University of Tennessee Athletics
20 for 20: 19 Days Til Softball Season
January 18, 2015 | Softball
There are 19 days remaining until the start of the 2015 Tennessee softball season. Today we look back at the 1997 Lady Vols!
Tennessee celebrates its 20th year of softball in 2015. In honor of the program's 20-year anniversary, we will count down the 20 days leading up to 2015 season opener on Feb. 6 against Ohio by reflecting on each Tennessee softball team, starting with the first-ever squad in 1996. We will also count down the days by jersey number, reflecting on the past players who wore that day's countdown number.
The 1997 squad made a big splash in its first year in the Southeastern Conference. The Lady Vols went 45-22 and 20-7 in SEC play, finishing second in the Eastern Division and earning a No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament.
The 1997 roster featured Jackie Beavers, Tracy Reidhead, April Phillips, Kelli Fitzgerald, Buffy Walker, Candice Fode, Kenyail Norris, Jenny Steele, Bridget Jackson, Lisa Wyatt, Jodi Ramirez, Heather Moore and Carrie Swinford.
The Big Orange enjoyed several big moments throughout the season. On March 26, Tennessee upset No. 10 Long Beach State, 1-0, for its first-ever win against a Top 10 team. A two-out single by Fode in the third inning scored Steele and Walker tossed a shutout. The Lady Vols snapped No. 4 South Carolina's then-NCAA record 38-game winning streak with 6-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader on April 6. UT defeated another ranked team on April 20, upsetting No. 14 USF to avenge three previous losses to the Bulls. The team played a pair of close games in the double-elimination SEC Tournament, but fell to Auburn, 2-0, and Florida, 2-1 (8).
Tennessee hit .321 as a team in 1997 and its pitchers combined for the third-best team ERA in school history at 1.22. Reidhead hit a team-best .374 with seven homers, 19 doubles, 46 RBIs, 45 runs and 11 stolen bases. Walker was the team's ace, going 21-9 and setting a then-school record with a 0.71 ERA that would stand until Monica Abbott broke it in 2005 (0.52 ERA). Walker, Wyatt (.361 BA, four homers, 12 doubles, 38 RBIs, 34 runs, 10 stolen bases) and Swinford (.369 BA, three homers, 16 doubles, 31 RBIs, 41 runs, 11 stolen bases) garnered All-South Region honors. They are the first three of Tennessee's 55 NFCA All-Region selections.
Reidhead was named Tennessee softball's first Academic All-American, earning third team honors, and received a post-graduate scholarship from Successful Farming magazine.
JERSEY COUNTDOWN - #19
| No. 19 | |||||||||||
| No. | Player | Years | Pos. | GP-GS | Avg. | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB |
| 19 | Maria Torres | 1999-2002 | 1B/3B | 187-128 | .248 | 395 | 25 | 98 | 8 | 57 | 2 |
| 19 | Lexi Overstreet | 2013-pres. | OF/C | 95-68 | .291 | 165 | 32 | 48 | 9 | 40 | 4 |
Looking Back...#19 Maria Torres
1999-2002 | 1B/3B | 5-9 | R/R | Parana, Argentina
Torres was a member of the Argentinian National Team from 1994-97 and is the only person to wear No. 19 for four years to date. After an injury sidelined her in a 1998 redshirt year, she saw limited action in 1999 before breaking into the starting lineup in 2000. As a sophomore, she hit .272 with six homers, five doubles, 25 RBIs and nine runs. She saw her most action as a senior in 2002, starting 57 of 59 contests and batting .269 with one homer, nine doubles and 20 RBIs.
THROWBACK NOTES FROM HER BIO!
- Was the first-ever international player on the Tennessee softball team
- Biggest thrill was being the youngest player on her squad at the Pan American Games in 1995
#19 Lexi Overstreet
2013-pres. | OF/C | L/R | Suwanee, Ga.
Overstreet surged late in her 2013 debut season and emerged as a legitimate power threat as a sophomore in 2014. In the 2013 WCWS against Texas, she drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the sixth inning to drive in the game-winning run. Last season, Overstreet played in 56 games and made 46 starts. She tallied eight multi-hit games and tied for third on the team with nine multi-RBI performances. The Suwanee, Ga., native once again came up big in the postseason, hitting a team-best .385 in NCAA Tournament play. She smacked a three-run homer in Tennessee's 12-0 (5) rout of Virginia Tech in the Knoxville Regional and her two-run homer in the sixth against Lipscomb, punched Tennessee's ticket to the 2014 Super Regionals. She drove in Tennesse's lone run in Game 1 of the Norman Super Regional and had a hit and a bases-loaded walk in UT's 4-0 Game 2 win. Overstreet shines at her brightest in Tennessee's most pressure-packed moments.
NOTES FROM HER BIO!
- Enjoys running, writing music, singing and dancing
- Gameday tradition: hair bow
