How Taelyn Holley fueled Tennessee softball to NCAA Tournament regional title

Taelyn Holley spent the last month of the season working her way out of a midseason slump, and the extra time paid off for Tennessee softball when it mattered most.

It was a grind for the freshman outfielder after only logging a single hit over an 11-game stretch in March and April. But Holley started to hit her stride again during the Kentucky series in mid-April, and she has been one of the Lady Vols' most consistent hitters ever since.

Something good happened every time Holley stepped to the play in No. 7 seed Tennessee's 5-1 win over Virginia at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in the NCAA regional final on May 17.

She led the Lady Vols with two runs scored, including a solo home run in the sixth inning. She went 1-for-2 with a walk, but even the at-bat she didn't get a hit on, Holley hit a line drive so hard the Virginia second baseman dropped it, allowing Ella Dodge to score.

"She just kept working every day, kept working, and it's really hard to do that when you don't get the immediate results," Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. "But she just kept her nose down, kept doing extra, kept trying to figure it out. What you saw today is really the product of probably the last month of working and just having the faith that eventually I'm going to get those results."

Tennessee (45-10) advanced to a fourth straight NCAA super regional and will host No. 10 seed Georgia (41-18) in a three-game series at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, with the winner advancing to the Women's College World Series. The two teams did not play each other during the regular season.

Dates and times have not been announced. The winner will advance to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Sophia Knight, Alannah Leach and Makenzie Butt all also had an RBI. Tennessee drew six walks and only struck out three times.

Holley set the tone from her first at-bat when she recovered from falling into an 0-2 count. She fought her way to a full count and eventually drew the walk, setting up a sacrifice fly by Knight to send Holley home, scoring the first run of the game.

"She's a professional hitter, and sometimes you just have to find your way back to who you are," Weekly said. "Everything doesn't go the way you want it to, and you can start to doubt and question yourself, and she had the faith and the confidence in herself. But her reset moments today were brilliant, absolutely brilliant."

Holley also fell into an 0-2 count before her solo home run in the sixth inning. Weekly remembers seeing a questionable call on the second strike, but Holley didn't let it force her to chase pitches outside the zone. After taking a ball on the next pitch, Holley blasted her fifth homer of the season.

Holley has hit .395 over last 16 games, which would rank second on the team in batting average. She has also scored seven runs with eight RBIs and six walks.

Holley said she relied on teammates and coaches while she worked out of the slump.

"That's what I was kind of looking for – whether it was a bad result or a good one, finding something good in the at-bat, whether it was a good swing or a good take," Holley said. "So just being able to trust that process, it gives you more confidence in each at-bat, and that's what happened today."

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Taelyn Holley went from slump to hero for Tennessee softball in NCAA regional