Tennessee softball has emerged as the No. 1 team in the country and is one of the favorites to win the national championship this season. One of the main reasons is the pitching staff that the Lady Vols boast. Atop the room is Karlyn Pickens, who is arguably the best pitcher in the nation.
However, after starting in Tennessee’s 1-0 win over Belmont on Tuesday, Pickens suffered an injury. She had earned a line of 1.1 innings pitched, no hits, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts by the time of her exit. The following day, UT announced she was dealing with an arm-strain and was listed as day-to-day.
On Friday, Tennessee opened up its SEC slate with the first game of a three-game set with No. 17 LSU. Pickens warmed up with the team, but did not see any action in the 5-0 win. After the game, Lady Vols head coach Karen Weekly updated the status of her star pitcher.
“Same thing. Arm-strain, day-to-day,” Weekly said. “That’s thank goodness that it’s not something more. It’s just about when it starts to feel better.”
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In the win over LSU on Friday, it was Sage Mardjetko who got the ball. She dominated, throwing a complete game with no allowed runs and just four hits. She also struck out six batters.
Weekly was noncommittal about who would start on Saturday after the opening win. Erin Nuwer would make the most sense, but is far from a guarantee.
“I don’t know yet,” Weekly said. “We’ve got great arms. You’ve seen mostly Karlyn, Sage and Erin, but Peyton Hardenburger is chomping at the bit to help us out and she’s a good arm. Maddi Rutan has thrown some good innings for us. Now, we just figure out how to manage the rest of the weekend.”
Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. It will air on SECN+. The final game of the series is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
