TENNESSEE LADY VOLS SOFTBALL: Final home series of regular season on tap

The Lady Vols softball team finished up its non-conference schedule on Tuesday night, defeating Radford in a tight matchup.

Now, all that remains on the 2026 regular-season schedule is two more series, with the meeting between Alabama and Tennessee serving as the Lady Vols' final home series of the regular season.

The Crimson Tide entered the series ranked No. 2 in the nation, behind just Oklahoma. Yet Alabama had peaked at No. 1 in Week 9 of the season after taking two games in a three-game series against Texas.

The Lady Vols, on the other hand, have been up and down themselves after losing their No. 1 ranking in March. They are now No. 9 in the top 25 entering the weekend’s series.

“Most softball games, you’re not going to put up runs every inning, but you’re looking to have a few big innings where you can string things together,” Karen Weekly said after the 2-1 win against Radford. “We’re not giving ourselves a chance to do that by not staying locked in every single pitch.”

Offensively, it has been a back-and-forth battle for consistency. Despite that, there remain a handful of Lady Vols that have finished the year with very impressive numbers, including five players with an OPS over 1.000 entering the final two series.

Leading the charge is junior Alannah Leach, who has broken out in her third season with the Lady Vols. After two years slugging under .300 in both seasons, Leach has broken that by a wide margin, slugging .716 while amassing a 1.248 OPS over 43 games.

Ella Dodge follows close behind Leach in both OPS and home runs, with 10 on the season, while Leach leads the team with 11 home runs.

Dodge holds a 1.122 OPS over 45 games, starting in every appearance she’s made. Mackenzie Butt, Sophia Knight, and Taelyn Holley close out the five Lady Vols who have led the offense.

Holley, a freshman, has awoken the bat over the last few weekends. After a four-hit performance broke a slump for Holley on April 8, she has stayed hot, amassing five hits over the next five games.

The offense will be key for the Lady Vols if they want to make noise in the postseason.

While the offense has been questionable at times, the pitching has been one of, if not the best, in the nation.

Sage Marjedtko kept that theme in place on Tuesday night, while the offense amassed just two runs, Mardjetko allowed no earned runs, with one run crossing that was unearned, during her 5.1 inning outing. She struck out ten in the process while walking three.

“It’s all about your mindset, so just going out there competing and knowing that you’re the best on the field,” she said. “Having a good mix of rise, drop, curves, change-ups, just trying to keep them off balance and show them different spins”.

Ahead of the weekend series against Alabama, the Lady Vols rank first in the nation in combined ERA with 1.20, while Alabama is third in the nation with 1.62.

All three of the Lady Vols starters find themselves in the top ten in the NCAA for total ERA. Erin Nuwer is second with a 0.82 ERA, while Sage Mardjetko ranks third with a 1.00 ERA. Karlyn Pickens stands at eight with 1.40.