Softball is hosting an NCAA regional in Knoxville for the 21st consecutive year – that’s a stretch of excellence – and will get play started against Northern Kentucky.

“Northern Kentucky is a scrappy team,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. “They steal a lot of bases. They’re really pesky in their ability to get on base, not a big power team, but when you watch them on film, a lot of balls fall in, and then when they get on the bases, they can make some things happen.”

No. 2 seed Tennessee (42-10) will play Northern Kentucky (26-23) in the first game today, May 15, at 5:30 p.m. with the broadcast on the SEC Network.

“They’re going to have some pitching that’s different for us,” Weekly said. “Nobody throws real high velo, which you know isn’t necessarily easy when you’re used to seeing pretty high velo like we do in the SEC. So, we’re going to have to do a really good job of getting on time with what they’re pitching.”

No. 7 seed Virginia (38-13) and Indiana (42-14) will play in the second game at 8 p.m. with the broadcast on ESPN. The May 15-17 regional is a double elimination format with play continuing on Saturday and Sunday until a winner is determined.

“I think when you talk about seeds, you could put Indiana in there as well, that’s a really good team that a lot of people had predicted might make it into that 32-seeded teams,” Weekly said. “Virginia mirrors us in so many ways. It’s crazy how our power numbers almost mirror each other. Our extra bases almost mirror each other. Our defensive statistics almost mirror each other.”

The winner in Knoxville will advance to a Super Regional, and the Lady Vols, as the seventh overall seed, would host that, too, next weekend against the winner of the Athens regional winner if they can prevail.

“I firmly believe that games are lost, not won, and especially at this time of year,” Weekly said. “And by that, it’s the team that flinches first. You typically can look back at a game and see where an error was made or a free pass followed by an error. We’ve been working a lot this week on defense, because I think that’s such a big factor this time of year that maybe goes undervalued. Everybody wants to talk about hitting and pitching, but if you can play clean defense and you can get an out every time the ball is put in play, you’ve got a great chance to win.

“That’s what it comes down to is who’s going to play clean softball.”

GOLF

The Lady Vols now have two dramatic post-season victories this season – one to seize the program’s first-ever SEC tournament title in April in Belleair, Florida, and the second in May in Waco, Texas, to advance to the NCAA Championships.

The Lady Vols golf team holds a well-earned ticket punched. (Tennessee Athletics)

Tennessee won the SEC championship April 21 after coming back from 10th place at Pelican Golf Club to taking the trophy home to Knoxville for the first time in program history. SEC Freshman of the Year Madison Messimer – this site wrote about her HERE – also earned runner-up status in SEC individual play in a three-way tie for second place.

The next postseason stop was this week in Waco for NCAA regional site play. Unlike in Belleair, the Lady Vols opened play well and seemed poised to make the cut for a championship berth midway through the three-day event that started Monday.

But putting struggles, especially and surprisingly for Messimer – golf is an exacting and brutal game – dropped Tennessee out of the top five on the second day and a shot at reaching Carlsbad, California, for the NCAA Championships seemed improbable.

To make it worse, the Lady Vols shot four over par on the opening nine holes on the final day and were down nine strokes with nine holes to go. But a team comeback and a clutch par by Kyra Van Kan on No. 18 allowed the Lady Vols to tie Tulsa for fifth place and force a playoff hole.

Sophie Christopher and Van Kan notched birdies on the playoff hole to put Tennessee ahead, and Messimer, who is also on the watch list for National Freshman of the Year honors, made a short birdie putt to clinch the win. It will be the second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships for the Lady Vols and 16th overall.

The top five finishers at the six regional sites  – a total of 30 teams – will now play at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on May 22-27 for a shot at individual and team titles. Tennessee managed to find a way to go west.

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press and a 10th anniversary edition will be released June 16, 2026.