The Lady Vols quest for their first softball national championship fell short to the hands of a very familiar opponent.
For the second year in a row, No. 10 Tennessee ended its season against the No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners, after losing two out of three in the Super Regionals.
While the weather was electric in Norman, Oklahoma the Lady Vols bats were not. The Sooners took the rubber series game 8-2 and only allowed six runs and 12 base hits the entire series.
In the first game of the series, Tennessee (46-12) was plagued by errors in the field and allowed five unearned runs to cross the plate in their 8-1 loss.
Sooners ace Kelsey Stevens allowed only six hits in her complete game victory and struck out 11 batters. She started all three games in the series and recorded 22 strikeouts. She only allowed two home runs to a team that ranked sixth in the country in home runs.
Behind senior pitcher Ellen Renfroe the Lady Vols came back to tie up the series. The Jackson, Tennessee native put together her 12th complete game shutout of the season in her team’s 4-0 victory.
She set a career high with 30 wins this season and leaves the program with a 102-25 record and 1.65 career ERA.
The decisive game of the series on May 25, which was pushed back to Sunday due to inclement weather, favored the home team.
Oklahoma (50-11) first baseman Lauren Chamberlain provided the punch in the Sooners 8-2 win, as she went 3-for-4 at the plate and had a pair of home runs.
Senior UT designated player Melissa Davin tied the game with a solo home run in the fourth inning, but the pitching staff could not silence their powerful opponent who smacked three home runs in their four-run sixth to pull away for good.
Davin and fellow senior Madison Shipman put together their best seasons of their Lady Vol careers, both hitting over the .400 mark with a combined 32 home runs.
The Lady Vols season ends with a record of 46-12 and marks the 12th straight season that co-head coaches Karen and Ralph Weekly have put together a 40-plus win season on Rocky Top.
Freshman catcher Annie Aldrete was a force at the plate hitting .361 and tying a program record with 19 home runs. At the end of the season she was named co-winner of the inaugural National Fastpitch Coaches Association Freshman of the Year. Her 1.283 OPS ranked top five in the country.
