The runs are coming in bunches, and the pitchers are putting up zeroes on the scoreboard. For the softball team that has added up to a No. 4 national ranking, 11-1 record and shutout streak last seen when Monica Abbott was in the circle.
For the first time since 2007, the Lady Vols have not allowed an opponent to score in five consecutive games. Three pitchers have handled the bulk of the innings in fifth-year senior Ashley Rogers, senior transfer Payton Gottshall and freshman Karlyn Pickens, who just earned SEC and national honors as Freshman of the Week after striking out eight batters and allowing just four hits in a 1-0 win over No. 5 Clemson last Saturday.
Gottshall, who transferred after three seasons at Bowling Green, caught the eye of head coach Karen Weekly on March 1, 2020, when she struck out 13 Lady Vols in a regular season game. Not long after that, the pandemic shuttered all college sports, but Gottshall’s performance stayed with Weekly.
“We faced Payton and could see that she had really good stuff,” Weekly said. “You can tell that she is extremely competitive and will bring a killer instinct to the circle.”
Payton Gottshall
When the 2022 Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year decided to transfer, the Lady Vols recruited her, and Gottshall signed with Tennessee last June. The even better news is that Gottshall has two years of eligibility remaining and intends to use both on Rocky Top.
Bowling Green’s official colors are orange and brown. Last fall Gottshall tweeted: Finally found my perfect shade of orange.
Gottshall and Rogers have both started the season 3-0 with an earned run average (ERA) of 0.43 and 0.85, respectively.
So far in the 2023 season, Tennessee has crossed home plate 104 times. Their opponents? Just nine times, a rather eye-popping statistic. Five Lady Vols are hitting above .400 in Giulia Koutsoyanopulos (.406); Zaida Puni (.444); Mackenzie Donihoo (.447); Kiki Milloy (.472); and Amanda Ahlin (.500).
Milloy leads the team with six homers – and has speed with nine steals – and Puni has driven in a team-leading 18 runs. Right behind Puni is McKenna Gibson with 17 runs batted in (RBI) and a good batting average of .364.
That’s a lot of numbers to say this softball team could be really good over the long haul of the season because it has excellent pitching and hitting.
Karlyn Pickens (Tennessee Athletics)
Rogers, who battled injuries that hindered her throughout last season, now has considerable help in the circle, with Pickens as good as billed as the No. 2 pitcher in the country out of high school and No. 5 overall.
Ahlin is another freshman contributing early, and Donihoo is another senior transfer with experience, in this case from powerhouse and reigning national champion Oklahoma.
When Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC in the summer of 2024 – the first softball season with the new members will be 2025 – the SEC will become the most formidable softball conference in the country.
Softball has as many national polls as infielders, and the Lady Vols are No. 4 in Softball America, No. 4 in D1 Softball, No. 6 in USA Softball and No. 7 in NFCA.
Weekly also reached a milestone number. At last weekend’s tournament in Tampa, Florida, the head coach notched career win No. 1,000.
It’s the start Tennessee needed to the season, and fans have the first chance to see the team in person in Knoxville at the Tennessee Classic on March 3-5 at Lee Stadium for the home opener. Tickets are available here. Parking is free.
The two softball games on Friday, March 3, are at 3 and 5:30 p.m. Afterwards, walk across the parking lot to Regal Soccer Stadium and take in a free soccer spring game at 7:30 p.m. against Chattanooga.
Basketball
A team that didn’t get the start to the season that it needed managed to change course and will open postseason on Friday, March 3, in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Lady Vols enter the SEC Tournament as the No. 3 seed – and the coveted double bye as a top four seed – and will have to await the early action on March 1-2 to find out who the opponent will be among No. 11 seed Florida and No. 14 seed Kentucky, who play March 1, with the winner to play No. 6 seed Alabama on March 2. That winner gets Tennessee on March 3.
As the third seed, Tennessee drew the last game in the quarterfinals, so tip time won’t be until about 8:15 p.m. or so, as it’s 25 minutes after the conclusion of the 6 p.m. game. That means both teams have to warm up fast.
At the end of November in the midst of a tough non-conference schedule, the Lady Vols were 4-4 and opened December with a loss to Virginia Tech to land at 4-5. All of the losses came to ranked teams, but it was a brutal start. By the end of February, Tennessee was 21-10 overall and 11-3 in the SEC.
Kellie Harper prepares to talk at SEC Media Day before the start of the 2022-23 basketball season. (Photo By Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics)
March offers the start of two postseason tournaments – the SEC and the NCAA. With a good showing in Greenville, the Lady Vols still have a shot to host the early rounds of the NCAA tourney in Knoxville depending on how other games across the country unfold. Last fall, a few fans already were fretting that Tennessee, which is now guaranteed to be in the field, would miss the NCAA tourney.
It’s a testament to this team and staff that they didn’t fold.
“You’ve got to understand you’ve got to be great, and it’s got to be every day,” head coach Kellie Harper said. “Regardless of your opponent, you’ve got to be your best you.”
Maria M. Cornelius, a writer/editor at Moxley Carmichael 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.