Tennessee

Karen Weekly on errors, lost challenge in Tennessee softball’s Game 1 loss to Nebraska in super regional

Published

10 months ago

May 24, 2025

Karen Weekly on errors, lost challenge in Tennessee softball’s Game 1 loss to Nebraska in super regional

The NCAA super regional in Knoxville started and ended with Jordy Bahl.

The Nebraska pitcher hit a single off Tennessee softball ace Karlyn Pickens on her first pitch of the game. Seven innings and a couple of costly Tennessee errors later, Bahl ended Nebraska’s 5-2 win on May 23 with a strikeout.

The No. 7 seed Lady Vols (43-15) are down one game in the best-of-three series at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium. Going in, Tennessee was 8-0 in Game 1 of the super regionals at home. It has never advanced to the Women’s College World Series after dropping the first game of super regionals.

“Well, this is super regionals, and these are tough games,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. “We did some uncharacteristic things . . . But that’s postseason, some weird things are going to happen. It’s a marathon, that’s what I told these guys in our postgame. We’ve lost games on Friday night in SEC play, and we’ve come back and won the series. We just need to rely on that experience and come out here tomorrow, flush tonight.”

The Lady Vols will face Nebraska (43-13) in Game 2 of the super regional on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, ESPN).

What Karen Weekly said about lost challenge in fourth inning

Tennessee could have gotten out of the fourth inning multiple times before Nebraska built a four-run lead.

The Lady Vols had two outs in the fourth when Pickens threw a wild pitch. Bella Bacon attempted to steal second base, but catcher Sophia Nugent had a perfect throw to Laura Mealer. The throw comfortably beat Bacon and led Mealer right into the tag, but the umpire called Bacon safe.

Weekly challenged the call, and replays appeared to show Bacon sliding into Mealer’s glove. But the call on the field was upheld, and the inning continued.

“I mean, I’m thinking it’s a good challenge, because the throw beat her,” Weekly said. “So you’re thinking, OK, how do we not have an out there? And I’ll have to see the replay. I mean, they went to review. We don’t have all the camera angles that we have during the regular season. That’s unfortunate. But if we miss the tag, we miss the tag.”

Tennessee doomed by errors in second postseason game

The Lady Vols started the postseason with a loss in the SEC tournament due to two costly errors, and they had two critical errors in the Game 1 loss to Nebraska.

Those happened during the at-bat immediately after the challenge. Bahl hit a fly ball to shallow left field, and Mealer camped out under it, waving everyone off. But outfielder Saviya Morgan came running in and didn’t hear anyone call her off. Mealer backed off at the last second and Morgan missed the catch.

“(It’s) just one of those things where, they both made a mistake,” Weekly said. “Saviya came in and was calling a ball that wasn’t hers, and Laura, at that point in time, just needed to hold her ground and make the catch and not defer to Saviya.”

The ball bounced off Morgan’s foot to Pickens, who threw it home to try to keep another run from scoring. But her throw was off, and Nebraska scored twice and took a 5-1 lead. Weekly pulled Pickens, who had seven strikeouts.

“If we get out of that inning before that pop-up, we had a chance to put a tag on a runner at second base, the inning’s over right there,” Weekly said. “I think if we can kind of keep that at 3-1, we close it to 3-2 — Karlyn’s going to get in there and battle for you. I have a ton of faith in Karlyn. A ton of faith in Karlyn.”

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on X @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.

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Tennessee

Tennessee Police Investigating Alleged Assault Involving ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson

Published

7 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee Police Investigating Alleged Assault Involving ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson

Police officers in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tennessee are currently investigating an alleged assault that occurred over the weekend involving Reacher star Alan Ritchson.

TMZ broke the story by publishing a video that reportedly features Ritchson in an altercation with a neighbor named Ronnie Taylor. The man said that the situation unfolded over two days, beginning on Saturday when he claimed he witnessed Ritchson speeding through the neighborhood on a motorcycle causing a disturbance. To show his displeasure, Taylor claims he raised a middle finger to Ritchson and the actor returned the gesture.

