The stage is set for a Hollywood ending to the Tennessee Lady Vols' regular season.
The plot: Local girl must save the day by beating the dreaded rivals in front of the hometown crowd.
Former Halls High School standout Stephanie Humphrey takes to the pitching mound in the starring role as UT takes on Florida in a softball doubleheader at Tyson Park beginning at 5 p.m. today.
The Lady Vols (33-22-1, 8-14 SEC) must win two of three games against the Gators (29-30, 9-15) to keep their hopes of qualifying for the SEC tournament alive.
Humphrey, whose 299 strikeouts more than double the previous single-season school record, will start one of the two games today and start again in Friday's 1 p.m. finale.
"You either embrace the challenge or run for it," said Karen Weekly, who splits the Lady Vols' head coaching duties with her husband, Ralph. "This is it, the season. You can't deny it."
There's no denying Humphrey has carried the team. The only healthy UT pitcher on scholarship, Humphrey has hurled an SEC-high 2232/3 innings, making a school-record 46 appearances over the course of UT's 56 games.
"I'm not physically worn down, but I think sometimes the mental aspect of pitching so many innings has worked against me," said Humphrey, who is 22-16 with five saves this season. "Still, I've got a lot of confidence coming into this series."
No doubt, she is as good as they come when she's on, according to senior catcher Adrianna Wilson.
"When Stephanie is on top of her game, it's real hard for teams to beat her," Wilson said. "She just needs to do what she can do.
"Everything that's happened to this point in the season doesn't matter; we've just got to get the job done now that it counts."
Humphrey, a microbiology major who carries a 3.6 grade-point-average, can't wait to dissect the Gators.
"I remember what happened when I played against them my freshman year; I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny then," Humphrey said. "There was a huge crowd, and their fans were getting on us pretty bad. I'd been pitching awesome, and it was 2-2 in the eighth inning, and I threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk and the winning run scored.
"Ever since then, I've kind of felt like I owed them one."
Wilson, who caught that game, hasn't forgotten, either.
"Stephanie threw the first two pitches right to me, but the third one was over my head," Wilson said. "Florida's crowd was rough, but it's always the roughest of all the crowds. It makes me want to beat them even more.
"I know Stephanie will have the focus and determination to give us her best against them."
Humphrey merely sighed when asked about the mounting pressure.
"The game always comes down to the (pitching) circle," said Humphrey, who has pitched since she was 10 years old. "A team can only go as far as the pitcher takes them."
