How Kiki Milloy broke out of slump to lead Tennessee softball to run-rule win over Virginia

Tennessee softball assistant coach Chris Malveaux had a simple message for Kiki Milloy before Saturday's game.

Milloy appeared to be overthinking it Friday when she went 0-for-4 against Dayton. She worked on her mechanics this week, preparing for the No. 3 seed Lady Vols' NCAA regional, and it led to Milloy being too static in their first win.

"In warmups, Chris was like, 'Alright, just try to play home run derby,' " Milloy said. "And I was like, 'Alright, let's just get out there and we're hacking.' "

Milloy only needed four pitches to crush a ball over the left field wall in her first at-bat of the game. After going 0-for-8 in her last two outings, Milloy went 2-for-2 with one home run, three runs scored, two walks and two RBIs in Tennessee's run-rule win over Virginia at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium on Saturday. The Lady Vols (42-10) won 12-0 in five innings to advance to the NCAA regional final Sunday (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2) against Virginia (34-19) at 4 p.m.

"I was just happy that I hit a ball hard," Milloy said with a laugh.

Milloy's offensive explosion was contagious, and Tennessee had one of its best offensive showings of the season against Virginia. The Lady Vols hit .524 with four home runs, both of which tie their season high, and an on-base percentage of .643.

"Kiki is the straw that stirs the drink for us, there's no question," Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said.

Milloy is coming off a career-best season that saw her break records and be named a first team All-American. She hasn't always been able to duplicate that success this season, especially with an injury during SEC play, and Weekly said Milloy puts a lot of pressure on herself to be the one to come through for the team.

"Sometimes that might be her biggest enemy, is her," Weekly said. "But when she's doing what she did today ... don't worry about mechanics, don't worry about yesterday, don't worry about the season. Just go in there and just attack and play home run derby – she's at her best, and we are at our best, because we really feed off of her."

Weekly was pleased the Lady Vols didn't settle after Taylor Pannell hit a solo home run right after Milloy in the first inning. If anything, they added five runs in the second inning and scoring four runs in the third.

"They just want it, and postseason – the tougher team is going to win, and they were very, very tough today," Weekly said. "And like Kiki said, keep throwing punches, and punch to kill every time you do. We did that and we need to keep doing it. The results aren't always going to be the same, but that has to be our mentality every single pitch."

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NCAA Tournament Knoxville regional

Saturday 

Game 3: Tennessee 12, Virginia 0

Game 4: Miami (Ohio) 4, Dayton 0

Game 5: Virginia 6, Miami (Ohio) 0

Sunday

Game 6: Tennessee vs. Virginia, 4 p.m.

Game 7: Tennessee vs. Virginia (if necessary), 6:30 p.m.

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.