Who knows what will haunt the Tennessee Lady Volunteers more in the next several months, losing Saturday's 4-hour, 35-minute marathon to Alabama in 14 innings, or what transpired in Sunday's first 13 minutes against the Crimson Tide.
Riley Valentine's grand slam off Tennessee starting pitcher Payton Gotshall in Sunday's first inning gave Alabama a stunning 4-0 lead that held up in a 4-1 victory over the Lady Vols in the third and deciding game of the NCAA tournament's Knoxville Super Regional between the longtime Southeastern Conference foes.
The 14th-seeded Crimson Tide will now advance to their 15th Women's College World Series, while the No. 3 Lady Vols had their season come to a close sooner than expected, especially after posting a 3-2 triumph in Friday's best-of-three opener.
"The word for me in these last couple of weeks has been redemption," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said in a news conference. "We had our first losing season in SEC play in 28 years, and I kept saying and preaching that the best is yet to come. The most gratifying year of my career is right now.
"I could not be happier for our team, our athletic department and our entire school."
Tennessee's No. 3 seed in the NCAA's field of 64 teams was its highest ever.
"Alabama made the plays they needed to make and earned everything they got," Lady Vols coach Karen Weekly said. "We obviously have a very sad locker room."
Gottshall began the game with two strikeouts, keeping leadoff hittter Kristen White from inflicting early damage for the Tide, but she allowed a two-out single to Kenleigh Calahan and then hit two batters to load the bases. Valentine made Gottshall pay for those mistakes with a drive to left field that just did slip over the wall and a leaping Rylie West.
"That was like the sixth or seventh at-bat off Gottshall, and I knew the stuff she had," Valentine said. "It was bases loaded and two outs. So what? I just saw a good pitch and put a good swing on it.
"Honestly, I didn't think it was going out, but it scraped right over, and I'll take it."
The Tide's four-run first inning took 13 minutes to complete, but the Lady Vols didn't get their first plate appearances until 2 hours and 57 minutes later due to a weather delay at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium. Gottshall pitched the second and third innings after the game resumed before being replaced by Karlyn Pickens at the start of the fourth.
It appeared that Alabama would cruise to a shutout victory behind the pitching of freshman Jocelyn Briski, but the Lady Vols opened the bottom of the seventh by getting runners on the corners. A bunt single by Taylor Pannell scored Katie Taylor to pull Tennessee within 4-1, and then Laura Mealer hit into a fielder's choice for the first out.
Kayla Beaver, who threw 165 pitches in Saturday's 3-2 win, replaced Briski and promptly hit her first batter to load the bases, but she got a foulout and a groundout to end the game. The groundout to short was by Kiki Milloy, one of the most decorated players in Tennessee softball history.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.