Life is Orange and White

The Tennessee Lady Volunteers stand for the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in woman’s intercollegiate athletics. The lady Volunteers name is derived from the state’s nickname, the “volunteer state,” because of its history of many Tennessee citizens who volunteered to fight in the military. The 1902, UT football team was referred to as “Volunteers.” The name was also applied to the women’s teams when they formed in the 20th century. UT’s lady varsity teams are often referred to as “Lady Vols.”

The softball team has experienced recent success making multiple Women’s College World Series appearances. The WCWS is the final portion of the NCAA women’s softball tournament for college softball in the United States. The tournament format consists of two four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket then compete in a best-of-three title game series to determine the Division 1 WCWS National champion. The WCWS takes place at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Tennessee played for the 2007 National Championship at the 2007 Women’s College World Series, losing 2 games to 1 to Arizona. The best-of-three championship series as said before featured Arizona and Tennessee. The Wildcats advanced into the series defeating other teams while Tennessee advanced to the championship series by beating Texas A&M, Arizona, and finally Northwestern. Monica Abbott, 2007 NCAA player of the year, had a no-hitter on the first night of the WCWS and also did not allow a run before entering the championship series. Although, Arizona did win the deciding game, 5-0, and it was their school’s eighth national title in softball. That is a little about the Lady Vols softball facts and how great they did in the year of 2007.

In 2008, my high school softball team took a trip up to Knoxville, to watch the Lady Volunteers play against Alabama. We got there pretty early so that we could make sure and get enough tickets for every team member coming to the game. We watched the game and people were going crazy trying to meet a lot of well-known players and coaches there. I was going to take a picture with Phillip Fulmer, the long-time Tennessee Head football Coach, but all kinds of older women were acting like they were looking at Elvis Presley in the making so I just took a picture of him and he signed my t-shirt. I also got to watch his daughter Allison Fulmer, 1st baseman, play against Alabama. Although if I could have met Monica Abbott instead of watching her play, it would have been amazing! She is by far the best pitcher I have ever watched in person. It is hard to believe because she is six foot tall and pitches left-handed, it just has to be the weirdest combination for any athlete playing sports.