Tennessee softball routs Roane State to begin fall slate
Contributor
Tennessee softball’s offensive arsenal was on full display on Saturday afternoon, defeating Roane State 32-0 at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium to open its fall schedule. The Lady Vols could do no wrong, racking up 26 hits compared to the Raiders’ 1.
Junior Maddi Rutan was in the circle to start the day for Tennessee. She made quick work of the top of Roane State’s lineup, striking out two to begin the game.
Sophomore Saviya Morgan got the scoring started for the Lady Vols. She drove in junior Sophia Knight from second base with a triple for Tennessee’s first score of the fall. On the next atbat, junior Gabby Leach sent Morgan home with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Rutan contributed on the offensive side, mashing a home run off the scoreboard to make it a 4-0 lead for Tennessee.
Roane State couldn’t find any offense, picking up three outs from its first three batters.
Tennessee picked up where it left off in the first. Freshman Elsa Morrison sent two runners home late in the second inning to extend the Lady Vols’ lead to six.
The Raiders were held to another short inning. Solid fielding from Tennessee kept them in check as their
Tyre West
three batters went down quickly.
Sophomore Amayah Doyle scored Tennessee’s lone run of the third frame. She hit a home run deep into center field that bounced off the batter’s eye to extend the lead to seven.
Sophomore Erin Nuwer took Rutan’s place in the circle in the fourth inning. After more good fielding from Tennessee, she struck the last batter out to get the Lady Vols back on offense.
Rutan continued her impressive performance on offense, driving in two more runs with a hit into center field. Doyle rounded out the fourth frame with another home run, this time driving in three runs.
But the offensive explosion was yet to happen.
After another scoreless inning by the Raiders, Tennessee’s bats took over. They loaded the bases multiple times with no outs. The Lady Vols crushed two home runs by Rutan and another from Taelyn Holley, which was a grand slam. When the dust settled, Tennessee had scored 14 runs in the fifth frame.
Heading into the sixth inning, the Lady Vols led by 25 runs. The Raiders had no response for the Lady Vols as Nuwer took down the next three batters.
The Lady Vols loaded the bases again in the sixth inning. Morrison drove in a run, making it a 26-run game. The Raiders’ fifth error of the game resulted in two more runs, with Dodge hitting a ball between first and second base. An-
other sacrifice fly by Tennessee added another run, bringing the total to 29. One more run made it 30-0 heading into the eighth inning.
Freshman Kailey Plumlee took over pitching duties in the eighth. She took care of business, allowing zero hits to the Raiders.
Tennessee managed two more runs in the eighth frame, pushing the lead to 32-0.
Plumlee remained in the circle for the ninth inning. She took down all three batters, ending the game. The Lady Vols won 32-0, racking up 26 hits in the win.
Tennessee will be back at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium on Oct. 3, taking on Carson-Newman for the second game of its fall schedule.
‘no doubt’ playing best football for Tennessee with conference
play underway
TREVOR MCGEE Sports Editor
Mississippi State’s Sam West took the snap at upback and rumbled for 15 yards near midfield on fourth down on Saturday. But Tennessee football’s own West, Tyre, was not having it.
A play after flipping the momentum in front of the clanging cowbells, possessing a four-point lead in the early stages of the fourth quarter, Tyre West pummeled Blake Shapen’s blindside. As he wrapped around the left tackle, West thwacked the ball free as Shapen plunged to the ground.
Between his legs sat the ball, where Joshua Josephs scooped it and took the ball 41 yards for the leading score. It served as West’s second sack of the game and a testament to the work he has achieved this season.
“You talked about him playing his best football,” head coach Josh Heupel said. “There’s no doubt that the last few weeks he’s been playing his best football.”
Earlier in the game, West laid his first big hit on Shapen. On first-and-10 from the Mississippi State 25-yard line with 4:19 left in the opening quarter, West did it from the opposite side. As he went up against the Bulldogs’ right tackle, Albert Reese IV, West steadily won the battle to dive on Shapen for a hard-hitting sack.
He finished the game with three tackles, two for a loss, which were the pair of sacks. He added the forced fumble, which was a catalyst for sparking the Vols’ 41-34 overtime victory — featuring multiple chaotic momentum swings.
His play earned him SEC Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.
“It means a lot,” West said postgame. “The reason why I say it means a lot is because it's like ain't nothing like college football. Just playing football with my brothers and just getting through it, like getting after it like every week.
I mean, it's a big thing to me. It’s unimaginable.”
West’s opportunities have come in waves this season. He was not a featured
piece in the season-opener against Syracuse, accumulating a measly 14 snaps with a 55.5 PFF grade to go along with it. He failed to record a snap in the matchup.
