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Lady Vols not satisfied with salvaging split
1-0 loss to Ole Miss creates foul mood with coaches
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Tennessee's softball team found itself treading water after riding a wave of excitement Saturday against the U.S. Olympic team.
Ole Miss, the last-place team in the SEC West, snapped the Lady Vols' nine-game win streak with a 1-0 win in the opener of Wednesday's doubleheader. UT earned the split with a 6-2 win in the second game at Lee Stadium, but it did little to temper the coaching staff's mood.
"There's nothing to celebrate tonight,'' said Ralph Weekly, who along with his wife, Karen, serves as co-head coach. "To quote (LSU coach) Yvette Girouard from last weekend, 'the worst thing you can do is let the best player on the other team beat you.' We talked about that in our Monday meeting, and then we put the ball right down the middle of the plate and she promptly deposited it over the fence.''
"She'' is Ole Miss shortstop Lauren Grill, who helped the Lady Rebels take two of three from LSU last weekend with three home runs.
Grill gave Ole Miss (20-25, 4-18 SEC) the only run it needed off Megan Rhodes (19-5) in the first game with a solo homer in the third inning.
The ninth-ranked Lady Vols (41-8, 11-7) responded in the second game with a vengeance, jumping out to a 3-0 lead en route to the victory.
Weekly said the momentum from UT's fine performance in its 4-2 loss to the U.S. Olympic team Saturday didn't carry over because the Lady Vols haven't learned to play under pressure.
"There was no pressure in that (Olympic exhibition) game,'' Weekly said. "Tonight there was pressure. We needed a sweep to get back in the race. These are the games we're supposed to win.''
UT stands second in the Eastern Division, 6 1/2 games behind Florida (46-2, 18-1), which has won 19 in a row.
Lady Vols senior Tonya Callahan, who added her 13th homer of the season in the nightcap, said a team talk between the games helped UT recover against Ole Miss.
"We just talked about playing more relaxed,'' Callahan said. "In the first game we played uptight and afraid to make mistakes. We just need to play like ourselves.''
Senior catcher Shannon Doepking said Rhodes did miss on a key pitch in the first game, but she expects more from herself and her teammates at the plate.
"Yeah, Megan gave up a home run, but we've got to score some runs,'' Doepking said. "I put that first game on us as hitters. One run shouldn't be enough to beat our team.''
Weekly held a closed-door clubhouse meeting with his team after the doubleheader to express his disappointment.
The Lady Vols return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday (TV: Fox Sports Net) in the first game of a doubleheader against No. 11 LSU (32-12, 11-8).
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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