It may not be as ballyhooed as the football rivalry, but when Tennessee and Alabama clash in softball, it's just as intense and currently much more competitive.

The two rivals will meet for a three-game series when the Crimson Tide roll in to Knoxville Friday. The series will serve as the SEC opener for Tennessee, while Alabama suffered their first loss of the season in their first conference test Wednesday against Florida.

Tennessee is currently ranked eighth in the USA Today poll and tenth in the ESPN poll, while Alabama is ranked first by USA Today and second by ESPN.

The Lady Vols have been led by the play of senior third baseman and outfielder Raven Chavanne and the pitching Renfroe sisters, Ivy and Ellen.

Chavanne has hit an impressive .471 on the season to go along with 17 stolen bases. She also exerts her dominance defensively, as she is yet to make an error in the field this season.

The Renfroe sisters have been stellar in the circle this year, combining for a 13-2 record, 115 strikeouts and have held opponents to a meager .157 batting average.

But the Crimson Tide have plenty of firepower to counter the potent Lady Vols.

Alabama's Haylie McCleney is hitting an astounding .549 so far on the year, and slugger Kaila Hunt has went yard 7 times and racked up 29 RBI. The Tide also have a dangerous double threat in Jackie Traina.

Traina is second on the team in batting average, home runs, and RBI while also compiling a 10-1 record in the circle with a 1.27 ERA and 99 strikeouts.

But Traina is coming off her worst game of the season against Florida, in which she gave up seven earned runs in six and one-third innings and went hitless at the plate.

Both teams stack up pretty evenly. They both have the ability to tear the cover of the ball, and each's pitching staff is incredibly difficult to hit against.

The keys to victory for the Lady Vols will be to score first and limit their errors. Tennessee is 18-1 when scoring first and 10-0 when they have not committed an error. As evenly matched as both teams are, those stats become even more important than usual.

If the Lady Vols can get up early and not give away any cheap runs, they will be in good position to take at least two out of the three games this weekend and start the SEC season off with great momentum.