But then he flipped it around with an expanded role against ETSU in Week 2. West’s snap count nearly doubled with 27 on the day, and he made the most with a third-quarter sack of Cade McNamara to finish with three tackles. He graded out as Tennessee’s best defensive player with a 91.5 PFF grade, an 11.6-point difference between the nexthighest grade.
West continued to build on his weeks when SEC play opened with Georgia. He added a career-high seven tackles in the nail-biter loss and played a season-high 55 snaps while rating as Tennessee’s highest-graded defensive player for the second week in a row.
“It's just like my mom used to always tell me, like, ‘When your name is called, like show up. Do what you can do. F— the rest,’” West said. “Just do what you got to do. So like now it's like when my
name is called, like I'm gonna go out there and bust my a– every play.”
West was held out of the nonconference bout with UAB, but he returned to form with SEC play back on the horizon. While his snaps took a dip back down against Mississippi State, his production and impact did not. West recorded 29 snaps in the overtime win, posting a 90.3 PFF grade to lead Tim Banks’ unit as he returned to form.
His two-sack evening against the Bulldogs matched a season-best for each of his first three years with the Vols. West recorded two sacks apiece in each of the first three seasons in Knoxville, but now he’s taken the next step in his final year, which has him at 13 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble through five games.
The 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive lineman playing under coach Rodney Garner is producing at a time the Vols need it most. He’ll return to action after an open week with a revenge possibility on deck with the head coach-less Arkansas Razorbacks on Oct. 11.
Amayah Doyle (42) celebrates hitting a home run against Roane State at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium. Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. Ericksen Gomez-Villeda / The Daily Beacon
GAMES TO WATCH
OCTOBER 2-7, 2025
Soccer vs. Georgia — 7 p.m.
Men’s tennis at MT Shootout in Murfreesboro, TN — All day
Softball vs. Carson-Newman — 6 p.m.
Volleyball vs. LSU in Baton Rouge, La. — 8 p.m.
2 3 4 5 6 7 THURS
Men’s tennis at MT Shootout in Murfreesboro, TN — All day
Softball vs. ETSU — 5 p.m.
Men’s tennis at MT Shootout in Murfreesboro, TN — All day
Women’s golf at Mercedes-Benz Intercollegiate in Knoxville, TN — All day Soccer at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. — 3 p.m. ET
2025 Football PICK ‘EM
Women’s golf at Mercedes-Benz Intercollegiate in Knoxville, TN — All day
Men’s golf at Fighting Irish Classic in South Bend, Ind. — All day
Men’s tennis at M15 Lexington in Lexington, Ky. — All day
Women’s golf at Mercedes-Benz Intercollegiate in Knoxville, TN — All day
Men’s golf at Fighting Irish Classic in South Bend, Ind. — All day
Men’s tennis at M15 Lexington in Lexington, Ky. — All day
TICKETS
VANDERBILT VS. ALABAMA
MIAMI VS. FLORIDA STATE
TEXAS VS. FLORIDA
TEXAS TECH VS. HOUSTON
IOWA STATE VS. CINCINNATI
ILLINOIS VS. PURDUE
MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. TEXAS A&M
VANDERBILT VS. ALABAMA
MIAMI VS. FLORIDA STATE
TEXAS VS. FLORIDA
TEXAS TECH VS. HOUSTON
IOWA STATE VS. CINCINNATI
ILLINOIS VS. PURDUE
MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. TEXAS A&M
VANDERBILT VS. ALABAMA
MIAMI VS. FLORIDA STATE
TEXAS VS. FLORIDA
TEXAS TECH VS. HOUSTON
IOWA STATE VS. CINCINNATI
ILLINOIS VS. PURDUE
THURSDAY OCTOBER 16 7:30PM THURSDAY OCTOBER 30 7:30PM TICKETS
MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. TEXAS A&M
VANDERBILT VS. ALABAMA
MIAMI VS. FLORIDA STATE
TEXAS VS. FLORIDA
TEXAS TECH VS. HOUSTON
IOWA STATE VS. CINCINNATI
ILLINOIS VS. PURDUE
MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. TEXAS A&M
VANDERBILT VS. ALABAMA
MIAMI VS. FLORIDA STATE
TEXAS VS. FLORIDA
TEXAS TECH VS. HOUSTON
IOWA STATE VS. CINCINNATI
ILLINOIS VS. PURDUE
MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. TEXAS A&M
VANDERBILT VS. ALABAMA
MIAMI VS. FLORIDA STATE
TEXAS VS. FLORIDA
TEXAS TECH VS. HOUSTON
IOWA STATE VS. CINCINNATI
ILLINOIS VS. PURDUE
MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. TEXAS A&M
PATRICK BUSCH NEWS EDITOR (23-12)
TREVOR MCGEE SPORTS EDITOR (25-10)
ALEX SARKIS ASST. SPORTS EDITOR (28-7)
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