Dan Fleser
Tennessee softball had just claimed another series victory over one of the sport’s heavyweights, adding No.1 Texas to taking two of three at four-time defending national champion Oklahoma two weekends earlier. Yes, Karlyn Pickens conceded, those results were “awesome.” Yet, when last Sunday in Austin, Texas, was done, the Lady Vols pitcher was imagining something equally stirring.
“We’re just so excited to be playing together and playing like we know we want to be. To be in the middle of April and just now finding out who we are, that’s great.”
The timing of this self-discovery has been made possible largely by Pickens’ performance. She forged on ahead in this process and marked a trail, evolving into the type of a pitcher who could also transform normally staid Karen Weekly into a carnival barker. During her postgame radio interview on Sunday, UT’s coach referred to the junior right-hander as “Karlyn ‘frickin’ Pickens’’ and added “my goodness” as an exclamation point.
Again, she was the main event, throwing two complete-game victories over the Longhorns, allowing just two runs while striking out 20 in 15 innings. She helped clinch the series in Sunday’s finale by allowing just one run and striking out 10, improving her record to 17-4. For her work, Pickens was named pitcher of the week by both the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and the SEC for a third consecutive week. The three-peat was a first for any pitcher.
The run began with two relief appearances and a start combined against Arkansas and Oklahoma in which she recorded a 1.65 earned run average and struck out 17 in 18 innings. In relief against Arkansas, she made history with a pitch clocked at 78.2 mph, breaking the record of 77 set by former Lady Vol Monica Abbott in 2012 while pitching professionally for Chicago.
While the velocity served as a measure of Pickens’ capabilities, it didn’t accurately reflect who she has become as a pitcher. A year ago, she sought to be a more complete version by making a concerted effort to embrace her change-up.
“I throw it,” she said then of the secondary pitch, “but I want to love it as much as I’ve always loved my fastball.”
Weekly recalled Pickens’ words as if reading from a signpost. The coach revels in watching her players lean into steeper grades like this and make their way toward becoming someone else. She hails the journey as much as the destination, maybe more.
“For somebody who has thrown (the fastball) with such velo all those years – the fastball was really kind of the pitch she relied on – to make that a goal and then accomplish it is absolutely huge.”
Note the order in which Pickens recounted her pitches after Sunday’s victory over Texas: “We definitely did a lot of heavy mixing today, using all of my pitches, going with the change-up, using heavy rise ball and then obviously fastball, drop ball, using that as well.
“Keeping them guessing was the key.”
By day’s end, she had pulled a fast one. Very exciting.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.