Tennessee Softball: Strong Finish to Season Earns Vols No. 3 Seed in SEC Tournament

Tennessee softball’s extremely strong finish to the season earned the Volunteers a No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. Their first game is Thursday, May 12.

Ralph and Karen Weekly’s Vols closed out the season exactly how they needed to, by taking two out of three on the road from the Ole Miss Rebels.

Winning those two games following sweeping the Auburn Tigers the week before earned them a No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament set to begin later this week, as they closed the regular season with a 40-13 record overall and a 16-7 record in the conference.

Now a Top 10 team, the Vols head into the SEC Tournament riding a wave of momentum and with a return to the College World Series in mind. And unlike Tennessee baseball, they actually have a chance to compete against the No. 1 ranked Florida Gators.

The one thing to fear going into the tournament is Tennessee’s inconsistency on the road, where all but one of its losses came this year. Technically this isn’t a road game being in Starkville, and fortunately they get to avoid the side of the bracket that the host team, the No. 12 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs are on.

But playing at a neutral site can be a bit concerning.

Tennessee could have a tough outing right out of the gate in its first round, though, as the play the winner between the Missouri Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks. The Vols already lost two out of three to the Tigers, who will likely win and have been a consistent Top 25 team on the year.

If they win that, they are likely to face the Kentucky Wildcats, the tournament’s No. 2 seed. Those two teams did not face off this year.

But the good news for the Vols is that they get to avoid the Gators or a rematch with the Auburn Tigers, which could be even more dangerous, until Sunday.

They enter the SEC Tournament at the perfect time with a wave of momentum and confidence. Let’s see how far it carries them.