Lady Vols silence Georgia behind dominant pitching, steady defense
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Offense sells tickets in every sport. While it obviously takes runs in the game of softball to win, you cannot overlook the power of a dominant pitching staff and defense.
The Tennessee Lady Vols softball team secured its spot in Oklahoma City on Friday, and it was off the strength of the circle and the defense behind it.
“It all starts in the circle,” Lady Vols head coach Karen Weekly told Southeastern Softball Wire. “That’s why they call this game fastpitch. Ralph [Weekly] said for many years, they don’t call it fasthit, they don’t call it fastrun or fastfield. They call it fastpitch.”
The warriors in the circle of Karlyn Pickens, Sage Mardjetko, and Erin Nuwer have become the nation’s best staff. Tennessee came into the day with a 1.36 ERA, and Friday they stood true to that in the two wins over Georgia.
They only allowed one run in each game. Pickens pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts and gave up only one run. Then on Friday, Mardjetko tossed 5.2 innings of one-run ball on two hits, with nine strikeouts, after taking over from Nuwer’s 1.1 innings.
“Erin paved the way she started the game very well, and just coming in and doing my job, executing the pitches and the game plan,” Mardjetko said. “Not making the moment too big, even in that last inning, when there’s a lot of excitement going on, just staying present in the moment, and taking it pitch by pitch.”
Anyone would love to have a staff like this. The patience and execution Mardjetko spoke of are big reasons for that success. A lot of that is credit to coach Megan Rhodes Smith.
“The job that Megan Rhodes Smith does with them, I can’t say enough about the way she handles these pitchers,” Weekly said. “The way she meets them where they are, coaches each of them as individuals.”
The Lady Vols took one of the hottest offenses in the country and minimized it. Georgia came into the series hitting .354 as a team. Through two games in Knoxville, they hit just .226 with two runs scored.
“Tennessee deserves all the credit,” Georgia head coach Tony Baldwin said after game two’s loss. “There was a lot of things that our team does well, that they were able to offset. Coming into the weekend, we were one of the top hitting teams in the country with runners in scoring position, and we just didn’t come up with that big hit often enough, enough times this weekend to change the result.”
Runners in scoring position were like running into a brick wall for the Bulldogs. Tennessee held them to a .083 batting average (1-for-12) in two games in that situation. That is credit not only to the pitchers but also to the defense behind them.
“We put a lot of pride in our defense,” Weekly said. “Bella Faw, another one that doesn’t show up in a stat sheet, but the number of runs she saves us, the number of rallies that don’t even start because of her steady defense at short, and some of the amazing plays she makes.”
The defensive stops Faw and others make won’t show up on a regular stat sheet, but they are the kind of plays that decide series like this one.
The Lady Vols have a great unit that works together, and freshman catcher Elsa Morrison cannot go unmentioned. To come in and command the position is no small task.
Morrison has a .995 fielding percentage with just seven passed balls on the season.
“A freshman coming in, and you’re telling her, hey, you need to command the relationship with these pitchers,” Weekly said. “And, oh, you got Karlyn Pickens, All American. You got Sage Mardjetko, stud. You got Erin Nuwer is a stud.
“That took a while for Elsa, but she responded to every way we pushed her to get better. And you look at how many balls you blocked up today. I mean, these guys love throwing dropballs, and they have 100% confidence in throwing that pitch because they know that Elsa is going to keep it in front.”
Back to the beginning, of course it takes runs to win. But give me this Tennessee pitching staff and defense any day. The way they control the game can’t be ignored. Keep a close eye on the Lady Vols in OKC. This pitching staff is one of a kind.
