Tennessee softball wins SEC Tournament to sweep conference titles for first time in program history
It was a different ballpark, but the opponent and the result were the same.
Tennessee softball beat South Carolina once again to become SEC champions – only this time, one week later, the No. 1 seed Lady Vols won the conference tournament at Bogle Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to add to their SEC regular-season title. With the 3-1 win over the No. 10 seed Gamecocks (37-20), Tennessee (44-8) swept the SEC titles for the first time in program history.
The Gamecocks upset the No. 3 and No. 2 seed on their miraculous run to the final, but they couldn't overcome the regular-season champions.
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"I love this program and I can never say how much – this program means so much to me," senior outfielder Kiki Milloy said. "I want to give everything that I have to this program, and I think it's obviously starting to pay off a little bit."
Ashley Rogers pitched the last two innings in relief in her last SEC Tournament of her career. The senior ace finished the job after Payton Gottshall (12-1) threw the first five innings and only gave up one run and three hits.
Rogers struck out the first three batters she saw in the sixth. South Carolina hit a double in the seventh, but the game ended with Rogers catching the last out and earning her first save of the season.
"That was very meaningful to have (Rogers) on the mound," Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. "She's homegrown, grew up loving Tennessee. Her father, who passed away tragically when she was a junior in high school, Tennessee was always near and dear to his heart. So I think it just means so much to her. She's playing for a different reason than a lot of us."
Zaida Puni, Rylie West and Mackenzie Donihoo all scored for Tennessee, and it was Jamison Brockenbrough's two-RBI double in the third that gave the Lady Vols the win. Brockenbrough went 3-for-3.
Brockenbrough, who bats eighth, wasn't the only batter in the bottom of the lineup to do damage during the tournament. Katie Taylor, who bats ninth, hit a two-run homer Friday to lift Tennessee over Alabama.
"When we play an opponent, they know that they can't take anything off, because one through nine we are solid and we will stay solid," Milloy said.
Tennessee was making its first appearance in the SEC Tournament final since 2015, winning the title for the first time since 2011. The Lady Vols are now the 13th team in SEC history to win both the regular-season and tournament championship.
The Gamecocks, who were the first 10-seed to make it to the SEC Tournament final, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. But Tennessee immediately evened the score and then took the lead in the third inning with its clutch two-out hitting. All 14 of the Lady Vols' runs in the tournament were scored with two outs on the board.
"Well, that's an unbelievable stat, but it does a lot for us," Weekly said of the two-out hitting. "What I've been so proud about this team is, we've hit some rough patches, but then they rebound. They're competing better now than they've competed at any point in time in the season. I think as a coach ... that's what you want to see is, when you get to postseason, when things matter the most, that they're doing the things that are going to bring about winning."
The majority of Tennessee's offense came before South Carolina pitcher Donnie Gobourne entered the game in the fourth inning. Goubourne didn't give up any runs during the Gamecocks' dramatic run to the final, and that trend didn't break Saturday.
Tennessee only recorded two hits after Gobourne entered the game, but its defense and pitching held South Carolina at bay.
The SEC titles this season aren't the first Weekly has won – but they're the first she has won as a solo head coach after her husband, Ralph, retired after the 2021 season.
"This means so much, because I love this university," Weekly said. "I mean, when Ralph and I came here 22 years ago, we came here because it was a special place that believed in women and valued women long before it was mandatory or cool. It's meant so much to both of us to be the coaches at Tennessee. It's just a real blessing, and I'm so grateful for all the people who brought us here and the people who continue to support us."
Tennessee will learn its NCAA Tournament path on Sunday night when the field is announced.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee softball sweeps SEC titles for first time in program history
