Tennessee softball in weather delay for NCAA super regional finale vs Alabama on Sunday
Tennessee softball's game against Alabama in the NCAA super regional is in a weather delay.
The No. 3 seed Lady Vols (44-11) made it through the top of the first inning in the winner-take-all matchup with No. 14 seed Alabama (37-18) on Sunday before lightning delayed the game at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium around 4:20 p.m. ET.
At 6:26 p.m., Tennessee announced the game would resume at 7:15 p.m.
Tennessee pitcher Payton Gottshall started the game with two strikeouts before giving up a single and hitting two batters to load the bases. Riley Valentine then hit a grand slam to give Alabama a 4-0 lead before the weather delay began. Gottshall got a third strikeout to end the top of the first inning when the delay was announced.
Tennessee won the super regional opener 3-2 on Friday thanks to a two-run homer from Laura Mealer in the fifth inning. Alabama responded with a 3-2 win of its own on Saturday, though, winning the 14-inning battle that lasted more than four hours. The Lady Vols and the Tide went 10 scoreless innings before Alabama walked it off in the 14th to even the series 1-1.
The winner of Sunday's game will advance to the Women's College World Series. It would be the first time Tennessee made consecutive trips to Oklahoma City since 2013.
This is the second weather delay of the postseason for Tennessee, which had to wait out a seven-hour weather delay at the SEC Tournament due to heavy rain in Auburn, Alabama. UT didn't even make it to the start time of 11 a.m. against LSU before the game was delayed. It eventually started at 6 p.m.
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Tennessee's NCAA regional in Knoxville last year also included a rain-soaked game against Indiana. The game made it to the top of the third inning before officials called it due to heavy rain that started in the first inning. There were nearly nearly six hours of weather delays before the game resumed, and Tennessee run-ruled Indiana in five innings to advance to the regional final.
The Lady Vols earned the highest NCAA Tournament seeding in program history this season after winning back-to-back SEC regular-season championships for the first time in program history.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee softball vs Alabama in weather delay in NCAA super regional
