KNOXVILLE – Tennessee softball co-head coach Karen Weekly wanted her players to know she loved them before they took the field for the biggest game of their season.
And she wanted them to play with so much effort that they could lay their heads down Sunday night with pride, regardless of the outcome.
Texas A&M’s 5-3 victory over Tennessee in front of a national television audience and the third straight record crowd at Lee Stadium left the young Volunteers one game short of the Women’s College World Series and visibly emotional. But Weekly reiterated the same two things to her players after the game she expressed to them before it started.
“When we went in the locker room,” Weekly said, “I just told them ‘I love you just as much as I did this morning, and I feel like you have peace of mind, because what I saw out there was everybody playing with a full heart.'”
Picked before the season to finish fifth in the Southeastern Conference, the Vols earned the eighth overall national seed in the NCAA postseason and nearly rode the pitching of sophomore Matty Moss and freshman Caylan Arnold to the program’s eighth WCWS appearance.