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• Lady Vols don't buckle vs. alumni
• Hosfield earns national award; Spigner honored in California
• Lady Vols finish No. 14 in fastpitch coaches' poll

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Now what?

That's the question for Tennessee softball now that Monica Abbott, the most dominant pitcher in NCAA history, has moved on to Team USA.

"They don't call our sport 'fast-run' or 'fast-hit,' '' said Ralph Weekly, who along with his wife, Karen, serves as Lady Vols co-head coach. "They call it fastpitch, and the reason is the team with the best pitcher usually wins.''

UT, coming off three consecutive 60-win seasons and three top-three finishes in the Women's College World Series, begins the season No. 6 in the USA Today/NFCA rankings.

It's a compliment to the program Ralph and Karen Weekly have built over the past seven years considering defending SEC champion UT has just one player who starts in the same position as last season.

"That would be our catcher, Shannon Doepking,'' Ralph Weekly said. "With Shannon and Tiffany Huff, who won a gold medal in Belgium with the USA Junior National team last summer, there's no doubt we have the best catching in the country.''

The pitching is a relative unknown with Abbott having dominated the innings the past four years while re-writing the NCAA record books.

Senior Megan Rhodes, who was 13-3 with a 1.50 ERA last season, gets first crack at the top spot in the rotation.

Rhodes and her teammates will be challenged early and often. The Lady Vols open the season today in Palm Springs, Calif., with games against Utah (8 p.m. EST) and UC-Davis (11:30 p.m.) before tackling Pacific coast powers Oregon and Cal Poly on Saturday and Oregon State on Sunday.

While Rhodes' pitching relies on movement, 6-foot-1 freshman pitcher Ashton Ward brings a 65-mph fastball to the mound. Junior Danielle Pieroni, a two-time Tennessee high school player of the year, is another option.

"Offensively we have a chance to be very good, and defensively I feel like we'll be as good as ever,'' Ralph Weekly said. "I feel good about this team, but we could take some lumps early before we grow into ourselves this season and challenge for another SEC title.''

The most noticeable change in the infield is two-time All-American first baseman Tonya Callahan moving to third. Callahan, the Lady Vols all-time home run leader, played third in high school and summer ball, so the move isn't as risky as it might seem.

Senior Kenora Posey, a slap-hitting speedster who batted .300 in the World Series, moves from second base to shortstop, while sophomore Nicole Kajitani breaks into the starting lineup at second and freshman Jen Lapicki takes over at first.

"Lapicki is something else; she's already been invited to try out for the U.S. team,'' said Weekly, who watched Lapicki hit three consecutive homers in a recent team scrimmage. "In the time she's here, she'll probably break our all-time home run record.''

The outfield is relatively inexperienced but extremely athletic, featuring junior Lillian Hammonds in left, sophomore Anita Manuma in center and Erinn Webb in right.

Hammond, from Chattanooga, showed great promise in UT's Super Regional by batting .414 in place of former Lady Vols All-American India Chiles, who missed the series with a knee injury.

"We might be a late-blooming team - I know this weekend in California is going to be tough - but this team will be exciting,'' Weekly said. "We hit the ball well and run really well, so we'll be the same kind of team you've seen the past few years.

"The key is what happens with our pitching.''

Tennessee opens its home season in new, $7 million Sherri Parker Lee Stadium on Feb. 21 against Brigham Young University..

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.