With the season beginning Feb. 5, the Lady Vols understand that, while they can be proud of what the team had achieved last season, they still can’t become complacent and expect the same results without putting in the work.

It’s not an easy thing to achieve consistent success at any level of sports, which Lady Vols softball head coach Karen Weekly understands better than most.

“I think what’s really cool about this team is we’re young, but we have some players who got some really, really great experience last year,” Weekly said. “So when I say young, you think of some of our sophomores and juniors that, the opportunity to play in the postseason and to get to Oklahoma City and be on that stage and have success on that stage, and have success getting there, I think that’s gonna bode really well for us.”

Weekly is entering her 24th season with the team. She coached the first 19 seasons of her career with the Lady Vols alongside her husband, Ralph Weekly, before Ralph retired in 2021.

Since Weekly has taken over full-time head coaching duties, the team reached the NCAA Regional round every season, while making the Women’s College World Series twice, including their most recent trip last season.

The schedule is filled to the brim with challenge, which is just what the Lady Vols are looking for.

The Lady Vols’ preseason ranking, according to Softball America, stands at No. 4 in the nation, behind Texas Tech, Texas and Oklahoma.

Before taking the field at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium on Feb. 27, the team will spend the first three weeks playing three neutral-site tournaments against some of the nation’s top talent.

Among the matchups are four ranked teams according to Softball America, including No. 5 Oregon, which squares off against the Lady Vols to conclude the NFCA Leadoff Classic alongside other matchups against BYU, Liberty, Boston College and Rutgers.

Following the first tournament, the final three ranked matchups during the tournament run include No. 9 Nebraska, No. 7 Florida State and No. 10 UCLA.

“I told them yesterday, the one thing that I want to be able to say after the weekend or during the weekend, is that I have to say, ‘Whoa, not go,’” Weekly said. “I just want us to get out there and get after it.”

It’s clear that Weekly wants to set a tone that, in order to be the best, you need to beat the best. While they will have plenty of opportunities to do so against their fellow conference opponents once SEC play begins, it’s apparent that Weekly wants her team battle-ready from the jump.

The Clearwater Invitational isn’t the first of the cycle, but it does feature the toughest tests on paper.

“Everybody’s gonna have a little bit of fear and nervousness, but how do you manage it?” Weekly said. “Do you manage that by getting on your heels, or do you manage that by staying on your toes and attacking? And I want us to be in an attack mode where maybe I have to rein something in, but certainly not light a fire under somebody.”

After the first two tournaments, the Lady Vols will travel up to Birmingham, Alabama, for the UAB Tournament. The Lady Vols square up against Missouri State, UAB, Mercer and Southern Illinois in the final neutral-site tournament.

That marks 14 games away from home before Weekly’s squad takes the field at their home stadium, which comes on Feb. 27 against Appalachian State.

It’s all been about shaping the leadership of the locker room over the offseason for Weekly’s team, and the “leadership council,” as Weekly called it, is headlined by Karlyn Pickens, Amayah Doyle, Emma Clarke and Ella Dodge.

“All four have done a tremendous job stepping up with their voices,” Weekly said.

Only one of them enters the season as a senior, which is a testament to the maturity inside the locker room.

Dodge enters her redshirt sophomore year, while Clarke and Doyle are true sophomores. Pickens notices the value in using her position on the team more to influence the team in ways she hadn’t known possible as an undergraduate.

Not only has Pickens seen growth in herself from a leadership perspective, but she has also seen the group of underclassmen that continues to push the envelope.

“Ella Dodge, Emma Clarke and Amayah Doyle, all of them have just had super impactful roles not only on the playing field, but also just as leaders,” Pickens said. “It’s something that you have to have a group to be able to do, and they’ve really stepped up making sure that everyone’s on the same page.”

The group, headlined by Pickens’ dominance in the circle, is impactful on the field, too. Dodge also made noise in her redshirt freshman season with an .827 OPS, tallying 15 RBIs with seven home runs.

“We are all very like-minded when it comes to competing and what we want to see this season,” Pickens said. “So I think having such a strong net group of those types of leaders, it’s really impactful.”

With 12 teams from the SEC ranked in the preseason top 25 poll, there’s no question the conference remains one of the best in the nation, and the Lady Vols will be right in the thick of it all yet again.

But first, a trip to Clearwater, Florida, is on deck.

“We’re very excited to hit the field down in Clearwater,” Weekly said. “It’s not gonna be the warmest Clearwater, but it’s gonna be warmer than it is here in Knoxville. Spend our first two weekends down there, back-to-back tournaments with some of the best competition in the country, and I think at this point in time in our preparation, every team is just excited to see somebody else. It’s been a good January, but by this time it’s kind of long, and I know our girls are fired up to get out there and compete and see what we’re made of.”