The last From The Stands column addressed the two excellent coaches that are guiding the Tennessee Baseball and Softball programs through possibly the best period of time for those two programs in school history.
Since that column, the Lady Vols have captured the SEC regular season title and tabbed as the top seed in the upcoming SEC Softball Tournament while the Vols have just been named the #1 baseball team in the country. So the good times just keep rolling for those two programs with post-season right around the corner. Tony Vitello and Karen Weekly are making it happen for Tennessee Athletics.
For this week, let’s discuss the softball program that has proudly picked up the Lady Vols banner that the women’s basketball program carried for so many years for Tennessee Athletics. I suspect all of us Tennessee fans fully expect the basketball program to move forward under the guidance of Kim Caldwell but for the here and now, it’s the softball program that is carrying the Lady Vols banner high and proud.
What Karen Weekly and the 2024 Lady Vols and staff just accomplished via a series sweep of Kentucky is to go back to back on SEC regular season titles for the first time in program history. The team won all eight SEC series during the season in compiling 19-5 SEC record, 40-9 overall. Right fielder Taylor Pannell has just been named SEC Freshman of the Week for her outstanding 7 for 13 performance that included a home run in each game in the series sweep of Kentucky.
The one thing missing with Lady Vols softball at this time is a national title. Does anyone believe anything other than it’s only a matter of time before the softball program under Karen Weekly takes that next step? National titles are elusive as we all know. Even in Pat Summitt’s prime, they didn’t come easy for the Lady Vols Basketball program.
Make no doubt that the elite recruiting and quality coaching performance of the Weekly staff is currently dominating the SEC and has the program set on a trajectory to plant the Lady Vols banner on a national title. They were runner-ups in 2007 and 2013. 2024 could very well be the season that Tennessee Softball gets it done.
