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Tennessee Softball advances to Women's College World Series for ninth time

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey05/25/25GrantRamey
Tennessee Softball | Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Softball | Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee Softball is headed back to the Women’s College World Series for the ninth time in program history after beating Nebraska 1-0 in Sunday’s afternoon Game 3 of the Knoxville Super Regional at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium. 

Nebraska won 5-2 in Game 1 Friday, but the Lady Vols answered with a 3-2 win Saturday to force Sunday’s decisive Game 3. 

Ella Dodge’s solo home run in the bottom of the first inning on Sunday was the difference, with Karlyn Pickens giving up just two hits over seven innings. On Saturday Pickens gave up two runs on five hits in seven innings, after giving up five runs on four hits in 3.2 innings in Game 1 on Friday. 

Up Next: No. 7 Tennessee vs. No. 2 Oklahoma

Tennessee (45-15) is the No. 7 seed and will face No. 2-seed Oklahoma (50-7) on Thursday, scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN at Devon Park in Oklahoma City. 

The other six teams in the College World Series Field No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Texas, No. 9 UCLA, No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 16 Oregon and Ole Miss.

Texas faces Florida Thursday at Noon ET on ESPN, Ole Miss plays Texas Tech at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and and Oregon faces UCLA at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

The losers from the Tennessee-Oklahoma and Texas-Florida games will play Friday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 while the winners will matchup at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Tennessee took two of three from Oklahoma during the regular season, winning 5-2 in eight innings in Norman on March 28 and 5-3 on March 30. Oklahoma won 4-1 in Game 2 of the weekend series. 

The Lady Vols were one-and-done in the SEC Tournament, losing 6-1 to Arkansas, then bounced back by sweeping the Knoxville Regional, beating Miami (Ohio) 17-0, then sweeping Ohio State 4-2 and 5-0 in the double-elimination format. 

The Oklahoma softball program has won eight national championships, including four straight and seven since 2016. The Sooners have made nine straight trips to the Women’s College World Series. 

Tennessee’s history in the Women’s College World Series

Tennessee in its nine trips to the WCWS has finished runner-up twice, in 2007 and 2013. 

The Lady Vols last season lost in three games to Alabama in the Knoxville Super Regional. 

Tennessee beat Alabama 10-5 to start the Women’s College World Series in 2023, then lost 9-0 to Oklahoma. The Lady Vols beat Oklahoma State, but were then eliminated in a 5-1 loss to Florida State.

Oklahoma beat the Lady Vols twice in the 2013 championship series to win the title and Arizona won in three games for the 2007 national title.

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