Tony Baldwin calls Pickens “generational” as Tennessee takes Game 1 from Georgia
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – As all of Sherri Parker Lee Stadium stood on its feet Thursday night with the bases loaded, one out and Karlyn Pickens with the ball in her hand with a 3-1 lead, the grit and growth of Tennessee Lady Vols softball was put on the spot in Game 1 of the Knoxville Super Regional.
Back-to-back strikeouts to Tyler Ellison and Marissa Miller shut the door on the Bulldogs’ last hopes for a comeback win.
Pickens had one of those moments that you act out in the back yard as a child, and the senior delivered.
“Yeah I hope for the bases not to be loaded at that moment to be honest, but it’s really just electric,” Pickens said. “You feel the crowd. You feel the pressure in those moments, and I do think I definitely thrive off that adrenaline piece. It’s cool to get the win at the end of the day.”
The moment wasn’t lost on the other dugout either. Georgia went toe to toe with Pickens and the Lady Vols, but just couldn’t land the final punch.
“I thought that we forced Karlyn to make some big pitches, and she is a generational pitcher for a reason,” Georgia head coach Tony Baldwin said. “She made them tonight.
That is a fourth-year pitcher that’s been through a lot of these battles and been in a lot of moments, and I thought that she really stepped up in those moments and just won the battle at those key junctures of the game that had the game in balance.”
It was the kind of moment Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly has been pointing toward all year. While the Tennessee softball season hasn’t been perfect by any means, the one thing this team has learned how to deal with is pressure.
“You practice and you play all year to develop that ‘grit’ muscle, and you put yourself in a lot of situations, you have a lot of adversity,” Weekly told Southeastern Softball Wire after the win. “I think the more adversity you have during the season the better, because that’s the only way you test your composure under pressure is if you’re put in those situations.”
Pickens went the distance on 122 pitches, allowing one run on seven hits with 10 strikeouts and three walks. The complete game was backed by three solo home runs from Sophia Knight, Emma Clarke and Alannah Leach.
Knight’s home run was her first of the season and unlocked an aspect of her game no one has seen this year. She didn’t even believe it was gone. That is how rare it is.
“That was the best feeling ever,” Knight said. “I’m probably going to think about this for a while because, oh my gosh, it was just like a surreal moment. Cause honestly I did not think it was going out. I was just running the bases really hard.”
Tennessee has endured its share of adversity and even dropped two games heading into the postseason. Now, the Lady Vols have won four in a row with more work to be done. Chances for growth never run out, and Thursday night gave coach Weekly more to be proud of.
“So, I’ve been really proud of them watching them grow through it,” Weekly said. “And then just to see them grind it out today. There was nothing about today that was easy, but to see them just be so invested and locked in every pitch, it was like every pitch was a game of its own and that’s the way they played the game.”
The Lady Vols are now one win away from punching their ticket to Oklahoma City. They will need another gritty win over a determined Georgia squad. Game 2 is set for Friday at 3 p.m. ET. and will be televised on ESPN2.
