By Mark Nagi
It’s a shame that the Tennessee Lady Vols softball team didn’t win the Women’s College World Series when they had Monica Abbott, the best pitcher on the planet.
From 2004 to 2007, Abbott set career and single-season records with 189 wins, 2440 strikeouts, 112 shutouts, 1448 innings pitched and 253 appearances. She was the first All-American in program history and led Tennessee to the Women’s College World Series three times.
But they could never get over the top. In 2007, Tennessee advanced to the finals, cruising to a 3-0 win over Arizona in Game 1. Then they lost 1-0 in Game 2 in 10 innings, and had nothing left in the deciding third game, losing 5-0. Abbott didn’t allow a single run in the entire tournament before allowing one Wildcat to score in the 10th inning of that second game.
So close to a national title… but so far away.
Since 2002, the Weeklys have run the ship. Ralph and Karen Weekly were co-head coaches until 2022, when Karen took on the entirety of that role. In those five seasons, Tennessee made it to the national semifinals three times. The latest comes from a week ago. The Lady Vols, led by standout pitcher Karlyn Pickens, powered into the semis but were swept by Texas.
They’ve now been to the WCWS ten times… and have established themselves as one of the top programs in the sport. But the lack of a national championship is hanging over their head, like the lack of a Final Four appearance hangs over the head of Tennessee’s men’s basketball program.
For the hoopsters, it isn’t for lack of trying. They have been to the Elite 8 two years in a row. They’ve poured in resources for recruiting, and NIL is not an issue. They have one of the top coaches in the sport in Rick Barnes. But for whatever reason, it just hasn’t happened yet.
Last season, Tennessee lost one of its best players, third baseman Taylor Pannell, to Texas Tech after the Red Raiders’ NIL group reportedly offered $750,000 for her to transfer.
The Red Raiders, who lost to Tennessee in the WCWS, made it to the Finals for the second straight season.
In the new world of collegiate athletics, maybe that’s what it is going to take to climb that final rung on the ladder. The teams that win are the teams that spend money… and there’s never enough money.
There were also some rumblings recently around Lady Vols softball circles that blame lies on Karen Weekly, but I find that preposterous. Weekly has handled herself with class during her quarter-century of coaching in Knoxville. And good coaches are hard to find. Who are you expecting to come in here and get to the WCWS every other year?
The Lady Vols softball team is the most consistent winning program on the University of Tennessee campus. They are in the mix for big prizes every season.
But there is another step that they need to take.
