Tennessee softball clinched an outright SEC Championship on Friday by defeating Kentucky 8-3 on the same day Florida knocked off Texas A&M.
Karen Weekly’s 23rd Tennessee team enters its regular season finale on Saturday with a 39-9 (18-5 SEC) record and has proved to be the SEC’s best team throughout the season. It’s the program’s third ever SEC Regular Season Championship along with 2007 and 2023.
The Lady Vols entered the weekend with a one-game last over Texas A&M in the conference championship race. They just needed to avoid the Aggies gaining two games on them to at least earn a share of the SEC Championship and had to just match Texas A&M to win the title outright.
When Tennessee took game two of the weekend series against Kentucky on Friday night they clinched a share of the title. Then Florida took the series opener over Texas A&M to give the Lady Vols the outright SEC Championship for the second straight season.
The Lady Vols have won all eight SEC series this season including sweeps of Missouri and South Carolina. They’re looking for their third sweep of conference play in Saturday’s series finale against Kentucky.
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Tennessee returned a number of key players from last season’s team that won the SEC Regular Season Championship and SEC Tournament as well as making a run to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Kiki Milloy has been fantastic again, hitting .359 with 11 home runs, 25 extra-base hits and 28 RBIs. Senior Rylie West has had a breakout season turning into one of the SEC’s best players. She’s hitting .342 with 11 home runs, 18 extra-base hits and 28 RBIs.
Both Zaida Puni (.285 and 12 home runs) and McKenna Gibson (.336 and seven home runs) have also had impressive seasons at the plate for the Lady Vols.
On the mound, Tennessee lost ace Ashley Rogers from last season’s team but both Karlyn Pickens and Payton Gottshall have stepped up and thrived in bigger roles. Pickens has posted an 18-5 record, 1.14 ERA and 0.78 WHIP in 147.2 innings pitched while Gottshaul has posted a 19-4 record, 1.14 ERA and 0.78 WHIP in 128.2 innings pitched.
Tennessee heads to Auburn next week for the SEC Softball Tournament where they’ll look to defend its regular season crown while winning the fourth straight SEC Softball Championship trophy.
