April 4, 2011

By Brian Davis, Assistant Media Relations Director

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Being honored by the Southeastern Conference has become a trend for Tennessee pitcher Ellen Renfroe as the 6-0 right hander made it three straight weeks with a league honor by being chosen as the SEC Softball Freshman of the Week for April 4 according to a Monday release from the SEC office.

Later on Monday afternoon, the UT media relations office chose Renfroe as the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week from a standout group that included junior golfer Nathalie Mansson, track & field's Ellen Wortham and tennis' Kata Szekely.

The Jackson, Tenn., native was previously tabbed as the SEC Freshman of the Week on March 21 and also picked up SEC Pitcher of the Week accolades on March 28. UT now boasts five league softball honorees over the first eight weeks of the 2011 campaign with Renfroe's trio of awards and SEC Player of the Week selections for sophomore outfielders Raven Chavanne and Kat Dotson on Feb. 14 and March 7, respectively.

Renfroe continued her roll from the circle this past weekend, going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 26 strikeouts in just 16 innings of work over two appearances while limiting a dangerous #22/21 Auburn line-up to a meager .190 batting average. Included in her efforts was an impressive 20-strikeout performance on Fri., April 1, while tossing all 10 innings as #11 Tennessee out-lasted the Tigers in the series opener, 2-1 (10 inn.). By recording 20 K's, Renfroe joined four-time Lady Vol All-American Monica Abbott as the only UT pitchers to reach that staggering mark during a single contest. Abbott set the school record by striking out 22 over 10 innings of work at Florida on March 10, 2007, and also K'ed 20 versus Liberty on March 26, 2004. Renfroe followed up her 20-K effort by tossing a complete-game, two-hit shutout in Sunday's finale as Tennessee nabbed an important series win with a commanding 8-0 (6 inn.) victory over Auburn.

Over her last eight appearances in the circle for the Big Orange, Renfroe is 5-0 with a miniscule 0.47 ERA and 62 K's over 45 innings while limiting opponents to a .164 average. In her last four SEC starts she is 4-0 with a 0.58 ERA, including victories over #1 Alabama, South Carolina and #22/21 Auburn (two wins). For the season she guides the way for the Lady Vols at 17-2 overall with a 1.22 ERA and 166 strikeouts in 114.2 innings of work.

Tennessee returns to action on the road at #2 Georgia in Athens, Ga., on April 6, facing a huge SEC Eastern Division doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. ET. Both contests are slated for live television broadcast on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS). Check both http://twitter.com/LadyVol_Sftball and http://twitter.com/LadyVol_Sports for the most up-to-date information on Tennessee softball.