KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– Cheyanne Tarango crushed a two-run blast in the sixth inning to lift No. 8 Tennessee to a 5-3 victory over Ole Miss on Senior Day Saturday at Lee Stadium.
Before the game, Lady Vols softball celebrated Senior Day, honoring seniors Melissa Davin, Ellen Renfroe and Madison Shipman. After the win, the trio’s record stands at 194-47 – good for an impressive .805 winning percentage (third-best among any UT four-year senior class). Tennessee also paid a special tribute to Lady Vol alum Ashley Andrews for her work these last two years as a team manager.
The Lady Vols (41-9, 16-7 SEC) earned their second comeback win in two days to take the series against Ole Miss (22-30, 3-20 SEC). With the win, UT has also secured the No. 2 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Columbia, S.C.
Tarango went 2-for-3 with a triple and a two-run homer. Madison Shipman hit a two-RBI double and Haley Tobler had an RBI single.
Ellen Renfroe (26-5) fanned seven batters over seven frames with three earned runs allowed. The win was the 98th of her career, giving her sole possession of second place on UT’s all-time wins list. Monica Abbott (2004-07) holds the record with 189 wins and Ellen Renfroe entered Saturday tied with Ivy Renfroe for second-most at 97 wins.
Carly Hummel (10-14) took the loss for Ole Miss after allowing five earned runs over six innings.
The Rebels struck first, scoring three in the fifth. Tennessee responded with three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to notch its 13th-consecutive win against Ole Miss.
Ole Miss took the lead in the top of the fifth. With one on and two outs, Miranda Strother drilled a pitch to center field to knock in Courtney Syrett with an RBI triple. RT Cantillo followed with a two-run home run over the left field wall to extend the Rebels’ lead to 3-0.
The Big Orange responded with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the fifth, knotting the game at 3-3. Tarango led off with a triple–her first of the year– to left center field. Tobler followed with an RBI single to left field to plate Tarango. Taylor Koenig was hit by a pitch to put two runners on the bases. Three batters later, Shipman smoked a two-out, two-RBI double to left field to tie the game at 3-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, Melissa Davin hit a one-out double to right and Tarango drove her in with a two-run homer to left to give UT the lead.
Tennessee will go for the series sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Fox Sports Net/SportSouth will televise the game, and Brian Rice will be on the call on WNML 9990 AM. The game will be Tennessee’s final home game of the regular season.
