No. 1 pick Karlyn Pickens takes the circle for Carolina Blaze

DURHAM, N.C. – Wednesday night, at 8 p.m. EDT on ESPN2, the No. 1 overall pick in the AUSL Collegiate Draft is set to begin her career. Karlyn Pickens will take the circle for the first time as a Carolina Blaze pitcher inside Smith Family Stadium.

Expect to see the same confident hard worker on the mound. When speaking with Pickens on Monday, she showed no sense of pressure. It all comes back to trusting the work and doing what has gotten her this far.

“There can be a lot of pressure of ‘oh, I have to do something different.’ But I think for me, and probably everybody, it’s just doing what we’re best at, trusting our preparation, and then just learning the game.”

There will be times Pickens isn’t having the best night, and that happened at Tennessee too. The AUSL has some of the best hitters in softball, and they may pick up on things better than collegiate players have. However, it is about the response and what is taken from those experiences.

Even with all the excitement around her name, Pickens just wants to work hard and learn.

“It’s a little bit of a different strike zone, batters might be a little more experienced with some things, and you just learn as you go and don’t be too hard on yourself,” Pickens said. “I’m just excited for the opportunity to learn and to grow as a softball player.”

The strike zone in the AUSL is a bit different. Pitchers have more wiggle room than at the collegiate level. For Pickens, this could be key in her approach when it comes to facing the elite hitters. 

She arrives off a senior season at Tennessee, where she struck out 32.2% of the batters she faced while holding opponents to a .247 slugging mark, a 1.70 ERA, and a 0.99 WHIP. With a little more room to work, those numbers give her plenty to build on.

Opposing teams have started preparing for Pickens. To reiterate, this is professional softball, and the scouting is among the best. Portland Cascade head coach Tairia Flowers spoke on preparing to face Pickens for the first time.

“You’re right, a lot of them haven’t seen her,” Flowers said. “You just have to take the bat off your shoulder and hope things go your way. She’s very good, so you have to take a chance, put the bat out there, and see what happens. We come in here, prep, and put the velo up there, but you kind of never know. 

“My college team faced her. It’s like, lean in front, trying to get on base however you can. She’s just that type of talent, so we’ll see. There’s talent everywhere, and you saw it in the World Series. Sometimes they miss, so you just hope you’re on the positive side of that.”

Blaze teammate Aubrey Leach emphasized her excitement to play behind Pickens now. Leach is on staff at the University of Tennessee and has seen Pickens up close and personal for the past few years.

“I’m excited for you guys to see her when she makes her debut, but an electric energy on the mound, but also, she’s a great teammate,” Leach said. “Fun, energy, all the time. So, just super excited to play with her and not be in that coaching role anymore.”

Leach also reiterated what we’ve all heard about Pickens when it comes to work. It always comes back to the mentality that nothing is given. Even the naturally gifted athletes have to work to be the best.

“Karlyn’s a hard worker,” Leach said. “I think sometimes people are just like, oh, she’s tall, naturally gifted. It just looks easy. And she’s a hard worker. She will go into the bullpen and work through things, and she wants to get better. That 79 miles per hour pitch, she’s trying to break it. So she’s a hard worker. She wants to do the dirty work, and then it shows on the field.”

So the scouting reports are written, the hitters are prepared, and the lights come on Wednesday night. For everyone who has watched Pickens get to this point, the circle is the same. The stage is just a little bigger now.