For Tennessee's tradition-rich softball program, hosting the Knoxville Regional and winning the Knoxville Regional suddenly have become two different things.
Achieving the comfort of a Knoxville Regional for a 17th consecutive NCAA tournament, the Lady Volunteers shredded Campbell 9-1 Friday night and blanked Oregon State 3-0 Saturday afternoon to earn two opportunities to collect one win against Oregon State on Sunday. The Beavers didn't comply, erupting for an 8-3 whipping and then ending Tennessee's season with a 3-1 triumph.
Karen Weekly's Lady Vols, who were the NCAA tournament's No. 11 overall seed, finished with a 41-18 record.
"This is one of the closest teams I've ever been a part of, and I really wanted to see this group advance," said Weekly, who co-coached Tennessee with her husband, Ralph, from 2002 through last season. "I just know how much we wanted to spend another day together.
"I have an office in the clubhouse that's right off the main hallway. The door is always open, and I constantly hear laughter."
Tennessee has not advanced out of the Knoxville Regional since 2019, when the Lady Vols were then bounced by Florida in a super regional. There was no NCAA tournament in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak, and Tennessee began last year's Knoxville Regional by thumping Eastern Kentucky before stumbling against James Madison and Liberty.
The Lady Vols, who reached the Women's College World Series best-of-three championship series in 2007 and again in 2013, last reached the WCWS in 2015, when they went two-and-out against Florida and Auburn.
Sunday's deciding game was scoreless entering the sixth inning, when Mariah Mazon's two-run home run to left field off Erin Edmoundson got the Beavers on the board. Madison Simon's RBI single moments later gave Oregon State some insurance at 3-0, and Ashley Morgan's solo homer to right with two out in the seventh proved to be too little, too late for Tennessee.
"This has really meant the world to me," Morgan said. "I wouldn't trade these five years for anything."
Ashley Rogers entered Sunday's opener having pitched 23 consecutive scoreless innings this postseason, and the former Meigs County High School star added a 24th after facing four batters in the first inning and yielding a walk for her only blemish. In the second inning, however, Rogers allowed a Kaylah Nelson leadoff double to right-center, hit Grace Messmer with a pitch and then gave up a double to deep center by Madison Simon that scored Nelson to put the Beavers up 1-0.
"Ashley wasn't able to go after that first game," Weekly said. "With what she told the trainer, the trainer came to me and said, 'She's done for the day.'
"Erin battled for us and did what she's done all year. She's a competitor and gives us a chance to win every time she goes out."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.