The regular season finale is on deck.
Tennessee softball wraps its conference schedule with a road series versus Missouri. The Lady Vols (40-8, 14-7) ride momentum into the series off the back of a series victory over Alabama, while the Tigers (27-26, 8-13) return home after dropping two of three on the road to Arkansas.
Both teams are vying for their position in the NCAA Tournament as well, but for very different reasons. Tennessee is seeking to cement its resume to receive a top-eight seed to potentially host through super regionals, while Missouri is fighting to keep its record above .500 in order to be postseason eligible. With both SEC tournament and NCAA tournament implications on the line, this will be a very important series for both teams.
How to watch Tennessee softball
The first two games of the series are slated to begin at 7 p.m. ET, and both will be streamed on SEC Network+. The finale will be broadcast on SEC Network beginning at 1 p.m. Alternatively, each of the games can be streamed on UTSports.com or the Tennessee Athletics Gameday App, with Brian Rice handling play-by-play duties all weekend long.
Scoreboard watching
With the SEC Tournament right around the corner, the Lady Vols find themselves in sixth place in the conference standings. As things currently stand, they can fall no further than seventh in the standings, but there is a chance they could rise to the top four and earn a coveted double bye as well.
There are four teams Tennessee can still pass in the standings — Florida, Texas, Alabama and Texas A&M. Coincidentally, each of those teams face off with conference foes in the top 25. The only other team that could pass the Lady Vols is Arkansas, who lurk a game behind in the standings with a series against Texas coming up.
Magnificent Mardjetko
Sage Mardjetko’s brilliance last week earned her SEC Pitcher of the Week honors, as she threw 12.1 scoreless innings with 16 strikeouts and just three hits allowed. Her one-hit shutout versus Alabama turned the momentum in the series and was a continuation of her season-long excellence.
Mardjetko’s importance to the team, let alone the pitching staff, cannot be overstated. Coming off of offseason hip surgery, the junior finds herself amid a career-best season with a 0.93 ERA for the season, second in the nation to only Belmont’s Maya Johnson. Such a performance led to her being named to USA Softball’s top 25 finalists for Collegiate Player of the Year, alongside teammate Karlyn Pickens.
Major mismatch?
On paper, this could be an ugly series. Missouri finds itself dead last in the SEC in offensive output with a .269 team batting average and an average of 4.38 runs per game. Then there is the Tennessee pitching staff, which rolls into Columbia with the best team ERA in the country. Further, the staff leads the nation in hits allowed per seven innings, with Pickens, Erin Nuwer and Mardjetko sitting No. 1-2-3 respectively in that category.
While this matchup heavily favors the Lady Vols, they still have to go out and deliver the goods. Further, head coach Karen Weekly understands the task in front of the team with the Tigers fighting for their postseason lives. How they compete in this series will indicate where they are heading into tournament play.
