Tennessee softball knows its path back to the Women's College World Series.
The Lady Vols come in as the No. 7 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
This is 20-straight years Tennessee will host a regional round. This seeding also sets up a super regional to be played in Knoxville if the Lady Vols advance to that stage.
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Tennessee will open the event against Miami (OH) on Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
The winner of that game gets the winner between North Carolina and Ohio State. The Tar Heels and Buckeyes meet on Friday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
The regional format is a double-loss elimination.
If the Lady Vols make the super regionals, it'd also be played in Knoxville. Tennessee would play the winner of 10-seed LSU and its regional partners SE Louisiana, UConn and Nebraska. That format is a best two-out-of-three.
The winner makes it to the Women's College World Series as one of the final eight teams remaining. It is a two-loss elimination format before a best-of-three for the final two remaining teams.
The Lady Vols were in the WCWS as recent at 2023 and have made it eight times. They have made twos championship series but lost both in 2007 and 2013.
Tennessee has been led this season by ace pitcher Karlyn Pickens. The Lady Vols' junior was named SEC Pitcher of the Year for the second-straight season for her efforts.
She owns a 0.98 ERA in 34 appearances and 174.1 innings pitched. In this time, she has posted a 20-8 record and struck out 231 batters.
Behind her, Erin Nuwer and Sage Mardjetko have been the go-to arms.
At the plate, Taylor Pannell has had the most impressive season. She joined Pickens as a First-Team All-SEC member due to her production. She hits at a .413 clip with a team-high 15 home runs.
The second-best average behind Pannell is owned by Kinsey Fiedler. She has a .357 average with a pair of home runs.
Behind Pannell in long balls is Sophia Nugent with 14. McKenna Gibson is the other to reach double-digits with 10.
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