OTHER SPORTS

After notching program milestone, Tennessee softball suffers first loss of season

Rhiannon Potkey
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
adam lau/news sentinel Tennessee pitcher Matty Moss tosses an Arizona runner out at first base during a Knoxville Regional game against Arizona on Saturday at Lee Stadium. Moss will likely be UT's featured pitcher next season with the Vols losing Erin Gabriel and Rainey Gaffin.

After recording a milestone win, the University of Tennessee softball team suffered its first loss of the season.

The No. 15 Vols defeated Nebraska 5-0 before falling to No. 17 Utah 3-0 in the nightcap on Friday at the Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City, Calif.

The victory over Nebraska was the 1,000th win in program history while the loss to Utah snapped a 13-game winning streak for UT (13-1), ending the program’s best start since 2014 when the Vols started 14-0.

The Vols have an all-time record of 1,000-397-2 since the program's inception in 1996 with 767 of the wins coming under the watch of co-head coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly, who took over in 2002. UT is the fifth SEC program to reach 1,000 wins.

Against Nebraska, sophomore Matty Moss threw a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and Abby Lockman drove in two runs.

Tennessee jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with RBI singles from Brooke Vines and Chelsea Seggern and an RBI groundout by Megan Geer.

Lockman increased UT’s advantage to 5-0 in the fifth inning with a two-out single and Moss kept Nebraska scoreless to improve to 7-0 this season with a team-leading 49 strikeouts.

Vines finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. CJ McClain was 2 for 3. Aubrey Leach had a triple and run scored and Taylor Rowland had a double and run scored.

Against Utah, Miranda Viramontes limited the Vols to five hits in the shutout. UT freshman Caylan Arnold matched Viramontes with a five-hitter, but gave up three earned runs in suffering her first collegiate loss.

Arnold, a Maryville native, surrendered the first earned run of her college career in the first inning as Hannah Flippen led off with a double and scored on a Heather Bowen single for a 1-0 lead. The Utes added single runs in the third and fifth innings.

UT stranded two runners on base in the sixth inning and went down in order in the seventh. Leach had two hits for the Vols.

The Vols close out tournament play on Saturday against Texas at 3 p.m. EST.