by Tristan Thornhill
On a windy day off the banks of the Tennessee River, the Lady Vols improved to 18-3 (4-0 in the Invitational), after 10-0 and 11-0 victories over UT Martin and Delaware State, respectively, fueled by stellar starts by Karlyn Pickens and Peyton Tanner. Pickens threw a one-walk no-hitter, and Tanner threw the first perfect game of her career.
Pickens reflected on it being happy to “get down in the record books with Peyton… and share this with all of my teammates. It’s a great moment; it’s a great game. Just very thankful.”
Pickens’ no-hitter was the 60th no-hitter in program history, while Tanner’s perfect game was the 61st no-hitter.
It was the first time in program history that those two feats were accomplished in one day, and the third time in program history that two no-hitters were thrown in the same day.
You’d have to rewind to March 5, 2005, when Megan Rhodes, current Tennessee assistant coach, and former Lady Vol catcher Stacey Jennings did it for the first time. The last time it was done was back on March 11, 2006, featuring Jennings and Tennessee softball legend Monica Abbott.
The most recent time it happened outside the program was in February 2023, when Meghan Golden and Hailey Hudson accomplished back-to-back no-hitters for Grand Canyon University against CSU Bakersfield in a doubleheader.
The offense was also clicking for the Lady Vols, scoring 21 runs throughout the doubleheader, matching the total of Friday’s games. McKenna Gibson had an impressive day at the dish, going 5-6 with two home runs.
Head Coach Karen Weekly was extremely pleased with the offensive performance saying, “Well, today we were more focused than we’ve been all year in terms of the consistency… there were very few times that we got outside our plan or took swings of frustration or anything like that.”
Karlyn Pickens dazzles once again in the third game of the Tennessee Classic.
Pickens dominated yet again, an all too familiar sight for the Lady Vols, picking up her fifth win of the year and the third no-hitter of her career.
Pickens has been making plenty of headlines lately, after tying Abbott’s fastest pitch recorded, at 77 MPH.
“It’s super cool. [Abbott] is a trailblazer to the sport. She’s been a mentor to me, I looked up to her when I was younger… It’s a really full circle moment so I’m very thankful for that.”
Well, in the first inning, she did it again, this time against the Skyhawks in game one of today’s doubleheader.
“You know, you just go out there and sling it, right? I throw hard it’s kinda my thing. I’m sure I had a lot of adrenaline in that first inning so you can credit it to that.”
The Summitt Blues didn’t disappoint with the sticks either.
After a quick three strikeout top of the first from Pickens, Taylor Pannell turned on a 1-0 pitch, flying it to deep right field for her ninth home run of the year, giving the Lady Vols a quick 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, Destiny Rodriguez smacked a 2-1 fastball off the left-center field wall, sliding in with a Houdini-type feet-first slide to avoid the tag for a double, scoring Laura Mealer. Bella Faw scored a run on a sacrifice bunt scoring the pinch-running Amanda Ahlin.
Gibson singled up the middle on a dribbler for an RBI single to start the third. Sophia Nugent followed with a double off the center field wall, scoring Zoie Shuler and Pannell.
The Lady Vols capped an impressive offensive showing with an emphatic fourth inning, including an RBI single from Kinsey Fiedler, an RBI triple from Pannell, and Gibson’s second blast of the year.
Tanner follows up with history of her own
Well, it didn’t take long for the Lady Vols to jump right back into the history books. Not even an hour later, Tanner followed Pickens’ no-hitter with her first-career perfect game.
Not only is she a freshman, but this was her fourth career appearance at Tennessee, and she improved to a perfect 3-0 record.
“It was really cool, just really happy for her… It’s a big deal, especially for a freshman, and just the way she and Karlyn stayed really locked in all today, that was cool.” – Coach Weekly on today’s starters achieving history.
Tanner joked with Pickens in between games saying, “No way we go back-to-back,” and after it happened Pickens jokingly responded, “Of course, you had to one-up me.”
After the final pitch, Tanner turned and screamed towards her dugout and “blacked out.” Pickens credited her saying her energy is a catalyst for how she plays the game.
Tanner agreed saying, “Yeah, I can’t hold it in ever. I love to celebrate, I love to scream and get hype, and I was kinda just like, ‘I don’t know if y’all know, but I know what I just did.’”
The offense showed out in game two as well. The exit velocity for some of their batted balls played a key factor in giving several Hornets defenders trouble corralling the ball.
In the first, Pannell popped a ball foul to the first base side that was misplayed by the second baseman, falling for a hit, and scoring Morgan.
Then, after a Gibson 2-RBI knock, Emma Clarke reached on a fielding error by the shortstop that ate her up because of the exit velo, plating two more runs, and jumping to a quick 5-0 lead.
The bottom of the second is where Gibson got her second blast of the day (third on the year), a 2-run no-doubter to right center. Rodriguez followed it with an RBI double, making it 8-0 Tennessee.
Alannah Leach was credited with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third, then, you guessed it, Gibson put a bow on the Lady Vols’ day with a 2 RBI double making it 11-0 Tennessee.
These blowout wins marked the 14th and 15th mercy rule wins for the Lady Vols this season.
The Lady Vols will be back tomorrow at 1 P.M. to finish the final rounds of the Tennessee Invitational tournament at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.