Tennessee softball knows who it will play in its first game of the 2025 SEC Tournament.
After 5-seed Arkansas walked off 12-seed Georgia with a grand slam, the 4-seed Lady Vols will square off with the Razorbacks in the quarterfinals.
First pitch is scheduled for approximately 1:45 p.m. ET. It will air on SEC Network.
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The good about the matchup
Tennessee won't have to play a road game now. Every year, one of the schools in the SEC is chosen to host the SEC Tournament. This year, it was Georgia.
This has made for hostile environments for both Kentucky and Arkansas in the opening rounds of the tournament. While the Bulldogs haven't had the strongest year, they've been a tough out in their home park.
Georgia taking the Razorbacks to the wire could also work in the Lady Vols' favor. Arkansas will have less than 24 hours to turnaround for an emotional game that literally went down to the final swing.
The bad about the matchup
Well, simply put, Arkansas is a much better softball team than Georgia. If you had to pick a team to play, you'd pick the Bulldogs every time.
Part of what makes the Razorbacks so great is Bri Ellis. The soon-to-be named SEC Player of the Year was the one who hit the walk-off grand slam. She has tied the SEC home run record with No. 26 and is hitting .337 with a .474 on-base percentage.
Tennessee also has a poor history against Arkansas this year. After taking down Georgia in the Lady Vols' SEC opening series, they fell to the Razorbacks at home.
Game one was an eight-inning affair that Arkansas won 6-3. Game two got ugly. The Razorbacks blew out Tennessee 9-0.
The Lady Vols avoided the sweep in game three. Tennessee scraped out a 3-2 win to salvage the series.
What Karen Weekly thinks
Ahead of the SEC Tournament, Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly met with the media.
She was asked about the potential matchups, which now is confirmed to be Arkansas.
"Georgia and Arkansas were our first two series, so it seems like forever ago," Weekly said. "There's a little bit of familiarity, but honestly, everybody changes so much as the season goes along. I think we're a very different team than we were either of those weekends. We had good outcomes. At Georgia, I didn't think we played particularly well and certainly we were pretty bad against Arkansas, and that was a turning point for us. So there's still going to be a lot of scouting you have to do. So, again, the familiarity goes both ways, too."
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