Karen Weekly says Tennessee softball has pitching staff for national championship run

Tennessee softball has only made consecutive trips to the Women's College World Series twice in program history.

The first streak was when legendary pitcher Monica Abbott led the Lady Vols to three straight appearances in the WCWS from 2005-07. The second time was in 2012-13, and those two postseason runs were led by elite pitching from sisters Ivy and Ellen Renfroe. The Lady Vols played in the championship in 2007 and 2013.

No. 3 seed Tennessee (43-10) has the chance to make a second straight trip to Oklahoma City. The only thing that stands between the Lady Vols and a WCWS berth is No. 14 seed Alabama (36-17), which they'll face in the NCAA super regional that begins Friday (4 p.m., ESPN2) at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.

"I think this team knows that they have the pieces to make a run for a national championship," Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said Wednesday. "Now, a lot of things have to fall your way this time of year. But they don't want to have any regrets that they didn't do something ... or quite honestly, that they didn't just go out and let go and give themselves an opportunity."

The Tide is a familiar opponent for Tennessee, and the Lady Vols already beat Alabama during the regular season. UT won the series 2-1 and only gave up one run the whole series. Weekly said playing a team they've already beat can be a trap, so she watched Alabama this week with fresh eyes.

"I think the reason teams are in supers is because they're doing some different things than they did during the season, and different as in better," Weekly said. "If you just rely on the notes you've had before, you can just sort of get caught being a little lackadaisical."

Both SEC Pitcher of the Year Karlyn Pickens (21-6) and Payton Gottshall (20-4) tossed complete-game shutouts against Alabama earlier this season. Gottshall pitched the first 4⅔ innings in the 1-0 loss in the series finale before Pickens relieved her. Pickens believes the advantage is bigger than the downside of facing Alabama's lineup again.

"We know what their batters can do and we know how to plan for them and how to approach them," Pickens said.

Pickens and Gottshall are two of the best pitchers in the nation and their ERAs rank fifth (1.15) and sixth (1.21), respectively. Tennessee is the only team in the country with two pitchers who rank in the top 10 for ERA, and it's the only team that recorded shutouts in every NCAA regional game.

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The Lady Vols have the elite pitching that led them to their previous consecutive trips to Oklahoma City. But they also bring back most of last season's roster, and they all got a taste of the WCWS.

"They know the joy of being in Oklahoma City," Weekly said. "I mean, there's nothing like it and you really can't describe it to 'em. They just have to go an experience it. So they know how badly they want to get back there."

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Karen Weekly says Tennessee softball has pitching staff for WCWS run