For the No. 6 Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team, a win over the Winthrop Eagles meant a chance for redemption.
While their meeting last year ended in a 2-1 loss, for the Lady Vols on Tuesday evening everything went right in their 8-0 shutout victory.
Co-head coach Karen Weekly said that midweek games can be a trap between big SEC series like Alabama and Florida. She said she’s always a little concerned that the team be looking ahead, but she was pleased with the way they came out and took care of business against Winthrop.
“They got a quick reminder last year when Winthrop snuck up on them and handed them a loss that we think proved to be critical at the end of the season in our seeding,” she said. “We talk a lot about that, that you have to take all the games seriously and we talk about playing our best self. Don’t play to the scoreboard, it’s not about, ‘do you have five runs on the board’, it’s about, ‘are you having a good at bat, are you taking it one pitch at a time, are you trying to get better with every pitch out here?’ As long as we can keep that kind of a mindset, we’ll be okay.”
In the bottom of the first, senior infielder Lauren Gibson hit a two-run homer to put the team’s first points on the board, but the scoring didn’t stop there. Junior Madison Shipman followed Gibson’s at-bat with her own home run, making the score 0-3 as the team headed into the second inning.
“I like to swing it a lot and I was just seeing the ball really well today and I went after it,” Shipman said.
“I was so pumped. Half the team was still giving Lauren a high fives when they were walking in and they turned around and were like, ‘oh my gosh, did she hit one too?’ It’s a great feeling to go back to back and we don’t get to do that very often.”
Her next at-bat was another home run and ended the night with two home runs and a double. Going into the game, Shipman said she had no expectations for the night, especially after the team’s recent loss to Alabama on Sunday.
“We try not to dwell over those losses too long because we do have such a quick turnaround, so we were just coming out here just ready to get after it today and try not look forward to this weekend or look back at last weekend and just focus on getting a win today,” she said.
Weekly said she wasn’t surprised at all by Shipman’s performance.
“She’s been working very hard on her timing and just making sure that she’s getting into a good hitting position early enough so that she can make good decisions,” she said. “Today, I think she saw three pitches and hit two home runs and a double. That’s the thing that makes Maddie such a good hitter is she doesn’t stand in there and take good pitches. Today when she saw a strike, she jumped on them.”
But Shipman isn’t the only Lady Vol deserving of credit. Senior Ivy Renfroe was named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week and USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week on Tuesday.
“I’m just giving all the glory to the Lord for blessing me with abilities given,” she said. “… I feel like any athlete would say this, but you can’t get caught up in honors and stuff, even though it is an honor to see that people recognize talent.”
The Lady Vols head to Florida on Friday to face the No. 4 Florida Gators. The game is set for 6:00 p.m.
