The Lady Vols made softball program history with two weekday wins – one took two days to finish –  and a perfect 25-0 start to the 2026 season. The 2006 team previously held the record of 24-0 set 20 years ago.

“I told them I want you to celebrate this, because this is a big number,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said in post-game remarks that can be watched HERE. “We haven’t focused on any other numbers. But this means something, because it is a reflection of them doing the right things every day, and it should be a reminder that we keep focusing on the right things.”

The tie of the record came Tuesday at the Midstate Classic in a story that can be read HERE with a 9-1 win in six innings against Austin Peay in Columbia, Tennessee. The record came Wednesday and Thursday in Nashville against Lipscomb. The game started Wednesday afternoon at Draper Diamond, and Tennessee took a quick 10-0 lead in the second inning, but the game was halted because of weather. It restarted Thursday, and the Lady Vols won 12-0 in five innings and used a total of 16 position players as nearly everyone saw some game action.

The same pitcher took the circle both days, and freshman Peyton Hardenburger went the distance for her first career win at Tennessee with a one-hit shutout and seven strikeouts. When play resumed Thursday, she struck out the side.

“I thought she set the tone, which was so important, because when you have any kind of a lengthy delay due to weather, I do think the advantage swings to the team that’s behind, because they’re the ones that needed the reset the most, get a chance to reset, stop our momentum,” Weekly said. “How we started was very important. And because we’re in the bottom of the inning, we’re on defense first. Peyton coming out and striking out the side really sent a message to our whole team. We’re here to play.”

Hardenburger, who is from Wamego, Kansas, has had limited appearances this season behind a regular pitching rotation of Karlyn Pickens, Erin Nuwer and Sage Mardjetko with Maddi Rutan also playing a dual role as infielder/pitcher. Pickens has been out with an arm strain and last pitched on March 3. The senior All-American has been in the dugout for all games and is listed as day-to-day.

“Obviously, I’m on the best pitching staff in the country, so I understand my role and any opportunity I can get, I’m going to take it and execute to the best of my ability,” Hardenburger said in post-game remarks that can be watched HERE. “So, when they told me I was in the circle (Wednesday) and then obviously continuing (Thursday), I knew getting better at every single pitch and executing what Megan and Karen told me to do.”

Megan is Megan Rhodes Smith, who is now the pitching coach for Tennessee, and played with Lady Vols All-American pitcher Monica Abbott when the 2006 team started 24-0.

Hardenburger had a perfect game with two outs in the fifth inning, but Lipscomb singled to left field, and Hardenburger walked the next batter. She then ended the game with a strikeout and was mobbed by her teammates. The freshman will be the pitcher of record for the record-breaking game.

“It felt good,” said Hardenburger, who wished she could have recorded the no-hitter. “Every time I can be out on the field, just getting to move again, especially such a long time away from the game, all I can be is grateful, especially to be out with those girls. They’re just so supportive in everything I do. And even if the outcome was different today, and I didn’t have the numbers I did, I’d still have the time of my life.”

Hardenburger’s senior year at Wamego High School was cut short by a knee injury in 2025. She won the 2023 and 2024 Kansas 4A State Championship and was named the 2024 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year. She also was ranked No. 4 nationally and the No. 2 pitcher in the 2025 class despite the injury. To say her future is bright at Tennessee is an understatement.

“The family atmosphere that Tennessee presented was unmatched,” Hardenburger said after the signed with the Lady Vols. “I fell in love with the culture, athletic and academic opportunities they have for their student-athletes. Some SEC schools l visited felt like football reigned over everyone. At Tennessee, it really felt like an everything school which l loved.”

The team immediately departed Nashville for a trip to Starkville. Tennessee (25-0) and Mississippi State (26-2) will play a three-game series starting today, March 13. The start times are 7 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All times are Eastern, and all three games will be livestreamed on SECN+.

Weekly kept her team focused throughout the first 25 games on the process of preparation, and she has repeatedly said the No. 1 national ranking doesn’t matter in March considering the big picture of the team’s goals. But she did want to acknowledge what her players have accomplished with the record-setting win streak.

“We’re not going to go undefeated,” Weekly said. “We’re going to lose some time. Nobody’s ever done it, but we come out and we control what we can control. I want us walking away from the field every day saying we batted .1000 on controlling our process, and then we let the outcomes happen.

“I definitely want them to take a lot of pride in this, because there’s been a lot of really, really good Tennessee softball teams.”

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.