Karlyn Pickens Exits Game With Injury as Lady Vol Softball Downs Belmont

By Sawyer Hunley 

Tennessee was able to squeak out a win over Belmont, 1-0, on Tuesday night at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.

The game started out very well for the Lady Vols as Karlyn Pickens sat down three straight Belmont batters in the top of the first.

To follow it up, Sophia Knight opened the game with a base hit, and on the next at-bat, Ella Dodge drove her home with an RBI-double in what would be the only run of the game early in Tennessee’s half of the first inning.

Tennessee’s offense was only able to produce three more hits for the rest of the game, with all of those being singles.

While the offense was for sure not a bright spot, pitcher Erin Nuwer was. 

Nuwer earned the win while recording seven strikeouts and walking no batters.

Nuwer was put in a bit of an uncomfortable situation tonight as she came out of the bullpen for only the fifth time this season.

Even with the different situation, Nuwer still thrived.

“It says a lot about her and her ability to just have that kind of belief in herself, which is the big thing this year,” said head coach Karen Weekly.

Outside of Nuwer, the other bright spot of the game was outfielder Knight.

Knight had two hits in three at-bats and scored the only run of the game for the Lady Vols.

Tonight was not the only game that Knight has been great in, as she has ten hits in her last 17 at-bats paired with three walks in that span as well.

“Just having a great team behind me, it’s just so freeing and it’s just so fun to play,” said Knight. 

Although the win was great, there was a bigger takeaway from the game than the win for Tennessee.

The main storyline behind the evening was the departure of Tennessee ace Pickens. The senior appeared injured and was removed from the game in the second inning with a right shoulder injury.

Pickens recorded four outs before she was pulled from the game, including two strikeouts.

The status of Pickens remains unknown as of this point.

“I honestly don’t know (when I’ll know more on the situation) because the way things happen, I just have to keep coaching the game and staying locked in to the game,” said Weekly postgame.

This will be a situation to monitor as the Lady Vols get set for conference play, as they welcome LSU to Sherri Parker Lee Stadium on Friday.