Then on Sunday, Taylor tells TMZ that he spotted Ritchson on his motorcycle again, this time joined by two individuals who are believed to be the actor’s young sons, also on motorbikes. Taylor claims that he asked Ritchson, “Can you fucking stop this please?”, at which point the situation allegedly turned physical. Ritchson is seen in the edited clip hitting Taylor in the grass of a front lawn. Ritchson’s green Kawasaki motorcycle is in the street while the two individuals witness the altercation from their motorbikes.

The clip, first published by TMZ on Sunday, picks up as Taylor is already on the ground. But in an interview with TMZ, he admitted that he instigated the physical confrontation by shoving Ritchson first. He also reportedly ran into the street to confront Ritchson, who then fell off his motorcycle and suffered “cuts and bruises” and a finger injury, per TMZ. The outlet also reported that Taylor “dared Alan to hit him” while Ritchson was still on the ground though the actor tried to leave the scene until he was shoved by Taylor. Additional footage of the incident is said to show a more clear picture of happened.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed with Brentwood Police Captain Steve Pepin that an investigation is currently underway though “no arrests have been made” in the case. The investigation is expected to continue for several days.

Ritchson, a known motorcycle enthusiast who posed on a Ducati for a THR cover story in 2024, is back in the United States after filming back to back movies in Australia and New Zealand. He starred in Netflix’s War Machine, which just debuted on the streamer, for filmmaker Patrick Hughes. They reunited Down Under for a project inspired by the life of Navy SEAL Mike Thornton which was recently filming.

Reps for Ritchson have yet to comment.

Monday, March 23, 2:43 p.m.: Updated to include new comments from Ronnie Taylor from his live interview with TMZ.

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Titans named one of the NFL’s most improved teams this offseason

Published

19 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Titans named one of the NFL’s most improved teams this offseason

The Tennessee Titans have made some significant additions to their roster this offseason as they attempt to pull themselves out of the basement of the AFC South.

The Titans have added talent on both sides of the ball and have relied heavily on system familiarity and trust as they rebuild a depleted roster. But how much difference did it make? Gilberto Manzano of Sports Illustrated believes Tennessee will be much improved and has them slated as the third-most improved through this point in the offseason.

3. Tennessee Titans
Notable additions: TE Daniel Bellinger, DT Jordan Elliott, CB Cor’Dale Flott, DL John Franklin-Myers, edge Jermaine Johnson II, LB Jacob Martin, WR Wan’Dale Robinson, C Austin Schlottmann, CB Alontae Taylor, DT Solomon Thomas
There was nowhere to go but up after a disastrous past few seasons. Two years ago, the Titans were big spenders in free agency and still ended up with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, which they used on quarterback Cam Ward. However, it’s hard to doubt this latest spending frenzy, given that new coach Robert Saleh has a track record of building formidable defenses and has reunited with many of his reliable players from previous stops.
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On offense, Ward got an intriguing playmaker in Robinson, who’s coming off a breakout 2025 season with the Giants. The arrow is finally pointing up in Tennessee.

The Titans have taken a big swing at the free agency market in an attempt to reset the organizational floor. Now, it will be up to general manager Mike Borgonzi to follow up this impressive haul with another solid draft. If he can do that, the Titans organization will likely be pointed in the right direction.

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Tennessee vs Virginia live updates: Prediction, how to watch March Madness Round 2 game

Published

1 day ago

March 22, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee vs Virginia live updates: Prediction, how to watch March Madness Round 2 game

Follow all of Sunday’s NCAA Tournament second round games with USA TODAY Sports’ live updates.

Tennessee ruined the fun of Miami (Ohio) by dispatching the RedHawks rather handily in the first round, 78-56.

The Vols did so with little contribution from their star freshman Nate Ament, who went scoreless in just 18 minutes, as he was rested dealing with soreness from a high ankle sprain he suffered in late February.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie picked up the slack with 29 points, including a 6 of 11 performance from behind the arc.

Virginia overcame a slow start for No. 14 seed Wright State to pick up the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since they won the national championship in 2019.

Jacari White led the way for Virginia with 26 points vs. the Raiders as Ryan Odom got his first NCAA win with UVA as Cavs head coach.

Today’s winner advances to play the Kentucky/Iowa State winner in next week’s Sweet 16 in Chicago.

Here’s what you need to know about today’s second round matchup.

