The ifs, buts and maybes were nowhere to be found at Lee Stadium on Monday.
It was a day of serious business for Tennessee softball co-head coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly, who conducted season-ending player interviews.
"The ending to the season was unacceptable,'' Karen Weekly said. "The inconsistency, particularly; we're going to get a whole lot tougher.''
The Lady Vols' (40-18-1) season came to an end in Sunday's NCAA tournament regional round of 32 at the hands of the No. 34 RPI-rated team in the nation, Jacksonville State (43-14).
"They've received their summer conditioning program and we've set specific goals they've bought into,'' UT co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. "They know they have to get bigger, stronger and faster, and most all of them will be playing 23-under women's ball or at the elite club level this summer.''
UT started four freshmen and two sophomores this season, including two national prep players of the year in pitcher Cat Hosfield and Jessica Spigner.
Hosfield and Spigner are rising stars, but both appeared to hit the proverbial wall in April. Without the duo at its best, the Lady Vols weren't the team that shot out to a 19-1 start.
Hosfield, playing her first full season since her sophomore year at Murfreesboro's Riverdale High School, won only three of her final 11 starts.
"Cat needs to hit her spots, that's all there is to that,'' Ralph Weekly said. "We have a specific summer program arranged for her.''
Hosfield suffered injuries to each ankle her junior and senior year of high school, limiting her experience, but she still managed to win 29 games this season.
Spigner set a UT freshman record with 14 home runs, but she failed to hit one out over the Lady Vols' final 21 games, a streak dating back to April 5.
"Jessica is a winner, and there was a lot of pressure on her,'' said Weekly, who had Spigner battling clean-up most all of the season and added pitching duties to her responsibilities the final four weeks. "She is going to pitch gold (travel) ball this summer.''
More help is on the way; the Lady Vols will add 10 new players. Among the potential impact players:
n Melissa Brown (Valencia, Calif.), an all-state slap-hitting middle infielder;
n Raven Chavanne (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), a slap-hitting outfielder who set the 100-meter high school record (12.25) in Los Angeles County;
n Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md.), a power-hitting lefty who won Maryland's Gatorade Player of the Year honors; and
n Ivy Renfroe (Humboldt, Tenn.) who will try to pitch Trinity Christian to its third state title over the past four years at Spring Fling this week.
UT returns eight of nine starters, including national player of the year candidate Tiffany Huff and all-region selection Kelly Grieve, but the Weeklys made it clear there will be competition for all positions.
No ifs, ands or buts about it.
Vanderbilt 93, Tennessee 79, Feb. 9…
Signing day celebration at Neyland…
Notre Dame beats Tennessee 72-44…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 12
teampenny#658108 writes:
They will be better next year. Go Vols
BigOrangeVol writes:
It's up to you Ralph and Karen! Jacksonville State Normal School???!!! That was freakin' humiliating! We got trounced by a little school that is a THIRD our size. An OVC school that is best know because they had a girl kick a Field Goal in a football game. How many people outside of Gadsden even know JSU is in Alabama? They're even smaller than Vandy! Totally unacceptable Coaches.
HallowedHill writes:
Baseball is the American game for this very reason - the little guy has just as good a shot at winning. It all comes down to the pitcher and batter - it doesn't matter how big the school may be.
gainesville_vol writes:
One, size of the school means nothing. UF is twice as large as UT, thus we should never beat them?
Two, I know that Jacksonville State is Alabama and I live in Gainesville, FL.
Three, if there is any sport that depends upon ONE player, it is fast pitch softball. If you have a dominating pitcher, you win. If you don't, you win a lot of games, but you don't win championships.
Finally, in an earlier article, Coach Ralph mentioned that UT beat UF with Neslon pitching 10-0 her freshman year; her senior year she is unhittable. We got spoiled with Monica, she came in as a dominating pitcher. If UT had a little better offense, we could have won two NCAA's with her. As usual, top athletes don't really want to sit on the bench for a couple of years, but that is really what you need to have happen at pitcher in softball and QB in football. UT will be better over the next three years as a result of this year. I don't think UF will be as good with Nelson gone.
bigrodsts#479720 writes:
Coaches i may have some help on the way.. I have a 12u ballplayer hitting balls out of the park in travelball. She,s hit three out of parks that have 9foot tall feinces all the way around the field... She loves The Ladyvols softball team. She wants to play for you,ll later in life. Please contact me at bigrodsts@yahoo.com Would love to co me to a summercamp for You,ll to see her. 7th grader. Her utube site is babybustos 17 check it out
rockytopron writes:
Sounds good for next year. My only question is when will the weekly's start looking in the mirror for improvement?
They are good coaches and they recruit well, but since Mondica graduated they have seemed lost at times and unwilling to make adjustments. You can't yell "we need to get tougher" and expect that to make a big difference just because you say it. Coaches have to change their style of coaching too. I don't see that happening. Once again we are passed by our rivals Florida, Georgia and Alabama in a sport that we were dominating just a couple of years ago.
And it looks like instead of Tennessee being the first SEC team to win a softball national title it looks like it will be UF or UA.
Monica was a once in a lifetime player, she should have 3 national titles and a Gold medal, but coaching has let her down too often. As great as she is, she was not a batter and couldn't knock in runs. The offense continued to let her down in the big games and that my friends is coaching.
MillisaAnn writes:
I totally agree they need to talk to Pat Summitt and let her talk to the team too.
vol4gzus writes:
Well since ewe are talking I guess we could say Kentucky should be included as well.
Lady Vols will bounce back in softball. Notice recruiting class each year after Monica has at least one pitcher. They are still looking for that gem. Although earlier poster referenced what Florida's Nelson looked like her Freshman year. So maybe Hosfield will come around. Time will tell ladies and gents.
littleorange writes:
Speaking of all mouth!!!!
softballgirlntn writes:
Well said rockytopron! The coaches have coached us out of several games: getting players thrown out at home, bunting to advance to second, but get 2nd out, and pulling pitchers when they might not "hit their spots" but they were striking out batters. It amazes me that we recruit gold level pitchers who are "all-this/all-that" for their state; and, within their first year they start "struggling hitting their spots" (even Monnie reportedly did this). At some point, as a coach you need to know when to get out of your players way and let them play, especially at this level-it isn't time to re-coach/re-teach.
On offense,what is surprising is that Ralph is an Olympic hitting coach, but he shows such little confidence in his hitters and there are so many mechanical mistakes. He will have our long ball hitters bunt rather than hit away early on in contests, or that several of the girls pull their shoulder out of their swing or even don't look at the ball as they swing consistently. Also, as a coach, it is your responsibility to take your players abilities and use them to win, not to try to change them because they don't suit your game plan. Gotta be willing to say that as a coach you are fallible and take some blame. All the Lady Vols' troubles didn't lie with the players this year or in the years past-been in the seats for almost every game and been to see all the World series trips, I think I can comment.
bigrodsts#479720 writes:
She,s hit another one out at Fly Park in franklin tn,this passed weekend coaches.. babybustos 17 on utube
PureOrange writes:
This team has real attitude problems. There needs to be a cleaning out of those who do not adjust their attitudes, and those who do not want to buy into winning and playing as a team need to move on.
Tennessee fans deserve better than we got this year. It was a very disappointing season. The coaches need to take control. It looked as if the players did not care what the coaches had to say.
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