That was certainly a way for Tennessee softball to respond to a dramatic loss to Oklahoma to open the Women's College World Series.

Following a walk-off loss to the Sooners down to their final out a day ago, the Lady Vols blew past Florida 11-3 in five innings to keep their season alive.

Seven of the runs in the game were scored in the first inning as UT took a commanding lead.

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It was Karlyn Pickens who got the ball for Tennessee to start in the circle. She went one inning while not allowing a hit and striking out two. With the lead already built up, the ball was handed off to Sage Mardjetko.

Marjetko went two innings while allowing three runs on back-to-back shots. She gave up two hits and struck out one. Erin Nuwer got the ball from there and went two innings while allowing just one hit and striking out two.

At the plate, home runs for Tennessee were hit by Sophia Nugent and McKenna Gibson in back-to-back fashion. The Lady Vols' 11 runs were the most they've scored in a WCWS game in program history.

Coming off the brutal end to Thursday's loss to Oklahoma, Pickens walked the first batter she saw in four pitches. After walking one more, she bounced back to strand a pair, though.

In the bottom of the first, Gabby Leach tripled to lead off the game. With Taylor Pannell singling, it gave Tennessee a 1-0 edge after just two batters.

That wasn't the extent of the damage, though. After loading the bases with no outs, Florida was forced to go to the bullpen. After a walk scored one, Laura Mealer responded with an RBI single to make it 3-0.

Allanah Leach kept it rolling. She drilled a double, and advanced to third on the throw home, while clearing the bases and scoring another three runs. Emma Clarke flew out, but scored another run, to make it 7-0 after one inning.

That was all Tennessee needed to see to finish Pickens' outing. The Lady Vols turned to Mardjetko with the sizable lead in the second. She worked a 1-2-3 inning.

Tennessee continued to add to its lead in the second. Nugent drilled a solo shot in the bottom of the frame with Gibson hitting one right after, as well. This made it 9-0 through just two innings of work.

In the third, the Lady Vols produced their 10th run of the game. Thanks to two errors in the inning, Tennessee managed to plate an unearned run to make the match 10-0.

Florida finally responded in the top of the fourth with a two-run homer off Mardjetko. The Gators followed it up with another long ball in the next at-bat. Nuwer entered afterward to get things back on track.

In the bottom of the inning, Tennessee used a two-out Mealer double and Allanah Leach single to push another runner home to put the run-rule back into effect. Nuwer came on in the fifth and clinched the run-rule win.

Tennessee still has a tall task in front of it to reach the WCWS finals. The next step will be facing the loser between Texas Tech and UCLA in another elimination bout. That game is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.

If the Lady Vols survive that match, they would move on to play the winner between Texas and Oklahoma. They would have to beat that team twice in a row to earn a spot in the finals. One more loss before a potential finals appearance ends UT's season.

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