HIT REFRESH FOR UPDATES.

TEAMS	1H	2H	F
Tennessee	—	—	—
Virginia	—	—	—

Here are the starting lineups for both Virginia and Tennessee in Sunday’s second-round game of the Men’s NCAA Tournament:

Virginia

Malik Thomas (Guard)
Sam Lewis (Guard)
Dallin Hall (Guard)
Thijs De Ridder (Forward)
Johann Grunloh (Center)

Tennessee

Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Guard)
Bishop Boswell (Guard)
Nate Ament (Forward)
J.P. Estrella (Forward)
Felix Okpara (Center)

Thijs De Ridder is Virginia’s 23-year-old freshman from Belgium who has professional basketball playing experience overseas in Spain.

He was named to the All-ACC first team and all-rookie teams, and entered the Men’s NCAA Tournament as the Cavaliers’ leading scorer at 15.5 points per game. Though De Ridder hails from Brasschaat, Belgium, he did know a little bit about March Madness before Virginia’s first-round win over Wright State. … Including the great tradition of filling out brackets.

“When I was 17 and younger, I thought it was another tournament like others. I did some brackets when I was younger, but that was just for fun,” De Ridder told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. “Every time (there was) an American guy on my team (overseas), they always talked about March Madness. Now that I’m here, it’s such an organization, and it just made me really excited to play here. Hopefully, we can do some great stuff.”

He finished in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds in addition to two assists in Virginia’s win vs. Wright State.

The Cavaliers held off a potential upset and defeated 14-seed Wright State in the first round of the Men’s NCAA Tournament on Friday, 83-72.

Jacari White led the way for Virginia with 26 points, while Sam Lewis added 12 and Malik Thomas added 11. De Ridder also finished in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds in addition to two assists.

The Cavaliers’ win marked their first in March Madness since they won it all in 2019. It ended a 0-3 stretch in their last three trips to March Madness.

What time is Tennessee vs Virginia?

Time: 6:10 p.m. ET, Sunday.

What channel is Tennessee vs Virginia? How to watch, streaming info

The game is airing on TNT, streaming via Fubo.

Virginia vs Tennessee prediction, odds

Odds provided by BetMGM, as of 11:30 a.m., Sunday.

∎ Wynton Jackson, Knoxville News Sentinel: Virginia 71, Tennessee 66

Ament’s questionable status swings our prediction towards Virginia. The Cavaliers had one of the best defenses in the ACC, and if Tennessee’s star freshman isn’t at his best, it’s tough to see how the Vols continue their hot shooting. They shot 53% from the floor and 45% from 3-point range against the RedHawks. Tennessee’s defense always keeps games close, but it may not have enough offensive juice to make a fourth straight Sweet 16.

John Leuzzi: Tennessee
Jordan Mendoza: Virginia
Ehsan Kassim: Virginia
Blake Schuster: Tennessee
Moneyline: Tennessee (-115); Virginia (-105)
Spread: Tennessee (-1.5)
Over/under total: 137.5

Nate Ament injury update: Will Vols freshman star play today vs Virginia?

All-SEC freshman Nate Ament had his first scoreless game of the season in the 78-56 win against Miami (Ohio) in the first round.

Ament is still dealing with soreness from the high ankle sprain he suffered against Missouri on Feb. 24. He still expects to play against Virginia and throughout the rest of the NCAA Tournament.

“There’s no chance I’d sit out a March Madness game,” he said. “It’s about what can we do to get back to 100%, or as close to it as we can.”

Nate Ament 2026 NBA Draft, mock draft prediction

No. 11 overall to Portland Trail Blazers

Kalbrosky’s Analysis:

After a relatively slow and inefficient start to the season, Tennessee freshman Nate Ament is starting to realize some of his lofty expectations. The freshman averaged 21.6 points per game while shooting 38.9 percent on 3-pointers during a 13-game stretch before an injury against Alabama on Feb. 28. The All-SEC forward then had 27 points (4-of-6 on 3-pointers) with eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal against Auburn on March 12. It will only take one team to fall in love with Ament and given so much of what he brings to the table cannot be taught, that team is probably picking fairly early in the lottery.

See USA TODAY’s full mock draft here