Tide takes on rival Tennessee in SEC opener

TUSCALOOSA | What started as a pretty good Southeastern Conference softball rivalry has rapidly grown into one of the sport’s marquee national events.

Last year Alabama was ranked No. 1 nationally when it visited Knoxville to play second-ranked Tennessee.

The year before a sweep of the Lady Vols propelled Alabama to an SEC title and a trip to the Women’s College World Series. Three years ago both teams made it to the national championship event in Oklahoma City, Okla., and played in the WCWS.

This weekend the second-ranked Crimson Tide (18-1) will host No. 4 Tennessee (20-1) in a series that will open SEC play for both teams.

“Usually you don’t open the conference season playing No. 2 vs. No. 4, but it just worked out this way,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “I think it just takes on even a bigger atmosphere with this game and the opponent, knowing that they are the defending SEC champions, and we won it the year before.

“This is the series to watch, I’d say, in the entire country.”

Tennessee’s Ralph Weekly, co-head coach of the Lady Vols with his wife, Karen, agreed.

“It’s kind of taken on a mind of its own,” he said. “I think it has evolved. It’s two great storied universities, both with really good softball programs and a great fan base.

“It’s exciting for us and our whole team to come to Alabama. It’s what college softball is all about.”

Rayburn Hesse, publisher of Spy Softball Magazine and the spysoftball.com Web site, will be tracking the series with keen interest.

“In recent years the most competitive rivalries [in the SEC] have been Alabama versus Tennessee and Alabama versus LSU, the outcomes of these games always affecting the national standings and setting the stage for conference clashes which will help determine who advances to the World Series,” Hesse said. “Alabama versus Tennessee this year features two teams, either of which could be eventual national champion.”

To the players, national implications aren’t the chief consideration.

“We don’t really like the color orange around here,” Tide catcher Ashley Holcombe said, “but it’s always going to be a great series with them. It always makes you better.

“It’s definitely a rivalry. It’s always a series we look forward to, and I think everybody around the nation looks to it, but especially in the SEC.”

Last year, the matchup came at the end of the SEC season in Knoxville, Tenn. With one game in the three-game set rained out, Alabama could have claimed a share of the conference championship with a single victory, but Tennessee won twice to take the league title outright.

“Anyone who’s ever taken a game from us is a rival in my eyes,” outfielder Katie Johnson said. “Anybody we play against is a rival.”

Beginning this season’s league schedule where last season’s left off is incentive for Alabama.

“Starting off SEC [play] with Tennessee, it kind of gets us psyched up,” UA third baseman Kelley Montalvo said. “No matter what, it’s always going to be like that. This is going to be ‘the’ game.

“It’s crazy that it’s the opener, but we want it that much more that they’re the first one. We don’t have to wait until later in the season to get to it. It is a big deal. I know the fans can’t wait.”

Home-crowd support has played a role in the series in recent years. The road team hasn’t come out on top since 2003, when Alabama took two out of three. Only once since then has the road team avoided a sweep, with Alabama taking one game at Tennessee in 2005.

“I don’t think we’ve ever won down there in a regular-season game since I’ve been here,” Weekly said. “I know we’ve had some leads going into late innings, and they’ve mysteriously disappeared.”

“There couldn’t be a tougher opener. That’s all there is to it. Alabama on the road, the No. 1 team last week and a team we consider the No. 1 team, if anybody had their pick in this league they wouldn’t want to open at Alabama.”

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.