Tennessee Softball has officially unveiled their new ‘Summitt Blue’ uniforms, becoming the fourth UT team to sport the blue threads this athletic year.
Lady Vols Volleyball and Soccer did so earlier last fall, and the Lady Vols Basketball team wore their Summitt Blues about a month ago.
Tennessee Football also added a few Summitt Blue accessories to their uniforms during their Homecoming matchup against UT Martin last season.
The purpose of the Vols’ new accessory and uniform releases this athletic year is to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of Title IX on campus and to honor the legendary Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt.
On Wednesday afternoon, Tennessee Softball’s social media team dropped a video revealing the new uniforms.
Bringing something 🔵 to Puerto Vallarta pic.twitter.com/RpkcXWi5r1
— Tennessee Softball (@Vol_Softball) February 15, 2023
As the caption in Tennessee Softball’s video says, the Lady Vols will debut the Summitt Blue uniforms this weekend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. The Lady Vols will play four games in the challenge from Thursday through Saturday.
Tennessee faces off against Sacramento State to begin the stretch on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET, follow it up with a Friday game against North Dakota State at 12:30 p.m. ET and end the weekend with a Saturday double-header against Cal State Fullerton (12:30 p.m. ET) and Liberty (6 p.m. ET).
Through three games, the eighth-ranked Lady Vols are 3-0 and have outscored opponents 36-3. All three games were played in Clearwater, Florida, in the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball 2023 Season Preview: Pitching
The Lady Vol strutting out of the dugout in the video is outfielder Katie Taylor. To hide the blue jersey as she is walks out, Taylor wears a large fur coat, an accessory that became a part of the Lady Vols’ and Tennessee Baseball’s home run celebrations in 2022.
During last season, the Lady Vols took a page out of Tennessee Baseball’s book when they celebrated a home run with a fur coat. The fur coat instantly became a popular celebration that the BaseVols debuted at the beginning of the 2022 season.
When someone hit a home run, his teammates would put the fur coat around his shoulders when he touched home plate. The fur coat joined the ‘Daddy’ hat as the two celebratory accessories for any Vol who hit a home run. Unlike the coat, though, the ‘Daddy’ hat has been in use since 2021.
Much like they did with the fur coat, the Lady Vols piggybacked off of the Vols’ ‘Daddy’ hat celebration by sporting ‘Mommy’ hats for the same purpose.
TENNESSEE SOFTBALL YASSSS
INJECT INTO MY VEINS
I’ve been told the hat says “Mommy” pic.twitter.com/NDB4zDFpXw
— Karthik Venkataraman (@KarthikV_) April 18, 2022
