Dan Fleser
Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens was named SEC softball pitcher of the year on Friday for the second consecutive year, becoming just the seventh pitcher in conference history to win the award multiple times. Former Lady Vol legend Monica Abbott was honored three times.
Pickens’ start on Thursday at the SEC tournament underscored a degree of difficulty associated with her latest achievement. The junior right-hander allowed six runs. But only three of them were earned. A Razorback reached via an error preceding Raigan Kramer’s seventh-inning grand slam. Earlier, a Tennessee throwing error directly resulted in Arkansas scoring the two runs that turned out to be decisive in the 6-1 quarterfinal loss in Athens, Ga.
Regarding the latter error, Lady Vols coach Karen Weekly said: “We made a mistake. And in really good softball, mistakes come back to haunt you.”
Per the SEC telecast, Pickens had not allowed an earned run in four previous starts that UT somehow still managed to lose. This sort of disconnect does not make for really good softball. Instead, it feeds a sense of doubt about Tennessee’s postseason chances with the NCAA tournament looming.
The tournament field will be announced on Sunday.
Optimism ought to rule when considering Pickens’ exploits. She’s won 20 games and has a glittering 0.96 earned run average. She’s thrown 18 complete games and six shutouts while recording 221 strikeouts in 167.1 innings pitched.
The Lady Vols’ overall resume doesn’t detract so much from the feeling either. The Lady Vols won 40 games against a schedule loaded with top 25 competition.
“I just think they’ve shown up over and over and over,” Weekly said. “No loss outside the top 25. I believe in them.”
Their best showing came against the best competition. They went to Oklahoma in late March and won a series against the four-time defending national champion Sooners. Two weekends later, the Lady Vols again took to the road like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby once did in their movies, winning a series in Austin, Texas, against the then-No. 1 Longhorns. It was Tennessee’s first series victory against a top-ranked team in 12 years.
Pickens was instrumental in both series victories. She pitched two complete-game victories against the Longhorns, inspiring Weekly during her postgame radio interview to refer to her as “Karlyn ‘frickin’ Pickens.”
While she wasn’t as outspoken, Weekly was no less impressed with Pickens after Thursday’s loss.
“I’ll take her all day, every day. There’s not a bigger competitor or better warrior than Karlyn Pickens.
Judging by her impressive workload during the latter half of the season, Pickens has some days left in her right arm. But only as many as Tennessee’s defense and hitting will allow.
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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.