It was a big weekend for Tennessee softball, defeating Alabama in back-to-back contests and stealing a big series win.
Now the team has just one more regular-season series remaining on the schedule: a trip to Columbia, Missouri, for a three-game set against the Tigers.
“They’re fighting for their lives right now,” Tennessee softball head coach Karen Weekly said. “They’re sitting at .500, but you know, they’re 39 RPI, so if they can stay above .500, they will make the NCAA Tournament.
So they’ve got a lot to play for.”
Missouri enters the series with a 26-26 record and a conference record of 8-13.
“If you look at what they’ve done throughout the season, and especially in the SEC, the record might not be great, but they’re in almost every single game,” Weekly said. “They’ve played Florida, they played Alabama, they played Arkansas.
They played some really good teams, and nobody’s blowing them out.”
Their last series was a series loss to Arkansas, sneaking out a win in the finale on Sunday. While Missouri fights for postseason play, the Lady Vols are riding high after clinching 40 wins, compared to just eight losses on the season. Additionally, the conference record sits at 14-6.
“Whether you have success or you don’t have success, you have to continue to do the same things,” Weekly said. “So, for example, yesterday in the game, we had a lot of great energy, but there are times you have to say, ‘All right, let’s bring it in.’”
It can be easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of the celebration, but Weekly aims for her team to be prepared for consistency.
“Maintaining momentum is about doing the little things every day that put you in a spot to create momentum,” Weekly said.
”I don’t think the last two days mean we’ve arrived. I think it just means we remembered who we are, and we did the things that we were doing when we were at our best. So we will continue to talk about those same things consistently.”
While the bats weren’t the most consistent piece of the team over the Alabama series, hitters like Emma Clarke and Taelyn Holley remained an anchor to the lineup. Clarke ranks second on the team in OPS during conference play, hitting .945 over 61 at-bats, while Holley has awoken her bat over the last few weeks. Since April 8, Holley has added 13 hits over nine games, including six runs batted in.
“In the fall, (Taelyn) was one of our best hitters,” Weekly said. “I would look at her and go ‘Wow, that’s a professional hitter,’ and that’s what you saw these last couple of days.”
Clarke and Holley combined for the team’s only four hits in Monday night’s win against Alabama, both finishing the game with two hits apiece.
Once the series is complete, the Lady Vols will turn around and prepare for the SEC Tournament, which takes place May 5-9 in Lexington, Kentucky.
