KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee softball superstar outfielder Kiki Milloy is preparing for her final regular season series this weekend when the Lady Vols host Kentucky at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, but the program home runs and runs leader is not feeling too sentimental just yet.
"I know this is not our last time playing here," Milloy said. "It's sad that it's Senior Weekend, but it's really just the last weekend of SEC. We still have a lot more season to play."
The 2023 First Team All-American and First-Team All-SEC selection looked back on a storied five-year career in which she has amassed a program-best 66 home runs and 256 runs and also set the single-season record at Tennessee with 25 home runs in 2023. It's a level of accomplishment that Milloy was not prepared for before she began her college career.
"I definitely didn't expect to have this much success," Milloy said. "I wouldn't have wanted to do it anywhere else."
Milloy credited her coaches and team as being instrumental in helping her flourish, and she pointed out this senior group as being particularly special.
"These are some of the best girls I've ever spent time with in my entire life," Milloy said.
Tennessee Softball head coach Karen Weekly pointed out that Milloy and her teammates who are getting ready to finish their careers have meant a lot to her as she made the transition from coaching with her husband, Ralph Weekly, to taking on the role solo.
"Ralph was here when Kiki and Rylie [West] played their first year, and then that's when I took over, was their sophomore year," Weekly said. "They've kind of helped raise me up as a head coach as much as I've helped them."
Weekly said the thing that she will always remember about Milloy is her competitiveness.
"Just her 'refuse to lose' mindset," Weekly said. "You look at last year, everybody is a part of it, but [Milloy] and Ashley Rogers willed that team. They were not going to accept anything other than championships and being in Oklahoma City competing for the big one. That's the biggest thing about her. She is just so darn competitive and it is so much fun to watch her play."
