Karen Weekly talks about Tennessee's emotions entering WCWS

For the first time in nearly a decade, Tennessee will be making an appearance in the Women’s College World Series. With that in mind, as well as what her team has been through to get to Oklahoma City, the opportunity that her team has overjoyed Karen Weekly.

Weekly spoke on what she and her program are feeling as they prepare for their opening game against Alabama. She described the emotion as ‘just sheer joy’ considering what the Lady Volunteers have done to earn their bid and their chance at a championship.

“(It’s) just joy. That’s the best word I can describe it with. Just sheer joy,” Weekly said. “Joy for these girls who worked so hard. When they do things the right way, as a coach, you just want it so bad for them.

“Just so much joy for them that they got to move on and they get to come here and do what they do so well, which is just come out and play every day,” said Weekly. “Our last couple practices at home were really good, just like the last few weeks. They just keep getting better every day.”

Tennessee enters the tournament in OKC with an overall record of 49-8. They were able to make it to EOG Energy Field by handling their business in the Knoxville Regional and Super Regional with a 5-0 record.

Now, as they make their first WCWS appearance since 2015, the Volunteers, who swept when it came to the SEC titles, will first standoff with a conference foe in the Crimson Tide. Still, considering they went 3-1 against ‘Bama his year, Weekly is going to let the game come to her team while also trying to reinforce how special their opportunity is as they chase the program’s first national championship.

Weekly reflects on what has made Tennessee successful

Tennessee was named the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, giving them a chance to host both a Regional and Super Regional.

A big reason why they earned that honor was their pitching in 2023. The Volunteers led the SEC with an ERA of 1.52 and have also held their opponents to the lowest batting average in the conference (.155).

Tennessee has a number of pitchers that can attack, but Ashley Rogers leads the group. The senior leads the SEC with an ERA of 0.70 and has recorded a team-high 160 strikeouts across 119.1 innings pitched. The Volunteers also have a couple of solid options behind her in Payton Gottshall and Karlyn Pickens.

But while those three get most of the praise, Weekly believes it’s the overall depth of the group outside of those players that truly makes the Volunteers dangerous on the mound.

“A lot of that credit goes to (pitching coach) Megan Rhodes Smith,” Weekly said. “She’s with them in the bullpen every day. The extent of my involvement is calling the pitches, just something I’ve done for so many years. We’ve got a really deep staff. We have six pitchers and everybody hears a lot and sees primarily those three — Ashley, Payton and Karlyn — but it’s just nice every day of the SEC to be able to start somebody different and not let anybody sit on anybody for too long. I think that’s one of the strengths of our team thus far and will be a strength as we continue into the postseason.”