University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE AND STANFORD PLAY FOR TRIP TO OKLAHOMA CITY
May 24, 2005 | Softball
May 24, 2005
Super Regional Notes in PDF Format
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 Tennessee Lady Vols | vs. |  Stanford Cardinal |
| Stanford's page for the Super Regional: Stanford's Super Regional Page Audio broadcasts: Internet Video broadcasts: | ||
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The 11th-seeded University of Tennessee softball team (62-13) will take on the Stanford Cardinal (43-14) in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament this weekend. The squads play a single contest at 6 p.m. PDT on Friday and complete the best-of three series on Saturday with a contest at 1 p.m. and, if necessary, at 3:30 p.m. The winner advances to the eight-team Women's College World Series to be contested from June 2-8 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
"Stanford is one of the perennial powers in college softball," Co-Head Coach Ralph Weekly said. "With two World Series appearances, they have a history of being very strong this time of year. They're well coached, hit the ball extremely well, have very good pitching and are solid on defense. They will be a very formidable opponent."
The Big Orange advanced with a trio of shutouts in the regional held in Knoxville, Tenn., over the weekend. In the opener, the Lady Vols topped Miami University, 9-0 (5 inn.), by scoring three runs in the first, four in the second and two more in the fourth. In UT's 4-0 victory over College of Charleston on Saturday, junior designated player Katherine Card earned three two-out RBI. To win the championship, sophomore pitcher Monica Abbott threw a no-hitter and her third shutout of the weekend and sophomore shortstop Lindsay Schutzler blasted a clutch two-out two-run homer on a 3-2 count in the fifth inning of UT's 2-0 win over the Cougars.
The Cardinal ran through the regional being contested in Columbia, Mo., taking the title in the minimum three games with wins over Robert Morris, 9-0 (6 inn.), Southern Illinois, 9-1, and the host Missouri Tigers, 3-2. Stanford earned a co-Pac-10 championship this season, its first in school history. The Cardinal finished 13-8 in Pac-10 play and tied with Arizona, California and Oregon State for the title. The Pac-10 does not hold a conference tournament.
2005 will mark the third appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament for UT. The Big Orange, currently at 5-4 in NCAA Tournament action, got its feet wet with a two-and-out showing in Seattle, Wash., in 1999 before going 2-2 in Ann Arbor, Mich., last season. Stanford advanced to the WCWS last season, finishing fourth, and have gone 19-16 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
The Lady Vols and Cardinal have only met three times on the diamond with Stanford pulling out the win every time. Before either team was able to qualify for its first NCAA Tournament, the squads played a doubleheader in Cypress, Calif. (located near Los Angeles), on March 24, 1997. Stanford swept by 4-1 and 8-0 (5 inn.) scores. At the Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego, Calif., on Feb. 18, 2000, the Cardinal won, 9-0 (5 inn.).
Two Lady Vols reside within 100 miles of the site for this weekend's Super Regional site of Stanford, Califr., in Schutzler (Monterey) and Abbott (Salinas).
The winner of this weekend's series will move on to face either third-seeded Arizona or No. 14 Oklahoma in the first game of the WCWS in Oklahoma City, Okla., at 1 p.m. CDT on June 2.
