4-2 record and will travel to Clearwater, Fla., next weekend for the Michele Smith Pediatric Cancer Foundation Invitational.