Tennessee softball needs to 'flush the season' going into regionals, says coach

Tennessee softball needs to 'flush the season' going into regionals, says coach

When Tennessee softball was hosting postseason games a couple of years ago, coach Karen Weekly remembers thinking it couldn't get any better than that.

The environment at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium for the NCAA regionals and super regionals couldn't be any rowdier or raucous, she thought. But this season already has topped expectations, and the postseason hasn't even started.

The Lady Vols (42-10), the No. 7 overall seed, will host their 21st consecutive NCAA regional, and open against Northern Kentucky (26-23) on May 15 (5:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

The Lady Vols also are a top-eight seed, which means there will be two more possible weekends at UT if they advance to the super regionals.

"Every year gets better," Weekly said May 10 after the NCAA selection show. "This year, to see the way people showed up and showed out for midweek games absolutely blew me away. So I know it's going to be a really tough ticket.

"I know my phone's going to start blowing up asking for tickets, and that's just great. I mean, I love that we're in that kind of a situation where you wish we had more seats in that stadium."

No. 26 overall seed Virginia (38-13) and Indiana (42-14) are also in the Knoxville Regional, and will play in the second game of the day (8 p.m., ESPN2).

When Tennessee was announced on the show, the entire team erupted into cheers and jumped up from their seats. For the seniors in the room like Karlyn Pickens, it was the perfect way to start their final postseason — they've been a top-eight seed every single year of their careers.

Before 2023, the Lady Vols hadn't been a top-eight seed since 2017.

Tennessee had an up-and-down ending to the regular season, and Weekly said it's time to "flush the season" going into the NCAA Tournament.