Why Tennessee softball smoked cigars on Lady Vols logo after beating Alabama
· Yahoo Sports
Two years ago, Tennessee softball had to watch Alabama smoke cigars on their Lady Vols logo in center field at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, celebrating their win in the NCAA super regional.
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Tennessee didn't forget that image when it faced the Tide a three-game series for the first time since the heartbreaking loss that ended its 2024 season one game short of the Women's College World Series.
Avenging that loss and the insult added to injury was on the Lady Vols' mind as they won two straight games over No. 3 Alabama to take the top-10 series in Knoxville.
After No. 8 Tennessee won 4-1 in Game 3 to take the series, players ran onto the field with cigars to take part in the longstanding tradition for the winners of the rivalry – and to reclaim their logo.
Gabby Leach and Camryn Sarvis made it to center field first and lounged on the grass smoking their cigars. Soon the rest of the team joined them, and even Tennessee coach Karen Weekly lit up a cigar on the sidelines.
"They smoked cigars on that field, they celebrated on our logo," Weekly said after the Game 3 win on April 27. "When somebody does that on your home field, you're not going to forget it."
The Lady Vols (40-8, 14-7 SEC) made an incredible recovery from a 12-0 loss in five innings to open the series against Alabama (44-6, 16-5). Tennessee won 2-0 in Game 2 and nearly shut the Tide out again in the rubber match behind outstanding pitching performances from Sage Mardjetko and Karlyn Pickens.
"It was awesome," said Pickens, who threw 11 strikeouts in Game 3. "Just a great tradition, being able to be a part of that and celebrate that with my team. Super way to end the night."
Pickens had no idea where the cigars were coming from, they just "came out of, literally, left field." She also didn't expect Weekly to join in on the fun.
"I was a little nervous about how she was gonna react about the whole thing, if I'm being honest," Pickens said. "But it was super fun just to see her out there enjoying it with us."
The players were even warming up for the postgame cigars during the game. After some of the RBIs, players pretended to smoke a cigar on base as their celebration. Sophomore infielder Emma Clarke, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI and one run scored, said the idea for the celebration started with jokes about the cigar smoking earlier in the week.
"It was super fun, and I'd never played Bama on the softball field, so that's my first time playing them," Clarke said. "I've gone to the football games where we had beat them in the past, and that was just super cool to be part of that culture, and then actually be able to be on a team that does it. It's just truly unmatched. And I had so much fun just looking around to everyone, just being present in the moment."
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: Tennessee softball smokes cigars on center field after beating Alabama