SOFTBALL CENTRAL: #6/6 Tennessee at St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invite

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The No. 6 Tennessee softball team heads to Clearwater, Fla., to play five games in ESPN's inaugural St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational.

The Lady Vols will take on five teams in three days, facing defending national champion No. 1/2 Florida State in the final game of the tournament on Sunday night. Tennessee's other opponents include No. 24 Notre Dame, Minnesota, #23/25 JMU and Utah. The tournament is being played at Eddie C. Moore Complex.

UT comes into the weekend ranked No. 6 in all three major polls after sweeping the Kickin' Chicken Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last weekend. Tennessee outscored its opponents 49-4.

Tournament Schedule

All five of Tennessee's games this week can be followed on UTSports.com via live radio stream by visiting the schedule page and clicking the "Listen" link for each game.

Four of Tennessee's five games will be broadcast on ESPN networks, with Notre Dame (ESPNU) and Florida State (ESPN2) airing on linear channels. Minnesota and JMU will be shown on ESPN3. More information, including tickets and the complete schedule of events, can be found at https://www.stpeteclearwatereliteinvite.com/.

Sunday, Feb. 17
#1/2 FSU vs. #6 Tennessee | Field #8 | 7 p.m. | ESPN2

Need to Know
UT has a combined all-time record of 227-221-2 against top-25 opponents and in 2018, the Lady Vols were 16-12 versus top-25 foes. Tennessee last faced a team ranked No. 1 by the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll in 2017, beating top-ranked Florida, 5-1, in the final contest of the weekend on April 30.

Tournament History
The St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational is ESPN Events' first owned and operated softball tournament. The 16-team field features 10 programs ranked in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Preseason Poll: Reigning national champions No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 10 LSU, No. 15 Kentucky, No. 16 Texas, No. 21 Oklahoma State, No. 22 James Madison, No. 23 Minnesota, and No. 24 Ohio State. Rounding out the field are California, Florida Atlantic University, Hofstra, Notre Dame, Oregon and Utah.

Freshman Battery Gets It Done
Freshman pitcher Ashley Rogers leads the Lady Vols with 22 strikeouts through just two starts. The total also ranks first among SEC freshman pitchers and fourth overall. Meanwhile, freshman catcher Ally Shipman leads Tennessee with nine RBI through five games. The Valencia, Calif., native totaled a team-leading three, multiple-RBI games and owns a five-game hit streak.

Scouting Report

Notre Dame

Notre Dame finished opening weekend with a pair of wins over RV Liberty (4-1) and No. 3/2 Washington (3-2 in eight innings).
Sophomore outfielder Abby Sweet was one of 15 league players voted to the inaugural Preseason All-ACC Softball Team after finishing first on the team with 13 doubles, 15 stolen bases, a .420 on-base percentage and 38 runs scored in 2018. She set a single-season Notre Dame record after being hit by a pitch 22 times over the course of the year.

All-Time Record vs. Notre Dame: 1-3
The Lady Vols and Fighting Irish last met on Feb. 19, 2015, in a top-25 matchup. Then-No. 10 UT came away with an 8-4 victory over #23 Notre Dame.

Minnesota

The Gophers enter 2019 as three-time defending Big Ten Tournament champions. Minnesota is 2-1 through three games so far this season.
In 2018, Minnesota's pitching staff recorded a 1.90 ERA which was the second lowest in the Big Ten and 14th lowest in the NCAA a season ago. The entire pitching staff returns for this season: Amber Fiser, Sydney Smith, Carlie Brandt, Hannah Bailey and Rachel Lowary and is highlighted by Fiser who was tabbed a 2019 preseason All-American.

All-Time Record vs. Minnesota: 0-1
Tennessee its lone contest with Minnesota, 1-2, on Feb. 17, 2002.

James Madison

For the fifth straight season, James Madison softball was selected as the unanimous favorite to win the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) softball championship. The Dukes open the 2019 season in Clearwater.
James Madison made its sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament last season. Led by 2018 CAA Coach of the Year Loren LaPorte, the Dukes return 14 from last year's team and are ranked No. 23 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 and No. 25 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

All-Time Record vs. JMU: 3-1
The Lady Vols came away with a 12-3 victory in six innings against a No. 24 JMU team in Knoxville on May 19, 2018.

Utah

Utah is receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches and ESPN.com/USA Softball national polls after going 4-1 on opening weekend.
After the first weekend, Hailey Hilburn tops all Pac-12 pitchers with three wins and Alyssa Barrera has reached base safely in eight straight games (dating back to last season).
Julia Noskin, a Pac-12 All-Freshmen Team selection had three multi-hit games and led the team in batting at the Kajikawa Classic (8-for-19, .421) last weekend.

All-Time Record vs. Utah: 4-3
In a top-15 matchup, then-No. 11 Tennessee defeated then-No. 15 Utah, 6-5, on Feb. 10, 2018 in Tempe, Ariz.

Florida State

Defending national champion and top-ranked FSU returns seven defensive starters and one starting pitcher from the 2018 NCAA National Championship team. Despite losing a pair of All-Americans, the FSU offense returns 12 total players that combined to tally 399 hits, 306 runs, 94 doubles, 17 triples and 54 homers.
Under the direction of head coach Lonni Alameda, the Seminoles have returned to the WCWS three times in the last five seasons (2014, 2016 and 2018). Florida State has also earned six ACC regular season titles in a row, five straight ACC Tournament titles and owns 16 ACC Championships.

All-Time Record vs. FSU: 5-1
In the second game of a doubleheader on Feb. 22, 2015, then-No. 10 Tennessee defeated No. 9 FSU 2-1 in Knoxville to win the three-game series.

On Deck
Following this weekend's tournament, Tennessee heads to ETSU on Tuesday, Feb. 19 to cap an 11-game road stand. The Lady Vols then host Kansas, Virginia, Bradley, Louisville and Tennessee State in the Tennessee Classic (2/22-24).