No. 5 Tennessee (30-4, 10-2) split a pair of games on the first day of the Tennessee Invitational at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium Thursday.
The Lady Vols defeated Mercer (12-26, 3-6 SoCon), 11-0 in five innings, to open play. Tennessee lost to No. 21 Baylor (29-9, 2-4 Big 12), 1-0.
Payton Gottshall (8-0) and Nicola Simpson pitched a combined no-hitter for the Lady Vols in game No. 1. Gotshall pitched three innings and allowed two walks, k while recording four strikeouts. Simpson pitched two innings and recorded two strikeouts.
Lair Beautae went 2-for-3 for Tennessee. She recorded six RBIs, one triple, one home run and two runs.
Katie Taylor was 1-for-2, recording one double, one run and one RBI for Tennessee.
Tennessee scored six runs in the second inning versus Mercer.
Against Baylor, the Lady Vols were held to one hit, a single by Taylor.
Tennessee pitcher Ashley Rogers (11-1) allowed the game’s only run in the first inning. She suffered her first loss of the season.
Rogers pitched seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, while recoding eight strikeouts.
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