Tennessee softball coach Karen Weekly ran up to Sage Mardjetko and sneaked in a kiss on her cheek as the junior pitcher’s postgame interview on ESPN2 began.

Mardjetko only got through the beginning of her first answer before her teammates ran up with fake money and gloves, stuffing the fake bills in her belt with the glove on top of her head.

At one point, there were six teammates dressing up Mardjetko after her fantastic performance against No. 3 Alabama, including fellow pitcher Karlyn Pickens and outfielder Gabby Leach, who hit the game-winning home run. Other players joined in to throw bills in the air around Mardjetko.

The moment on April 26 belonged to Mardjetko, who delivered the Crimson Tide their first shutout loss of the season as No. 8 Tennessee won 2-0 at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.

By the time Mardjetko’s interview was over, there were three gloves sitting precariously on her head, bills stuffed in her collar, too, and bats leaning against her legs, with one stuck in the crook of her elbow.

“Usually this is our home run celebration,” Mardjetko said on ESPN2. “My teammates are just super fired-up, they know how big this game is and how big this series is.”

The Lady Vols’ famous mommy hat also got stacked on top of the gloves before falling off. Leach said they love getting the chance to have some fun with postgame interviews.

“That was just such a big moment for her and just being able to celebrate and make her look goofy, giving her the money and the mommy hat, she never gets to wear that,” Leach said. “So that was the perfect moment for her to have that hat on.”

Tennessee (39-8, 13-7 SEC) relied on solo home runs from Leach and Emma Clarke to back up Mardjetko’s one-hitter and force a rubber match on April 27 (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

“Sage is a competitor. She’s going to give you everything she has,” Weekly said. “She’s going to compete freely, she’s going to stay one pitch at a time, and she’s got the stuff to beat anybody. So, I had complete trust in Sage all day long, and the most important number today is a zero on the scoreboard.”

Mardjetko (11-1) had a no-hitter through 6⅓ innings. She struck out six, walked three, hit a batter and allowed one hit in her fifth shutout of the season. After Tennessee got run-ruled in the series opener, Mardjetko said her mentality was to go out and compete and do whatever it took to give them a chance.

Weekly didn’t witness most of the postgame interview chaos; she only saw players running toward Mardjetko with the money, gloves and bats. But she wants them to celebrate, and not just the turnaround from a 12-0 loss in Game 1. Weekly wants them to celebrate everything.

“I think that’s one of the things that we got away from, is focusing on celebrating all the little wins in a game,” she said. “I think that’s what you saw, is the ultimate celebration there. And just so happy for Sage. But also Sage really inspired her team today with the way she competed out there.”

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