In what was the first weekend of SEC play for the No. 8 Tennessee softball team, the Lady Vols faced a tall task when No. 1 Alabama came to town for a weekend series. But the team answered the call, taking the series 2-1 over the Crimson Tide.

With a flair for the dramatic, Tennessee (21-4, 2-1 SEC) was lifted to victory Friday and Saturday night by late-inning heroics at the plate.

In Friday night’s contest, Tennessee pitcher Ellen Renfroe entered the sixth inning with a no-hitter intact, but the speedy Crimson Tide offense wasn’t kept silent for the whole night. Older sister Ivy Renfroe replaced Ellen after Alabama (23-2, 1-2) pushed one across in the sixth, but the Tide was far from finished.

Following a Melissa Davin misjudged fly ball in the seventh inning, UA was able to tie the game at 3-all, forcing the Lady Vols to hit in the bottom half of the final frame.

Center fielder Whitney Hammond reached on a walk to start the inning and swiped second base a few pitches later. Senior Raven Chavanne upped the pressure by legging out a bunt single to put runners on the corners with no outs. After Kat Dotson struck out swinging and Lauren Gibson was issued a free pass to setup a force play, Madison Shipman stepped to the plate. With a 2-2 count the junior shortstop scorched a groundball down the third base line to bring in the winning run.

“Those are situations I live for,” Shipman said of the hit. “I was so pumped. Rounding second the whole team came out to meet me and it is a great feeling.”

If winning wasn’t enough, Chavanne also made personal history on the night. With a stolen base in the seventh, Chavanne became the program’s all-time leader in stolen bases with 121, passing Lindsay Schutzler.

“It’s great to even have my name in the same sentence with Lindsay Schutzler and I’m proud to have the record,” Chavanne said.

Tensions ran just as high Saturday evening as the two top 10 teams played to a 1-1 tie into the sixth inning. With a runner on second base and two outs, co-head coach Ralph Weekly made the call to send freshman Rainey Gaffin to the plate as a pinch hitter for Hammond.

Weekly’s call paid off.

Gaffin sent a fly ball to deep center field that Alabama outfielder Haylie McCleney couldn’t corral as she collided with the outfield wall. The hit brought home the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run for the Lady Vols, who clinched a series win over the Crimson Tide with the win.

“I rounded first and I thought she caught it, but I saw the guy signal safe, safe,” Gaffin said. “When I got to second I was pounding the bag (in excitement).”

Sunday’s contest wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Alabama took an early 1-0 lead on the Lady Vols and never looked back.

On the strength of a five-run third inning and a stellar performance in the pitchers circle from All-American Jackie Traina, the Crimson Tide took game three of the series 7-1, avoiding the sweep.

“The outer circle will say ‘you weren’t ready, you were cocky, you were this, you were that,’ but that didn’t happen,” Ralph Weekly said. “Our team came out ready to play, we just got beat.”

The lone bright spot for the Lady Vols was a towering home run off the bat of Shipman in the bottom of the seventh when the outcome was all but decided.

Though the Sunday loss was a disappointment for the team, they are focusing on the fact they came away with two wins against the nation’s top ranked team, and more importantly, have a leg up on the defending national champions in conference standings.

“We did win the series and that’s what we wanted to do,” Shipman said. “Of course we wanted to win all three, but taking two from them is a big deal. They’re a great team.”

Tennessee will take the field again on Tuesday at 5 p.m. when they host Winthrop.