UT softball players reach Summitt

Basketball coach cheers team through World Series win

OKLAHOMA CITY - University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt kept her promise, and the Lady Vols softball team delivered a World Series win.

"Throughout the recruiting process, since (co-head coaches) Ralph and Karen Weekly took over the program, I've met with almost all, if not all, the recruits,'' Summitt said. "I made this team a promise that if they got here, I'd be here.''

Summitt flew in from the Southeastern Conference spring meetings in Destin, Fla., on Thursday along with UT women's athletic director Joan Cronan and her husband, Tom, and Lady Vols assistant basketball coach Holly Warlick.

Karen Weekly said Summitt's presence made a difference Thursday - a 1-0 win over Arizona - but perhaps not as much as the talk Summitt delivered to the softball team after Georgia had taken two of three games from UT in April.

"She told our girls how important it was to stick together,'' Weekly said. "Her thing was, you've got to have better huddles and get close.

"You see how our girls interlock arms during the national anthem? That started after their talk with Pat.''

Summitt, who flew back to Destin on Thursday night, said she enjoyed watching the softball program score the breakthrough victory.

"Once you get to this level, you leave that door open forever,'' Summitt said. "You know what's out there and what it takes to go through that door. When we started going to Final Fours, it changed the whole scope of our program, and I think that will happen for the softball program as well.''

Summitt said she was impressed particularly with pitcher Monica Abbott, who recorded a shutout in Thursday's 1-0 victory over Arizona in the opening game of the World Series. Abbott leads the nation with 578 strikeouts and 48 wins.

"She's their (Chamique) Holdsclaw,'' Summitt said, referring to the former UT basketball All-American who led the Lady Vols to three consecutive national championships. "When you have a player who can just dominate she's taken this program to a whole other level. That's what Chamique did for our program.''

UT football coach Phillip Fulmer, who attended the Lady Vols regional championship, phoned Ralph Weekly to congratulate him after the game. Fulmer's daughter, Allison, will attend UT and play for the Lady Vols next season.