Why Tennessee softball smoked cigars on Lady Vols logo after beating Alabama

"It was awesome," said Pickens, who threw 11 strikeouts in Game 3. "Just a great tradition, being able to be a part of that and celebrate that with my team. Super way to end the night."

Pickens had no idea where the cigars were coming from, they just "came out of, literally, left field." She also didn't expect Weekly to join in on the fun.

"I was a little nervous about how she was gonna react about the whole thing, if I'm being honest," Pickens said. "But it was super fun just to see her out there enjoying it with us."

The players were even warming up for the postgame cigars during the game. After some of the RBIs, players pretended to smoke a cigar on base as their celebration. Sophomore infielder Emma Clarke, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI and one run scored, said the idea for the celebration started with jokes about the cigar smoking earlier in the week.

"It was super fun, and I'd never played Bama on the softball field, so that's my first time playing them," Clarke said. "I've gone to the football games where we had beat them in the past, and that was just super cool to be part of that culture, and then actually be able to be on a team that does it. It's just truly unmatched. And I had so much fun just looking around to everyone, just being present in the moment."

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee softball smokes cigars on center field after beating Alabama