Tennessee softball is embarking on its 2026 NCAA Tournament run this weekend in an attempt to begin the event on the right foot in hopes of capturing the program’s first-ever national title. Ahead of the Knoxville Regional, Lady Vols head coach Karen Weekly met with the media to field questions.
She was asked about the regional, what challenges different teams present and more.
This includes the field that features Virginia, Indiana and Northern Kentucky all fighting for one spot in the super regional stage. First, Tennessee will meet NKU on Friday.
“I mean, the first thing is, everybody in a regional is good,” Weekly said. “They have earned their way here, whether it’s through the body work the whole season or a really hot run at their conference tournament, they’re playing their best softball. Northern Kentucky is a scrappy team. They steal a lot of bases. They’re just really pesky in their ability to get on base, not a big power team, but when you watch them on film, it’s like just a lot of balls just fall in, and then when they get on bases, they can make some things happen.
“They’re going to have some pitching that’s different for us. Nobody throws real high velo, which you know isn’t necessarily easy when you’re used to seeing pretty high velo like we do in the SEC. So we’re going to have to do a really good job of getting on time with what they’re pitching. They’ve got a lefty who’s got their most innings, you know, we’ve done fairly well against limited lefties we’ve seen, but you don’t see a ton of lefties throughout the season. So there’s going to be some different things about them that we’re going to have to be really, really locked in on.”
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Here is the video of Weekly meeting with the media:
