The Tennessee Lady Vols (46-10 overall, 16-8 SEC) are among the barrage of SEC teams who got the chance to go to Oklahoma City this season (and they’re also one of the most interesting). Tennessee has a pretty capable lineup, but this is a team built for pitchers’ duels.
How will that strength play out for Tennessee in the Women’s College World Series?
The Tennessee Lady Vols took care of business against Georgia to advance to the Women’s College World Series
After a really strong performance throughout the regular season, Tennessee was able to host a regional in Knoxville and didn’t struggle at all through that. The Lady Vols managed to beat Northern Kentucky and then took care of business against Virginia twice.
After that, in the Super Regional round, Tennessee got the honor of hosting Georgia and beat the Bulldogs 3-1 in Game 1 and then 2-1 in Game 2. Neither of those games were blowouts, but they definitely played out the way Tennessee wanted. The Lady Vols were able to lean on their dominant pitching and got to Oklahoma City.
Tennessee’s bats aren’t the best, but they’re not the worst in the WCWS field
Tennessee’s lineup isn’t the worst out there, but it’s not the best. This Women’s College World Series is loaded with talented, high scoring lineups. And Tennessee does a fine job in that regard. They’ve got a .288 batting average and have managed to hit 73 home runs on the season.
Sophia Knight leads the way with her .410 batting average and 66 hits, but she’s only got a couple of home runs on the season. That’s where Alannah Leach and Emma Clarke lead Tennessee with 13 apiece.
All that said, things are functional here with Tennessee’s lineup. It’s not ideal, but it’s still good enough to go out and get some wins, especially when you consider just how good the Lady Vols are in the circle. Because that pitching depth is something that just about everyone in the country wants to have.
Tennessee has an absurd amount of talent stockpiled at pitcher
If you thought Texas Tech was in a good position because of the amount of talent that the Red Raiders have with their pitchers, then you really need to take a look at the sheer amount of depth that the Lady Vols have in the circle this season.
Tennessee has three legitimately great talents at pitcher this year. Erin Nuwer has the best ERA on the team at 0.99 and she’s struck out 89 batters in 92 innings pitched. Then there’s Sage Mardjetko and her 1.12 ERA. She’s managed to strike out 165 batters in 119 innings pitched. Rounding out the bunch is Karlyn Pickens and her 1.53 ERA. Pickens has struck out 180 batters in 132.1 innings pitched.
Folks, Tennessee is pretty much set when it comes to pitching. I doubt the Lady Vols fear any sort of lineup. That’s a team that’s built to avoid losing two games in a three-game series.
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