Softball Heads Into 2018 With Deeper Pitching Staff

By Rhiannon Potkey, special to UTsports.com

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- By their sixth meeting in a three-week span, there were no secrets remaining between Tennessee and Texas A&M.

The Texas A&M hitters were well aware of what the Tennessee pitchers were throwing, and adjusted accordingly.

Advanced scouting, analytics and prior experience at the plate provided everything the Aggies would need to score runs against Matty Moss and Caylan Arnold.

Moss and Arnold had pitched Tennessee to the brink of the NCAA Women's College World Series last season, but Texas A&M rallied to sweep the final two games of the all-SEC Super Regional and deny the Lady Vols a coveted trip to Oklahoma City.

Once Arnold and Moss ran into trouble, Tennessee didn't have another option in the bullpen to provide a change of pace.

"The first couple times you see a pitcher, the advantage goes to the pitcher. But as you go on longer, the advantage is eventually going to shift to the hitter," Tennessee co-head coach Karen Weekly said Monday afternoon during a news conference to preview the 2018 season. "With us only having two pitchers to throw at them, by the time we got to game number six, the advantage was definitely in their favor having four different pitchers to bring out."

Tennessee has added reinforcements this year with freshmen left-handers Gabby Sprang and Ashley Morgan joining the staff.

The No. 12/11 Lady Vols open the season on Thursday with games against Boise State and Arizona State in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona.

Sprang is expected to see some time in the circle to get her first taste of collegiate play and work on her consistency throwing strikes. The 6-foot-1 Minnesota native was ranked No. 3 in the 2017 FloSoftball Hot 100 Rankings.

"She's actually very different from any other pitcher on our team," Karen Weekly said. "She's left-handed, first of all, which is really nice to have. We haven't had a lefty here in probably 10 years. She throws a really great arsenal of pitches down the zone."

Morgan, Georgia's 2015 Gatorade State Player of the Year, is likely to give Tennessee some innings while also being an everyday player.

"She pitched her high school team to two state championships in Georgia, and she's a very good player," Tennessee co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. "She's going to also play first base for us and hit in the middle of the lineup. She will give us an extra arm, which I think is going to be important."

The pressure on the freshmen won't be overwhelming because the Lady Vols have two impact arms returning in Moss and Arnold.

Moss, a junior, finished 26-3 with a 1.76 ERA, 193 strikeouts and 51 walks last season. Arnold, a sophomore, was 20-9 with a 2.01 ERA, 144 strikeouts and 60 walks while earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors. The duo combined to throw 350.4 of Tennessee's 382.2 innings pitched.

The Lady Vols return 17 letterwinners overall and seven positional starters from 2017. Offensively, they are led by senior shortstop and reigning SEC Player of the Year Meghan Gregg. Defensively, they have the potential to feature the best infield in program history.

The Lady Vols won't have junior outfielder Brooke Vines to start the season, and aren't sure if she'll return by the end. Vines had surgery on her shoulder in the fall, leaving a void in the lineup after batting .385 with 59 RBIs and 46 runs scored last season.

"I don't think you ever replace somebody with Brooke's skill set, but like on any team, that's an opportunity for someone to step up that has been waiting in the wings and maybe hasn't seen an opportunity," Karen Weekly said. "Whether it's a freshman or a returner who has steadily been going along, now it's your time and it's your chance."

Tennessee is beginning the season six months after the Lady Vols name was reinstated to every women's program in the athletic department.

Softball has added the Lady Vols logo to the outfield wall at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, but won't have the designation on its uniforms this season because Nike had already made them.

"But we were able yesterday to give them orange and gray warm-up shirts with the Lady Vol logo on the front and they were pretty excited about that," Ralph Weekly said.

Although Tennessee is fully focused on the upcoming season, the Lady Vols haven't completely erased the memories from last year's Super Regional loss. Having a one-game lead and then watching Texas A&M rally for two wins and celebrate on their home field isn't something a team easily forgets.

"It was tough to get over it. I wouldn't say anybody got over it very quickly," Karen Weekly said. "... It's not easy to get to the World Series. I think sometimes you come to college and in your freshman year you think you're going to get there every year and that's just not going to happen. It takes a long time, but I hope it fuels the fire and I think it is fueling the fire for them this year."

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Caylan Arnold

Meghan Gregg

Ashley Morgan

Matty Moss

Gabby Sprang

Brooke Vines

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