CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — The No. 17 Tennessee softball team is set to wrap up the month of February on the West Coast this week, playing six games in three days at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. The tournament runs Thursday through Sunday at the Big League Dreams complex in Cathedral City, California, with 27 teams playing 67 games over the course of the weekend.
The Lady Vols will play six games total with two apiece on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tennessee opens the event with a doubleheader Thursday, taking on BYU at 4 p.m. ET before facing UC Davis at approximately 6:30 p.m. Friday’s action pits UT against UC San Diego (1 p.m.) and Oregon State (6:30 p.m.), and a lofty twin bill awaits the Big Orange on Saturday. The Lady Vols wrap up the weekend facing back-to-back top-10 teams, going up against No. 1 Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m. before battling No. 6 UCLA at 6 p.m.
FOLLOW LIVE: The 2022 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic will be carried entirely online by FloSoftball. Subscribers can visit this link to access streams for each contest. A free audio broadcast for each Tennessee game will be available at UTSports.com, with voice of the Lady Vol softball team Brian Rice on the call to describe the action. Links to each broadcast are available on the Tennessee softball schedule page.
LAST TIME OUT: Tennessee closed out the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational with a ranked win over No. 24 UCF last Saturday. With the game tied 2-2 through five, the Lady Vols scored four runs over the final two frames to ice the victory.
MASHING IT: With six home runs last week in Clearwater, the Lady Vols have combined for 12 homers in the first nine games of the season. UT’s 1.33 home runs per game rank fifth in the SEC and are tied for 25th in the country through the first two weeks of the 2022 season.
STEADY EDDY: Graduate pitcher Erin Edmoundson stood out in the circle for the Big Orange last week, making three appearances with 17.0 innings pitched and 17 strikeouts. The lefty notably tossed 8.2 frames as Tennessee went to extra innings against No. 12 Clemson, tallying a season-high 11 Ks.
LADY VOLS IN THE POLLS: Tennessee checks in at No. 17 in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball collegiate top 25 national rankings. Additionally, Softball America tabbed the Lady Vols No. 19 while D1Softball slotted UT 20th in its national top 25.
NOTING THE OPPOSITION: The Lady Vols will face four teams from the West Coast in addition to the top-ranked Sooners and the BYU Cougars. Four of the six opponents set to face Tennessee this weekend last played the Lady Vols at the Mary Nutter Classic in a previous season.
BYU (8-1)
- Head Coach: Gordon Eakin (Record at BYU: 731-346)
- Ranking: No. 24 (D1Softball)
- Series Record: UT leads, 9-1
- Last Meeting: The Lady Vols defeated the Cougars 5-1 in Knoxville on March 16, 2019. Ashley Rogers threw a complete game with 11 strikeouts.
UC Davis (5-2)
- Head Coach: Erin Thrope (Record at UCD: 174-150-1)
- Series Record: UT leads, 5-0
- Last Meeting: A 7-0 victory for the Lady Vols at the 2018 Mary Nutter Classic. Ashley Morgan and Amanda Ayala both notched RBI hits in the victory as freshmen.
UC San Diego (5-5)
- Head Coach: Patti Gerckens (Record at UCSD: 800-635)
- Series Record: First meeting
Oregon State (7-3)
- Head Coach: Laura Berg (Record at ORST: 236-213-1)
- Series Record: UT leads, 7-4
- Last Meeting: The Lady Vols defeated the Beavers 9-3 at the 2018 Mary Nutter Classic. Ashley Morgan had an RBI single up the middle for the Big Orange.
Oklahoma (10-0)
- Head Coach: Patty Gasso (Record at OU: 1346-341-2)
- Ranking (USASB/NFCA): No. 1/1
- Series Record: Tied at 5-5
- Last Meeting: A 2-1 win for the Big Orange at the 2017 Mary Nutter Classic. Chelsea Seggern provided the scoring with a two-RBI single in the second inning.
UCLA (7-3)
- Head Coach: Kelly Inouye-Perez (Record at UCLA: 679-183-1)
- Ranking (USASB/NFCA): No. 6/6
- Series Record: UCLA leads, 7-4
- Last Meeting: The 16th-ranked Bruins took down No. 4 Tennessee 2-0 at the 2017 Mary Nutter Classic. UCLA took a 2-0 lead in the first and did not surrender a run for the rest of the game.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will return to Knoxville for their home opener on Wednesday, March 2, against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. from Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
-UT Athletics
