The road the to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City begins Friday when the 10th-seeded Lady Vols take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in the NCAA Regionals in Knoxville.
Tennessee must advance out of a double-elimination group with Virginia Tech (35-21), Lipscomb (39-13) and Charleston Southern (27-31-1) to reach the next round of the NCAA Tournament.
UT faced their first opponent, Charleston Southern, twice last year in the Buccaneer Invitational in late February and came away with a pair of seven run victories.
“Just from being in postseason, they’re going to be a scrappy team,” senior pitcher Ellen Renfroe said. “They’re going to be somebody that we’re going to have to battle with, so we can’t take anyone lightly.”
The Buccaneers path to the NCAA Tournament was an unlikely one.
Just weeks before their conference tournament, Charleston Southern had a 20-29-1 record and lost nine of their last 10 games. They finished the season 3-3 and headed to the Big South Tournament in seventh position out of nine teams.
The Buccaneers went on to win four games in four days including a 3-1 landmark victory over top-seeded Coastal Carolina in the championship game to secure an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time in program history.
“We’re really excited and proud of the girls,” Charleston Southern head coach Shane Winkler said. “We envisioned getting here from the get-go from August. The season didn’t go exactly how we planned throughout. We had a lot of ups and downs. We picked it up at the right time in a big style tournament.”
The Buccaneers leading hitter, senior Jessica Brock, did not face UT last season due to redshirting, however, she still believes in herself and her team.
“We feel like we’re confident, and we’re ready to take on anyone right now,” Brock said. “As a team, being on a four game winning streak, I think that’s going to help us a lot tomorrow with momentum and having confidence.”
Charleston Southern will undoubtedly be the underdog against the runner-up of last year’s Women’s College World Series, but Winkler said the team is not phased by the big stage.
“That’s what our university is all about,” Winkler said. “We’re a smaller school in a smaller conference, so we embrace that role a little bit … We’re excited to be here, but at the same time, we’re looking to compete.”
Conversely, the Lady Vols must handle the pressure of being the favorite to get out of the Regional round.
“I feel like all year we’ve been playing with that target on our backs just from the season we had last year and previous years,” senior Madison Shipman said on Monday. “We try not to let the ranking get to us too much. At the end of the day, postseason, we’re all fighting for our last day. We’re just going to take that kind of mentality into the weekend.”
Tennessee also brings vast postseason experience to the table, including trips to the Women’s College World Series each of the past two seasons, which older players such as Renfroe will use to draw on in the postseason.
“You can’t get too high or you can’t get too low,” Renfroe said. “You have to make sure that you stay consistent and continue to play the game … I think more than anything, just contain our emotions, contain the excitement, and stay even-keel, and play the game that we’ve been doing all year.”
As the team’s ace, Renfroe will face the largest challenge in the NCAA Tournament. Weekly said that the team will rely on her to start each game this postseason with sophomore Rainey Gaffin as the backup and relief pitcher.
Friday’s game between Tennessee and Charleston Southern will take place Friday at 6 p.m. at Lee Stadium after the game between Virginia Tech and Lipscomb.
