Webb sticks to success in postseason

Tennessee junior outfielder Erinn Webb is coming out of hibernation.

After all, the Lady Vols have entered postseason play in softball.

"She can be a Grizzly Bear or a Pooh Bear,'' UT co-head coach Ralph Weekly said, referring to Webb's uncanny ability to turn it on in the postseason. "She has the prettiest left-handed swing I've seen in a long time.''

Nebraska (34-17) plays Jacksonville State (39-13) at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon to start Knoxville's four-team, double-elimination NCAA Regional at Lee Stadium. UT (38-16-1) plays James Madison (35-14) at 6.

The winners of the first-round games meet at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, the losers play at 4 p.m., and an elimination game closes Saturday's action at 6:30. The regional championship is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Lady Vols finished third in the SEC tournament they hosted last week, beating LSU 6-5 before falling to No. 1-ranked Florida 11-3.

Webb, who batted only .260 during the regular season, was 3-for-7 (.429) with two doubles and two RBIs against the Tigers and Gators.

"I think I'm just hungry to get back to the (Women's) College World Series,'' Webb said, explaining her elevated level of play. "I don't want my season to end, and I don't want it to end for our seniors. I think the whole team feels like that.''

Webb went to the WCWS as a freshman, starting as an extra-hitter and spelling former All-American India Chiles in the outfield.

Webb had only 14 RBIs on that SEC title team, but four of them came in the postseason, and she batted .263 after hitting .208 in the regular season.

The trend continued last year with Webb batting .478 in the postseason with seven extra-base hits in 23 at-bats. Webb hit two home runs in a 7-1 win over Virginia Tech in last year's NCAA Regional, and she hit another home run in the 4-2 loss to the Hokies that ended UT's season.

Webb hails from Hemut, Calif., but she made herself right at home in Tennessee upon making her first visit to a football game on Thanksgiving weekend of 2006.

"That football game was amazing, and it just felt like home here,'' Webb, 21, said. "I'd never even been to Tennessee and I felt that way.''

Webb has been playing softball since she was four years old, with her father, Cameron, coaching her travel team through ninth grade. Cameron Webb also coached baseball at Mount San Jacinto Junior College, where recent UT men's basketball signee Melvin Goins hails from.

But make no mistake about it, Hemut is a softball hotbed in Southern California. The city's richest resident, potato baron Larry Minor of "Agri-Empire'', supported youth softball like few others.

"He has this huge mansion with a softball field in front of it,'' said Webb, who played for the team Minor sponsored. "A lot of the girls who played travel ball in California come up to me and tell me they remember playing there.''

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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