OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Ashley Rogers threw a complete game, and No. 4 seed Tennessee defeated No. 6 Oklahoma State 3-1 on Sunday to qualify for the Women's College World Series semifinals.
Tennessee's ace returned to the circle after not playing in a 9-0 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday that put the Lady Vols on the brink of elimination. She gave up one run on four hits and struck out four.
Tennessee (51-9) advanced to play No. 3 Florida State (57-9) on Monday. It is the Lady Vols' best World Series showing since finishing as runner-up to Oklahoma in 2013.
It is a double-elimination bracket, and Florida State is unbeaten while Tennessee has a loss, so the Lady Vols will need to win twice on Monday while Florida State will need to win just once to advance to the best-of-three championship series.
Oklahoma State (47-16) made its fourth straight World Series appearance but hasn’t reached the championship series. The Cowgirls reached the semifinals last year.
No. 1 Oklahoma (57-1) will play No. 9 Stanford (47-14) in the other semifinal. Stanford will need to win twice, while two-time defending champion Oklahoma will need one victory to move on.
Kiki Milloy got the Lady Vols going against Oklahoma State starter Kelly Maxwell when she walked, stole second and scored on a double by Zaida Puni. Rylie West's RBI single made it 2-0, and Maxwell was replaced.
Oklahoma State threatened in the fourth but failed to score. Tallen Edwards doubled, but Tennessee second baseman Destiny Rodriguez threw Micaela Wark out at home to end the inning.
In the fifth, Puni got on with an error, then scored on a throwing error to make it 3-0.
Morgan Wynne cranked a solo shot just inside the left foul pole in the sixth to get Oklahoma State on the board, but that's all the Cowgirls could produce.
Maxwell took the loss for the Cowgirls. Lexi Kilfoyl did not allow a hit in 3 2/3 innings of relief.
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