The innings went on and on, and Saturday afternoon became Saturday evening at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, with Tennessee trying to punch its ticket to the Women's College World Series and with Alabama trying to keep its season alive.
They will do it again Sunday.
Alabama loaded the bases with nobody out in the 14th inning, and a Kristen White chopper to Lady Volunteers shortstop Laura Mealer resulted in Lauren Johnson crossing the plate before Mealer's throw for a 3-2 Crimson Tide victory. The two Southeastern Conference foes will play a third and deciding NCAA tournament super regional game at 4 p.m. Sunday, with the winner clinching a trip to Oklahoma City and the loser hanging up the cleats.
"That should have been a national championship game. My goodness," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said afterward in a news conference. "Kudos to Tennessee, because they made play after play after play. They've got great defenders all the way around.
"It's a pity somebody had to lose. What a game."
ESPN will televise the anticipated finale between the third-seeded Lady Vols (44-11) and the 14th-seeded Tide (37-18). Tennessee won Friday's series opener by the same 3-2 score.
"That was a good, old-fashioned pitching duel, obviously," Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. "We played two full games. We certainly didn't come out on the end we wanted, but our season is not done yet.
"We knew this was going to be hard. People are in the super regional because they're good."
Saturday's 14 innings marked the longest contest in Lady Vols history, topping their 1-0 outlasting of Mississippi State in the 2022 SEC tournament quarterfinals that required 13 innings. Former Meigs County pitcher Ashley Rogers threw all 13 innings for Tennessee in that game, allowing just three hits in 161 pitches.
Alabama pitcher Kayla Beaver topped that Saturday, delivering a career-high 165 pitches, while Tennessee counterpart Karlyn Pickens threw 129. Neither started the game, but they were easily the busiest performers during the 4-hour, 35-minute marathon.
"Going into this game, everybody has the thought that this could be our last game," Beaver said. "I told everybody, 'I'm going to give you everything I've got.' We're not done, and I can't wait to see what this team does tomorrow."
Alabama was the home team Saturday and scored in the first inning, when White reached on an error, stole second and scored on Jenna Johnson's groundout to short. Tennessee pulled even in the second inning on Mealer's two-out single to left that scored Rylie West, who had reached on a one-out single to right.
The fourth inning contained solo home runs by each team, with Sophia Nugent's shot to left field putting the Lady Vols up 2-1 and Bailey Dowling's blast to left producing a 2-2 deadlock.
Payton Gottshall started on the mound for the Lady Vols and was replaced by Pickens after Dowling's homer. Pickens gave the Tide an opening in the bottom of the eighth, when she hit a batter and allowed a single with nobody out, but she quickly responded by getting two strikeouts and a groundout to send the game to the ninth.
Tennessee loaded the bases with two out in the top of the 14th, but Beaver got Giulia Koutsoyanopulos to ground out to end that threat.
"Our goal was just to keep throwing punches," Lady Vols center fielder and leadoff hitter Kiki Milloy said after reaching base five times via three hits and two walks. "The longer we go innings, the longer they go innings. They were out there for 14 innings as well, so it was a matter of who would come out on top, and unfortunately it was them.
"We still have another day of softball tomorrow."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.