Lady Vols seeded in NCAA Softball Tourney; Hokies earn at-large bid
(WJHL) – Both the Tennessee Lady Vols and Virginia Tech Lady Hokies will see their softball seasons continue in the postseason, as both were selected to the NCAA Softball Tournament on Sunday night.
Tennessee earned its highest-ever seed, claiming the No. 3 spot in the field. The SEC regular season champions won 40 games this season, before falling to LSU in the conference tournament quarterfinals.
Vandy snaps losing streak to Vols with Sunday win
For longtime UT head coach, Karen Weekly, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with reaching another milestone in orange.
“I am very proud of this program, obviously I’ve invested a lot of years and a lot of my life and a lot of my time into Lady Vol softball but it’s not just me it’s the coaching staff, it’s the support staff, it’s the administration, it’s everybody and ultimately it’s all about the players,” Weekly said Sunday night.
“Every win that we get is because the players go out and win.”
“It’s really cool to see ourselves when they called our names and just being able to celebrate all that we’ve done this season and how all of work has paid off and what that’s gonna do for the rest of our season,” Lady Vols sophomore pitcher Karlyn Pickens.
Tennessee will face Atlantic-10 champs Dayton in the First Round. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. on Friday. The winner of that game will face the winner of Miami (OH) and Virginia.
Virginia Tech is also in and will make the cross-country trek to the Los Angeles Regional, hosted by No. 6 seed UCLA.
“We had Coach Mata and Coach Lewis throw against our kids today and we scored a bunch of runs,” head coach Pete D’Amour said. You’ve just got to keep reminding the players that the pitching we’ll see this weekend is not as good as that. So, it’s a confidence thing.”
The Hokies will battle San Diego State in the First Round on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. The winner of the game will meet either UCLA or Grand Canyon.
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