By Stephen Mason
At the start of the game, it looked like it would be an offensive showdown between the No. 7 seed Lady Volunteers and the No. 10 seed Georgia Bulldogs in the first game of the Knoxville Super Regional.
However, Tennessee senior ace Karlyn Pickens proved once again that she is a generational talent.
In her seven-inning outing, Pickens was clutch when it mattered most and led her team to a 3-1 victory, putting them just one win away from a trip to Oklahoma City.
“What a great game. Just an incredible atmosphere … Just really proud of our team for the fight, the grit tonight. Karlyn just pitched a phenomenal game,” head coach Karen Weekly said. “We were kind of joking on the way over here that she’s so good under pressure, sometimes I wonder if she creates it so that she can rise to that occasion because she sure does.”
The tone was set early by Tennessee when its first batter of the night, Sophia Knight, hit a solo home run to give her team the early lead in the bottom of the first.
“I mean, I was going into this at-bat knowing, ‘OK, I’m going to hit away today,’ and gosh, I was just like, keep it simple,” Knight said.
This was the junior outfielder’s first home run since March 15, 2024, but it wasn’t the only one hit by a Lady Vol in the inning as Emma Clarke added one of her own later on.
The high-powered Georgia offense was not going away without a fight, and in the following inning, shortstop Emily Digby hit a home run off Pickens to cut Tennessee’s lead in half.
However, this was when Pickens started to take over the game. While she did give up seven hits throughout the game, when it mattered most, she found a way to get key outs, preventing the Bulldogs from crossing the plate again.
The one Bulldog who was able to score spoke about the challenges of going up against the arm of Pickens.
“Obviously, it’s different to see a 77 mph ball coming at you. We don’t, like Coach Tony said, see that every single day,” Digby said.
Although Pickens found herself in plenty of tricky positions throughout the game and struggled with ball control, especially when the light rain started to pick up, she always managed to get herself through the inning and finished the night with 10 strikeouts.
“I’ve never coached an athlete like her, it’s just unbelievable the way she always wants the ball, wants the responsibility,” Weekly said.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tennessee widened its lead over Georgia when Alannah Leach hit the team’s third home run of the night, plating one more run. However, the Lady Vols weren’t safe yet.
In the top of the seventh, the drama reached its climax when Pickens found herself in a really tough spot. After striking out the first batter she faced, she quickly ran into trouble when the next three Bulldogs reached base, loading them with only one out.
“Yeah, I hope for the bases not to be loaded at that moment to be honest, but it’s really just electric. You feel the crowd. You feel the pressure in those moments, and I do think I definitely thrive off that adrenaline piece,” Pickens said.
With the tying run in scoring position, Pickens used that adrenaline to strike out the next two batters, sealing the win for the Lady Volunteers in front of an electric atmosphere in Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
“I think the most special moment is getting to turn to my teammates and them all just pointing at me. Having the confidence and then that gives me even more confidence to go and execute the pitch, so it was just electric,” Pickens said. “Great fight from each team, and loved that it ended on a strikeout.”
Tonight’s victory was only one step on the road back to the Women’s College World Series for Tennessee, as they will need to defeat an explosive Georgia team one more time.
Up Next: The Lady Volunteers will have the opportunity to punch their ticket to Oklahoma City tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET when they take on the Bulldogs once again. The game will be televised on ESPN2.