KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee softball team has earned its 12th berth into the NCAA Tournament and will host an NCAA Regional for the 10th time in program history, as announced by the NCAA Division I Softball Committee on Sunday night. The Lady Vols are the No. 10 national seed and will host the Knoxville Regional from May 16-18.
UT is one of 11 SEC teams to earn NCAA Tournament bids and one of the conference’s six national seeds.
The Knoxville Regional will be a double-elimination tournament featuring Tennessee (42-10), Charleston Southern (27-31-1), Lipscomb (39-13) and Virginia Tech (35-21). Tennessee will play Charleston Southern on Friday, May 16, at 6 p.m. ET. Lipscomb and Virginia Tech will play on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
On Saturday, the winners from both of Friday’s games will play in Game 3 at 2 p.m. ET. The losers from Friday’s games will play in Game 4 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The loser from Game 3 will face the loser from Game 4 at 7 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s 2 p.m. ET Game 6 will feature the winner from Game 3 against the winner from Game 5. The two teams will play again in Game 7 at 4:30 p.m. ET, if necessary. The games will be streamed live on UTSports.com.
The 16 winning teams from their respective Regional sites will advance the Super Regionals, which will take place from May 22-25, depending on the host site.
No. 7 Tennessee (42-10, 17-7 SEC) finished second in the SEC regular season standings with a 17-7 league record and fell to No. 15 Kentucky, 2-0, on Friday in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. UT is currently ranked No. 7 in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
Tennessee features several of the most talented players in the nation, including 2014 SEC Player of the Year Madison Shipman and 2014 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Ellen Renfroe. Shipman is also a Finalist for the 2014 Senior CLASS Award, a Top 10 Finalist for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, a First Team All-SEC selection and an SEC All-Defensive pick. Melissa Davin and Annie Aldrete joined Shipman with First Team All-SEC honors. Renfroe was a Second Team All-SEC selection and a Top 25 Finalist for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. Aldrete is also a top 10 finalist for the inaugural NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year trophy and earned Freshman All-SEC honors. Shaliyah Geathers, Megan Geer and Taylor Koenig joined Aldrete on the Freshman All-SEC squad.
Available all-session bleacher-back ticket packages go on sale to the public on Monday, May 12, at 8:30 a.m. ET online at UTTIX.com, over the phone at 865-656-1200 or in-person at the Tennessee ticket office. There is a limit of six tickets per customer/account. The bleacher-back all-session package is $25 and includes tickets for all three days of the Knoxville Regional.
Tennessee softball season ticket holders have until Tuesday, May 13 at noon to renew their season ticket location by logging into their online account 24 hours a day at UTTix.com, by calling the Tennessee Ticket Office at 865-656-1200 or visiting the ticket office in-person between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET.
Should the initial ticket availability sell-out, any tickets not renewed by season ticket holders would open on Thursday, May 15, at 8:30 a.m. ET. If tickets remain, single-session tickets will go on sale Friday, May 16, at 8:30 a.m. ET online, over the phone and in-person.
