Softball Preview: #2 Tennessee Opens 2024 Season at UT-Arlington, #19 Baylor - University of Tennessee Athletics (2024)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The second-ranked Lady Vols are set to open their 2024 campaign in Texas as they face UT-Arlington on Thursday, Feb. 8, at Allan Saxe Field before battling No. 19 Baylor Feb. 9-11 at Getterman Stadium in Waco.

First pitch against the Mavericks is set for 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, while weekend game times versus the Bears are slated for 7:30, 3:00 and 1:30 p.m.

BROADCAST INFO
All four games will be available to stream on ESPN+ with James Trietley calling the action from Arlington. Lincoln Rose (play-by-play) and Kelly Levesque (analyst) are on the call for Tennessee's games at Baylor.

Fans can also listen to Hunter King call the action via a free audio stream on UTSports.com and the Tennessee Athletics Gameday App.

Streaming, live stats and radio links can be found by visiting the Tennessee softball schedule page at UTSports.com.

NOTABLE
PRESEASON RANKINGS
Coming off a historic 51-10 season, Tennessee Softball was tabbed No. 2 in the 2024 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Preseason Poll, the highest NFCA preseason ranking since the program was listed No. 1 in 2014.

The Lady Vols were also picked to win the conference, earning the No. 1 ranking in the SEC Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll with 137 points - including six first-place votes.

PRESEASON HONORS
Tennessee student-athletes have garnered a long list of preseason accolades, highlighted by graduate Kiki Milloy with five separate honors. A full listing can be seen below.

MCKENNA GIBSON • INF • JR
Softball America Preseason First Team All-American
Preseason All-SEC
Softball America Top 100 - No. 26

PAYTON GOTTSHALL • RHP • GR
Preseason All-SEC
D1Softball Preseason Top 100 - No. 74

KIKI MILLOY • OF • GR
Softball America Preseason First Team All-American
D1Softball Preseason First Team All-American
Preseason All-SEC
D1Softball Preseason Top 100 - No. 6
Softball America Top 100 - No. 5

KARLYN PICKENS • P • SO
Preseason All-SEC
D1Softball Preseason Top 100 - No. 39
Softball America Top 100 - No. 66

ZAIDA PUNI • INF • SR
Preseason All-SEC
Softball America Top 100 - No. 30

LOOKING FOR MORE
The Lady Vols are looking to build on last season's success with 16 players from the 2023 squad returning, including NFCA All-Americans Milloy and Gibson as well as All-SEC honorees Pickens and Puni – all four of whom were named to the 2024 Preseason All-SEC Team alongside Gottshall.

LEADING THE PACK
In terms of output, Tennessee softball was the 2023 SEC stat leader in seven different categories including scoring (6.87), ERA (1.175), OBP (0.419), shutouts (23), doubles (84), Win-Loss percentage (0.836) and walks (265) – six of which ranked within the Top 10 nationally.

QUEENS OF THE CONFERENCE
The Lady Vols ruled the SEC in 2023, capturing both SEC regular season and SEC Tournament titles for the second (2007) and third (2006, '11) time in team history.

Five Lady Vols were named to the All-SEC first and second teams for the 2023 season. McKenna Gibson, Kiki Milloy, Zaida Puni, and LVFL Ashley Rogers were named to the first team, while Karlyn Pickens secured second-team honors as well as SEC Freshman of the Year.

With five honorees in the 2024 Preseason All-SEC Team, Tennessee has more representatives than any other school.

SCOUTING UT-ARLINGTON

Head Coach (Record at UT-Arlington): Kara Dill (22-30)

2023 Record: 22-30 (11-13 WAC)

Series Record: Tennessee leads 2-0

Last Meeting: W, 6-1, on 2/13/09 in Orlando

Key Stat: Coming off the 2023 season with a 22-30 record and a tough loss to Sam Houston in the WAC Tournament, UTA was tabbed No. 6 in the 2024 conference preseason poll after finishing the previous year with a .458 league winning percentage. The Mavericks look to move up in the rankings with the help of 2023 All-WAC Second Team honoree, Marley Neises, who finished last season leading the team in batting average (.382), slugging percentage (.588) and on-base percentage (.436).

SCOUTING BAYLOR

Head Coach (Record at Baylor): Glenn Moore (878-443)

2023 Record: 40-18 (8-10 Big 12)

Series Record: Baylor leads 6-4

Last Meeting: L, 8-5, on 4/7/23 in Knoxville

Key Stat: Highlighted by junior infielder Shaylon Govan, the nineteenth-ranked Bears are coming off a 40-18 season that ended with a loss to Ole Miss in Regionals. Govan, the Preseason All-Big 12 honoree, allotted the most walks in the Big 12, while posting a .513 on-base percentage. She led the team in hitting (.369) last season, set single-season records in walks (47) and sacrifice flies (7) and became the first bear to reach double-digital home runs (11) since 2019.

UP NEXT
Tennessee plays at Kennesaw State on Valentine's Day before flying south to Clearwater, Florida, for the 2024 Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational set for Feb. 16-18.