On Tuesday, Tennessee softball found itself in a battle of two of the best pitchers in the country. The Lady Vols started their superstar, Karlyn Pickens, while Belmont started All-American Maya Johnson.
However, just 18 pitches into her outing, Pickens suffered an injury. After delivering a pitch, she grabbed her shoulder in discomfort. She would attempt a warm-up pitch afterward, but decided she wouldn’t be able to continue.
After undergoing medical evaluation on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, UT Athletics shared the latest. Pickens is listed as day-to-day with an arm strain.
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Pickens had earned a line of 1.1 innings pitched, no hits, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts by the time of her exit. She was replaced by Sage Mardjetko in the circle. Mardjetko went an inning before Erin Nuwer finished the final 4.2 frames. The pair didn’t allow a run, leading to a 1-0 win for the undefeated and top-ranked Lady Vols.
On the year, heading into Tuesday’s bout, Pickens had appeared in eight games and started in five. She owned a 6-0 record and a save. Through 45.1 innings, she had posted a 0.62 ERA, as well.
There shouldn’t be much of a rush to get Pickens back in the fold. While SEC play starts this weekend with a three-game home stand against LSU, Tennessee has both Mardjetko and Nuwer available. Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly has said that she thinks both of those pitchers would be the ace on essentially any other team in the country.
This should give Pickens time to rest and recover if she doesn’t feel like she’s at 100% heading into the weekend. The day-to-day status certainly gives some long-term optimism on her status, though.
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