By Jay King
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The seventh-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols beat the 16th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks today at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium with a final score of 3-2. This game prevented a potential sweep by the Razorbacks after they won the first two games in the series.
After five combined runs were scored in the first inning, it looked like it would be a barnburner, but the next six innings were scoreless.
In the bottom of the first, Laura Mealer stepped up to the plate with runners on first and second. Mealer hit a deep ball to right field and it was ruled a double. Two runs scored, but upon review, it looked as if it was a home run. Head Coach Karen Weekly did not challenge it, so it stayed a double.
After the game, Weekly said this about not challenging, “I got blocked where I was. I had the third baseman in my way, and then, you know, there’s this line right here with third, short, whoever. I didn’t see it hit, and I was just paying attention to Taylor, trying to get her to keep running. And you know, maybe I should have gone review, because I’m hearing now, like, you know, seeing it on replay, that it should have been a home run. But my coach over there, she wasn’t sure she felt like it hit the padding. My other coaches felt like it hit the padding. So, you know, just one of those that I wasn’t going to waste a challenge if we didn’t, we didn’t get a good look at it.”
Despite that being ruled a double instead of a home run, it didn’t matter, as the Lady Vols took the lead there, and never gave it back.
When it came to pitching, Senior Karlyn Pickens was electric coming out of the bullpen. She went 4.1 innings without giving up a single hit, with six strikeouts as well. That wasn’t the most impressive part of her outing though, as she threw the fastest pitch in NCAA softball history at 78.2 mph.
When asked about how she felt breaking the record Pickens said, “Yeah, there was a lot of emotions. At first, I was just super excited, super excited to celebrate that with my team. Way cooler finding out that way than, you know, finding out at home after the game. And then, you know, it was kind of emotional. All the work that we put in as a pitching staff, you know, everyone that’s helped coach me. It was a really surreal moment. It was really special.”
The Lady Vols’ next series is this weekend versus the Top-Ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, in their first matchup as SEC opponents.