On Sunday afternoon, Tennessee softball punched its ticket to the program's ninth Women's College World Series appearance.
After the game three win over Nebraska, Lady Vols coach Karen Weekly met with the media.
Here's everything she said.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
Opening statement
"First, I just want to congratulate Nebraska on a tremendous season and being such an incredible opponent. We knew when they won their regional and we won ours and we were gonna match up that, honestly, this was a World Series type game. And that's what you had out there. Two incredible, I mean, the absolute best in our game, pitchers, going at it. I think people probably know about my friendship with (Nebraska coach) Rhonda (Revelle), she's one of my closest friends on this earth. I have a ton of respect for her and the class with which she runs her program and you just love playing an opponent like that, where it's just fierce competition on the field. No shenanigans, just two teams going at it and you saw an incredible fast pitch game today."
On if her head is okay after getting hit with the Gatorade bath
"Oh, I didn't feel that. It's fine, I don't feel much anything. I'm really, really wet and I didn't bring a change of clothes, but that's okay."
On Karlyn Pickens getting out of the fifth inning jam
"You know, I'm just blessed to have a front row seat on this journey with her. And I've said it so many times to anybody who will listen, the talent is incredible, but it's the character, it's the willingness to embrace those moments, to want the ball, to just be the ultimate competitor in those moments. So actually, surprisingly for me, there's a lot of peace in a way, because I just know what she's capable of. And you know what? If they run into something there, I know that she's not gonna go down without a fight. And that's all I think you want as a coach, is we talked about it this morning, play free, no regrets. And I know she's playing free out there and that's all you can ask."
On why this team was able to get back to the WCWS
"Well, I think Ella (Dodge) just touched on it, the energy that connects them and they're very consistent with that. The youth is pretty cool because, you know, between Ella and Emma (Clarke) out there and Saviya (Morgan) and and even some of the young ones that aren't getting the plane time - Amayah Doyle. They're just always in go mode. They're so fun to coach because you have to say woah, not go. They flush mistakes really quickly. They don't dwell on anything. There's no drama. They're just foot on the gas pedal and that's pretty easy to coach. They're gonna make mistakes, but it's always gonna be mistakes of aggression. And I think that's just infused a lot of energy into our team."
On having poor defense on Friday and good defense being a reason they won on Sunday
"Yeah, we certainly don't want to overlook the defense today. The defense was phenomenal. Kinsey's play in center. (Laura) Mealer had a couple of great plays. I'm probably gonna miss something, but though the throw from left field in the first inning. So, Friday night, it was just it was out of character for us. And I think the biggest thing is we talked about that immediately postgame. We said we beat ourselves tonight. You know, Karlyn doesn't walk and hit batters and we don't make mistakes like that. And so we knew that we just had to turn the page. We just had to flush and come into Saturday, knowing that wasn't us, and if we play Lady Vol softball, we got a good chance."
On what she was thinking when Karlyn Pickens got out of the fifth inning jam
"Well, you're thinking about the possibilities. It's the fifth inning, but then you're thinking about, 'Okay, we've got two innings and who's coming up and, you know, what can we manufacture here? How do we need to manufacture it? What are possible pinch-runners you're gonna use pinch-hitters?' So, you're just strategizing as you go. Trying to stay two steps ahead, but obviously, praying that you don't have to get there. Nice to have some insurance on the board, we didn't have it today, but again, (Pickens) did her job."
On what about this team will translate to the WCWS
"When you've been there as many times as I have, it's no longer that I wanna get there and it hasn't been that way for years. I woke up this morning, just I want them to go. I want them to experience this because they get four short years to do this. And sometimes when you go as a freshman, you think you're gonna go every year and it is really, really hard. I mean, I'll tell them this now, we never said it this weekend, the hardest thing you do in this game is super regionals. It is really, really hard. I'm just so happy for them.
"And why I think we can be successful, we've got it in the circle, but then you've heard them talk about it, the connection. And one thing that nobody in this room is gonna ask, and I get it, is about our dugout. I mean, the young women on our team that don't get on the field, don't get the at-bats, don't get the innings in the circle, they are so team first. And I've coached a long time, your dugout makes you or breaks you. And the number of compliments that these guys give the people in the dugout about how locked in they are, looking to pick pitches, keeping me up, giving me good energy. We're 25 strong. We we really are. And that's why I think we can be successful at any level."
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