Randy Smith
The NCAA Women's Softball Tournament begins this Friday and the SEC regular season champion Tennessee Lady Vols will be hosting a regional event at home in Knoxville, Friday at 2:30, Tennessee will face Dayton while the second game features Virginia taking on Miami of Ohio at noon. Tennessee won its second straight league regular season title but were upset in round one of the SEC Tournament. In other words...the Lady Vols laid a big egg.
It was more of a lack of focus than anything else.
The Lady Vols knew they would be hosting a regional, then a super-regional a week later. Thus, the SEC Tournament meant nothing. It would have been nice to have won at least a game or two though. It's hard to build any kind of post season momentum when you're one and done in your league tournament. Tennessee is heavily favored to advance to the next round and should even be favored in the super-regional.
Tennessee has made eight trips to the women's College World Series with no championships. This year could be different. Tennessee has been pretty dominant except for the rotten egg they laid when they lost to LSU last week. They led the nation in home runs and their pitching staff turned in the best ERA in the nation as well. Karen Weekly has proven herself to be one of the all-time great coaches and along with her now retired husband Ralph posted a record of 1074-336. That's impressive but the only thing missing is that national championship. They've come close several times and like the Vols' baseball squad this could the year it happens.
Right now there are two teams ranked ahead of Tennessee. Texas is number one while three-time defending national champion Oklahoma is second as the Sooners look for a four-peat. You know the old saying that," the team that gets hot at the right time will win." With that 2-1 loss to LSU in the SEC Tournament's opening round, the Lady Vols look to be anything but a red-hot team that's ready to play for a national crown. I really hope they win it all because Ralph and Karen deserve to finally put that national championship ring on their fingers. Coach Ralph is always there when the Lady Vols play...either in the stands, press box or the dugout. He leaves all the coaching now to his wife whose biggest chore now is to help her team find their focus.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com.