Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Tennessee
No. 14 Tennessee Squeezes Past Texas Tech in Pitchers Duel
February 10, 2012 | Softball
Feb. 10, 2012
Box Score | Notes | 
Day 2 Postgame Recap
TEMPE, Ariz. - Tennessee pitcher Ellen Renfro held Texas Tech to two hits and struck out 14 to lead the 14th-ranked Lady Volunteers to a close 1-0 victory at the Kajikawa Classic held at Tempe Sports Complex.
The loss was Tech's (1-2) second in a 24-hour span as the Red Raiders also fell to Northwestern earlier in the day. Tennessee (2-1), meanwhile, erased an earlier loss to Cal to earn doubleheader split.
"I feel bad that we lost because Brittany Talley threw such a great game," Tech head coach Shanon Hays said. "Our offense just couldn't get it going against Renfro, who pitched a great game as well. That's the type of pitching we will face in the Big 12 and that's the whole reason for coming to these tournaments and playing the best."
While Renfro continually kept Tech on edge, Talley (0-1) did the same to the Lady Vols, giving up only one run off six hits in a complete game effort.
After four scoreless innings, Tennessee finally got to the sophomore as Melissa Brown followed a Melissa Davin walk with a RBI double to center, bringing Davin all the way around from first.
That would be all Tennessee would get off the southpaw, who finished with her first complete game since facing Texas A&M on March 13 last year. Talley gave relief to a Tech pitching staff that used most of its rotation earlier in the day as she struck out four and walked two over seven innings.
Even with Talley's success, the Tech bats struggled to mount any offense against Renfro, who consistently mixed and matched her pitches to keep the Red Raiders off-balanced
The Red Raiders got runners in scoring position with one out in both the third and fourth innings, only for Renfro to follow up with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
Renfro (2-0), who retired the final 11 batters in order, shut out Tech for the first time in a regular season non-conference game since Notre Dame did so in back-to-back games on March 7-8, 2009 during the UNLV Invitational.
Logan Hall delivered Tech's first hit with a double down the right-field line in the third while Adriana Perez added a single in the fourth.
The Red Raiders close the tournament Saturday with another doubleheader. Tech will face No. 9 Stanford at noon (CT) before wrapping the day against Cal Poly later in the evening at 9:30 p.m.
