Preseason #1 ranking has nothing to do with the incoming Freshman and the JUCO tranfer ... who havent played an inning of D1 ball... more on the quality of team returning off of last year's finish... Oklahoma was the best team in the country last year... run ruled 6 of 8 teams in last year's NCAA playoff before playing the Lady Vols in the Championship series.... and how many innings did it take them to score?
Lady Vols have the best pitcher in the country with Ellen Renfroe on the mound and with her pitching... she will keep the team in every ball game. The key will be the success of the other pitchers to be able to pitch reliably for enough innings/games so that Ellen will not have to pitch... every pitch of every game.
This will be become increasingly important when the team reaches the post season... Regionals, Supers & the WCWS. The more rested and healthy Ellen feels entering the post season, the better are the Lady Vols chances at making another run at the WCWS and make the finals.
Yes the team lost Raven, Lauren, Dotson, Brown, Ivy & Hammond. Raven and Lauren will be hard to replace and Ivy's leadership and experience on the mound will be sorely missed.... but in addition to the Ellen and Madison.... look for a HUGE year from Davin now that she is finally physically healthy ... and I expect big things from Tarango, Gaffin, Overstreet, Akamine.... Look for big contributions from freshmans Geer, Koenig, Aldrete.... and others will make valuable contributions!
Go Lady Vols!
