By Sawyer Hunley
The No. 9 Lady Vols have somewhat sputtered in conference play, having lost five of their last nine conference games heading into this weekend.
Needing a clean performance against a one-win in conference Wildcats team, Tennessee understood the assignment ahead of the three-game series.
The Lady Vols needed to get back on track, and they did. In a big way – in every game of a series sweep.
Game 1
Karlyn Pickens is a star, and in the first game of the series, she put the rest of the SEC on notice.
Her fourth career no-hitter. She now holds one in every season of her career at Tennessee. The 6’1 senior shoves on the mound.
Moving to 11-4 on the year after she struck out 12 Kentucky batters in the complete game performance, the effort was Tennessee’s first no-hitter against a SEC opponent since March of 2023.
“Today just seemed to be one of those days where everything was just working,” said Pickens postgame.
Tennessee took game one of the series 5-0 behind an ace performance and timely home-run swings.
Four different Lady Vols crushed balls over the fence of John Cropp Stadium, with Gabby Leach, Ella Dodge, Elsa Morrison, and Emma Clarke capitalizing.
Pickens finding her groove after uncharacteristic outings at times this season bodes well for Tennessee. She had previously given up eight runs in her last three starts combined on the mound.
Game 2
Sage Mardjetko could not produce a no-hitter, but that did not matter for the Lady Vols. Clinging to a slim lead until late, Tennessee took the series behind solid pitching, once and a third save of the year for Pickens, 6-0.
While the score may look dominant, looks can be deceiving with this game blowing open in the Lady Vol seventh.
“Not enough good at-bats. Too many times with runners on base and we didn’t do something productive,” said head coach Karen Weekly
That approach changed in a big way in the seventh inning as the Lady Vols pushed four runs across, all of which were scored with two outs.
Big time base hits from Alannah Leach, Morrison and Taelyn Holley all drove home runs that helped give Tennessee insurance.
The pitching was a team effort on Sunday as both Mardjetko and Pickens shared time in the circle.
Yet, the result was the same. No runs allowed.
The dominance of this pitching staff as a whole has truly held the Lady Vols afloat, and it allows them to continue winning softball games even when the offense has struggled.
Game 3
Game three was a bit different from the first two games, but not in the end result.
The Lady Vols dominated game three by a final score of 10-3.
Between the first two games, the earliest the Lady Vols had scored was in the third inning.
Monday night’s game was a different story.
It took only two pitches for Tennessee to push across the first runs of the game.
Leach reached on an error to open the game, and Dodge wasted no time as she nuked a ball out of the stadium to give the Lady Vols a 2-0 lead, and the onslaught was on.
Tennessee ended up pushing across six runs in the first inning, which propelled them to a win.
The true star of this game was outfielder Leach, who went 2-for-2 at the plate, with both hits being home runs.
Leach has been scorching hot over the last few games as she has recorded seven hits in her last six starts.
Pitching was not as dominant on Monday night, but still very steady.
Sophomore Erin Nuwer got the start in the circle, and she was solid as she only allowed three runs while striking out five batters.
Mardjetko came into the game in the sixth inning to help close the game out, and she did it incredibly well as she struck out three and only walked one batter.
Up Next: An incredibly balanced and dominant weekend from the Lady Vols as they now have their sights set on Durham, North Carolina, where they will have a blockbuster midweek showdown against No. 16 Duke.
First pitch is slated for 7:00 PM ET on April 15. The game will be televised on ESPN2.