Tennessee softball's Kiki Milloy takes advantage of late invite to U.S. softball roster

After winning a gold medal at the Canada Cup in June, Kiki Milloy is heading to Japan with the U.S. national team.

The Tennessee softball senior didn’t originally make the roster during the trials in January. But after Milloy’s All-American season at UT, she got a text from U.S. coach Heather Tarr asking if she wanted to join the team for the Canada Cup.

After accepting, Milloy started and was the leadoff hitter for almost every game.

“I expected to really not play that much at all,” Milloy said. “So when I saw that I was leading off, especially in the first game, I was kind of shocked. And I know my family was shocked, too, because I think they expected the same thing. But when your name is called, you just kind of got to go out there and make the best of it. And luckily, that's what I did.”

In the team’s nine-game run to a gold medal, Milloy hit .385 with seven RBIs, two home runs and five stolen bases. While there, Milloy also was invited to join the team for the Japan All-Star Series, Aug. 6-9 in Fukushima and Yokohama, Japan.

The U.S. only lost two games, both by one run to Triple Crown Colorado, which included Tennessee pitcher Ashley Rogers and graduate assistant Aubrey Leach. But in the gold medal game, the two teams faced off for a third time and Milloy and the U.S. got revenge with a 5-1 win.

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“We won at the right time," Milloy said. "So it was just great that we all could kind of come together at the end of the week and just realize that this was a big game, they were really big competition, and that we kind of needed to step it up.”

The tournament was hosted in Surrey, British Columbia, a two-hour drive from Milloy’s family in Woodinville, Washington. Milloy’s family and friends rented an Airbnb for the whole week.

Milloy’s mother, Claudine, said it was exciting, and that the family didn’t even realize at first that she was in the starting lineup.

“We get into that first game, and they call her name, and I think we were all kind of still getting situated in the stands, and we weren't really paying attention that that was the lineup,” Claudine said. “So we were talking to each other, ‘Is that the nonstarters? What's going on?’ And I think it was about the fourth batter that we finally realized, ‘Oh my gosh, she's the leadoff batter.’ All of it was just kind of a shock and surprise – a good surprise.”

Milloy said it was special to get to play in front of her family since they don’t always get to see her play at Tennessee, especially when representing her country.

It was also an opportunity to play with some of the best in the country. The roster included reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Jocelyn Alo, former James Madison All-American pitcher Odicci Alexander and former All-American UCLA pitcher and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Ally Carda.

“Just having the honor of playing with such amazing players – growing up, I watched some of the women that are on this team – and so being able to play with them, it was just kind of a surreal moment,” Milloy said. “I just was so extremely blessed to have that opportunity. I felt like I could play at a very high level. So I think just seeing that and competing against so many different teams, it was really great just knowing that I have what it takes to compete at that level.”

Cora Hall: Covering UT women's athletics
Twitter | cora.hall@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee softball standout Kiki Milloy earns spot on U.S. national team