Tennessee
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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Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Tennessee Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599.
For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at Tennessee Lottery offices. By mail, send a winner claim form, winning lottery ticket, a copy of a government-issued ID and proof of social security number to P.O. Box 290636, Nashville, TN 37229. Prize claims less than $600 do not require a claim form. Please include contact information on prizes claimed by mail in the event we need to contact you.
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Check previous winning numbers and payouts at https://tnlottery.com/.
When are the Tennessee Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
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- Cash 3, 4: Daily at 9:28 a.m. (Morning) and 12:28 p.m. CT (Midday), except for Sunday. Evening game daily, seven days a week, at 6:28 p.m. CT.
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Tennessee
Where Tennessee Baseball Is Projected In NCAA Tournament A Day Before Selection Show | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee baseball is a day away from learning its draw for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Vols are squarely in the field of 64 but will not host this season meaning the tournament committee will send Tennessee on the road.
There’s still a few remaining conference championship games on Sunday afternoon, but both D1Baseball and Baseball America have released their penultimate bracket projections for the NCAA Tournament. Where do the Vols project to land?
D1Baseball projects Tennessee as a two-seed (No. 24 overall seed) in the Hattiesburg Regional where they are matched up with No. 9 overall seed Southern Miss, NC State and Illinois-Chicago. The Vols have plenty of postseason history against Southern Miss. They defeated the Golden Eagles in the 2023 Hattiesburg Super Regional and in the 2024 Knoxville Regional.
If the Vols pull the upset in the Hattiesburg Regional they would match up against the winner of the Gainesville Regional including Florida, Arizona State, USC Upstate and VCU.
Twelve SEC teams are in the D1Baseball projection including Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
Baseball America projects Tennessee as a two-seed (No. 29 overall seed) in the Chapel Hill Regional where they are matched with No. 4 overall seed North Carolina. Other teams in the Chapel Hill Regional include Mercer and Binghamton. Tennessee also has postseason history with North Carolina, losing in the 2019 Chapel Hill Regional.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Gaining Trust In Will Haas Entering NCAA Tournament
If the Vols pull the upset in the Chapel Hill Regional they would matchup up against the winner of the Lincoln Regional including Nebraska, Ole Miss, Eastern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago.
Twelve SEC teams are in the Baseball America projection including Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
In past years, the NCAA seeded only the top 16 teams of the tournament. But this year, they are seeding the top 32 teams. While the selection committee does not have to create direct matches (No. 1 overall seed with No. 32 overall seed) they have to create relative matches.
That means that teams seeded No. 1 through No. 4 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 29 through No. 32. Teams seeded No. 5 through No. 8 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 25 through No. 28. Teams seeded No. 9 through No. 12 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 21 through No. 24. And lastly, teams seeded No. 13 through No. 16 have to be paired with teams seeded No. 17 through No. 20.
Tennessee baseball enters the NCAA Tournament boasting a 38-20 (15-15 SEC) record. The Vols struggled out the gats of SEC play, starting 4-8 in their first four series. But starting with a sweep of Mississippi State, the Vols went 11-7 over the next six weeks.
Josh Elander’s first Tennessee team won five of its 10 SEC series. They swept Mississippi State while Vanderbilt swept them. The Vols remained .500 in SEC play by going 1-1 at this week’s SEC Tournament.
Karen Weekly isn’t afraid to take a gamble with Tennessee softball lineups in the postseason.
Last year, Weekly put three new hitters at the top of the lineup for Game 2 of the NCAA super regionals against Nebraska, which was an elimination game. The shakeup was exactly what the batting lineup needed, and Tennessee won two straight games to go to the Women’s College World Series.
But this year, Weekly made a much more significant change. She shifted the entire infield except shortstop Bella Faw going into NCAA regionals.
Weekly pulled third baseman Maddi Rutan from the lineup to get Makenzie Butt’s bat in the order and played Butt at first base, which is her natural position. That shifted Emma Clarke from first to second and Ella Dodge from second to third.
The risk paid off. The Lady Vols’ defense was as clean as it has been all season, and Butt was impactful in the lineup, especially in the 7-5 win over Virginia. Tennessee swept regionals and super regionals to advance to its third Women’s College World Series in the last four seasons.
The No. 7 seed Lady Vols (47-10) will open the WCWS against the winner of No. 2 seed Texas and Arizona State on May 28, with game time and TV designation to be announced later.
Weekly said a phrase her husband, Ralph, used to say bounced around in her mind: “There’s three kinds of people in the world – those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what the hell happened.”
She intended to be someone who makes things happen.
“I think you have to just go with it, and I just trust my gut on things. It’s not a 100%, but the percentage is pretty high,” Weekly said on May 19 going into super regionals. “I’ll tell you when things don’t go well, is when I don’t trust my gut. And I just had a gut feeling that this was what we need to do.”
Why Ella Dodge has thrived at third
Dodge’s position change is perhaps the most impressive of all. She started at second base last season as a redshirt freshman and started there every game this season. The shift from second to third base is drastic in terms of skillset and distance from the plate.
But Dodge has thrived. She attacked hits down the third baseline and showed incredible arm strength during regionals and super regionals. Weekly said she always moves Dodge around in practice because she’s a true utility player who could fill in for an injury at any position.
“Ella does really well when the ball is on her a bit quicker,” Weekly said. “I thought Ella’s technique was actually stronger than I’ve seen it all year at third base, just picking short hops off the ground and making plays in the timing that you want based on how the ball is hit to her.”
During Game 1 against Georgia, Dodge ran down the third baseline towards a chopper from UGA leadoff hitter Keirstin Roose.
Dodge scooped the ball in stride and made the throw to first while still running. She barely beat Roose, who she also had to throw around, because Dodge was nearly to home plate when she made the throw.
“Boy, that little chopper on the line that she came through and scooped up and threw on the run, that was an absolute gem,” Weekly said. “Most people don’t make that play.”
How Emma Clarke’s versatility paid off
Weekly has long praised Clarke’s ability to play any position – she has even taken reps at catcher in practice.
Clarke plays a lot of middle infield during the fall, Weekly said, because Faw has been hurt a lot during the offseason. Clarke hadn’t even played much first base until the season rolled around this year.
“Both Emma and Ella have expressed that they feel really, really comfortable, maybe even more comfortable at the positions they’re at right now,” Weekly said. “Emma likes that she kind of just roam and go get balls and not have to worry about the first-base coverage.”
None of it would have worked without the buy-in from the players and the extra reps they committed to in practice. Weekly said she couldn’t even count how many extra ground balls the infielders have taken since getting back from the SEC Tournament.
The buy-in and extra work quickly turned into a level of confidence that has fueled Tennessee’s defense.
“They play with so much energy. That’s the cool thing watching that infield out there,” Weekly said. “There’s so much eye contact, there’s so much great body language, there’s so much leaning on each other that I think they feel like they can make every play, and that’s what you want them to feel like.”
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: subscribe.knoxnews.com/offers
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