Game of the Week: UCLA vs Tennessee

No. 6 UCLA takes on No. 7 Tennessee at 1 p.m. PST on Saturday as part of the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational. Who will win this top 10 matchup?

UCLA Bruins

The Bruins are currently undefeated at the time of this writing. They started off the season with impressive wins against UC Santa Barbara and Northern Colorado. Then they dominated both Oregon State and Utah before shutting out UC Riverside. Before they take on Tennessee, they will face top 25 matchups against No. 11 Oklahoma State and No. 22 Missouri. Perhaps, based on these games we will more accurately tell how UCLA will look against this matchup, but for now, we will have to go on their previous games.

Senior infielder Jordan Woolery leads the team with 10 hits on the season. She had an impressive five RBI against UC Santa Barbara and three hits against Northern Colorado. She also hit two home runs against UC Riverside. Senior utility player Megan Grant matches Woolery with five home runs on the season and is second in runs scored for the team. Grant had an impressive three home runs against UC Riverside which included six RBI. Lastly, sophomore outfielder Rylee Slimp leads the team in scored runs. Against UC Santa Barbara, she scored three runs, hit a triple, and hit a home run. She also scored two runs against Utah and hit a home run.

Players to watch: Jordan Woolery, Megan Grant, and Rylee Slimp

Tennessee Vols

The Vols are also undefeated on the year at the time of this writing. They kicked off the year with the NFCA Leadoff Classic, where they had dominant wins against BYU, Liberty, Rutgers, and Boston College. Then, they squared off against Oregon, who was ranked No. 5 according to other rankings. They defeated the Ducks 2-0 in a close contest. Then, they will face off against Nebraska, James Madison, and FAU before facing off against UCLA.

Junior outfielder Sophia Knight leads the team with seven hits, five runs, and two doubles on the season. Junior outfielder Gabby Leach leads the team with seven total runs, and has three hits, and two doubles with three RBI. Freshman catcher Elsa Morrison has been stellar in getting her teammates to home plate with six RBI.

However, we have a good game to look at to see how Tennessee faired against Oregon. The only hits in that game came from Leach and redshirt sophomore utility player Ella Dodge. Leach scored both runs. The first was off of a walk with bases loaded in the first inning and the next was off of Dodge’s double in the sixth inning. Against a strong team like Oregon, the hits were more rare as compared to other opponents. That’s not to say that Tennessee will struggle against UCLA, but it is something to look for. Despite that, senior pitcher Karlyn Pickens did an excellent job herself against the Ducks only allowing three hits and having nine strikeouts. She also had 13 strikeouts against Liberty, a team who was ranked in other rankings, and in both games she has gone all seven innings. She only had one run scored on her against Liberty. She also has no earned runs against her. It is unclear if she will pitch in the game against UCLA, but if she does, she is certainly capable.

Players to watch: Sophia Knight, Ella Dodge, Karlyn Pickens

Prediction: With all of this said, I think Tennessee wins this game. They are equally as impressive as UCLA, but have a couple of tougher opponents on their schedule (as of this writing) that point to them being able to handle strong opponents.

Photo Attribution: TN 66, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons