For the third season in a row, the Tennessee Volunteers are out int heir first game of the SEC Softball Tournament, and this one has to sting the worst. After dropping the series to Ole Miss earlier in the season, head coach Karen Weekly said her team was ready for the rematch, but it turns out they weren't.
The Vols came into the tournament as the five-seed, a solid place, but were ultimately upset by 13-seed Ole Miss, in a game where it just felt like Tennessee couldn't get much going, especially offensively. The Vols were only able to muster up four hits throughout the game, only one coming with a runner in scoring position.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, this shouldn't give fans good feelings about how Tennessee will compete, and Weekly knows where the problem lies.
Tennessee isn't able to put it altogether in upset loss at the hands of Ole Miss
"Everything that adds up to a loss was there."
— Paige Dauer (@PaigeDauerFDP) May 7, 2026
Karen Weekly breaks down what contributed to their 4-1 loss to Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament. pic.twitter.com/w3cv1jVhRW
"That is what softball's about this time of year," Weekly said after the loss. "Good pitching, and playing really clean defense and timely hitting, and we didn't really do any of those three today."
The margin for error this time of year is so slim for any team in softball right now, and Tennessee learned that the hard way against Ole Miss in the SEC Softball Tournament. In the top of the fifth inning, with two outs, the Vols thought they had a strikeout on a check swing to get out of the inning with a runner on second, but instead, the umpire at third base said she held it back enough.
blake didn't swing, but ole miss sure did. pic.twitter.com/YdnvFKzONK
— WVLT Sports (@WVLTSports) May 6, 2026
Weekly was enraged by the call, but it was the call that was made, and up 2-1, the Rebels made the call count. Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens ended up loading the bases, and a big hit up the middle gave Ole Miss two more runs of support to give them the 4-1 lead.
While some may want to blame it all on the missed call, Pickens wasn't able to get out of the inning on the next two batters either. The call should have been strike three to get out of the inning, but being able to move on and get the batter after that, or even the next batter, needed to be the focus, and it clearly wasn't.
This feels like yet another wake-up call for Tennessee, and if they don't figure out how to answer it, this could be a short postseason for the Vols.
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