KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Growth in softball doesn’t only come from a new pitch or better mechanics. A lot of times it’s more mental than anything, and for Tennessee pitcher Erin Nuwer, growth means learning to lighten up a little.
When I talk with Nuwer, I see that she’s serious about her game. That’s what you want from one of the top pitchers on your staff, but softball is a game, after all, and it’s supposed to be fun. You never know when the game will pass you by, so the time you have needs to be enjoyed.
“Just trying not to take it too serious,” Nuwer said of her focus since June. “I feel like last year I was really serious about a lot of things. But this year I feel like I’m just kind of being like, ‘It’s just softball at the end of the day, and you never know, like, when it’s gonna stop or when it’s gonna end,’ and just embracing, like, every opportunity I get out there.”
The junior from East Aurora, New York, is coming off a sophomore campaign in which she went 15-1 with a 1.01 ERA. Nuwer struck out 90 batters in 96.2 innings and threw two no-hitters. This year she’s back with an improved arsenal and the same fierce drive to attack hitters. However, with a more free mindset, 2027 has the chance to be a year where she really becomes that ace-like pitcher for the Lady Vols.
Tennessee has seen what playing free can do. Karlyn Pickens talked often last season about how much her game changed once she started playing freely and with joy. Nuwer could follow the same trajectory, and she knows the schedule won’t make it easy. Every team the Lady Vols play can punish a pitcher who’s squeezing the ball and overthinking in the circle. Just look at the start of their conference slate: a road trip to Texas A&M, then a home series against two-time defending national champion Texas.
“I think it’s really big to not put too much pressure on yourself, ’cause everybody that we play is really good,” Nuwer said. “And just, like, having fun out there, it’s easy to, make games out of it.”
Playing free doesn’t mean playing careless. Head coach Karen Weekly sees the looser mindset as conviction. Nuwer isn’t second-guessing a pitch when it misses. She keeps throwing it until it lands where she wants it. That is especially what the fall is for.
“She’s really committed to each pitch,” Weekly said. “Not hesitating with a pitch, not shying away from it if it’s not working the first time. She’s just determined: ‘I will throw this pitch, whatever it is, drop, rise, change. I will throw this and I’m going to master the location, whatever it might be.’ So I just like to see that maturity in her, that she’s gonna go for it no matter what’s happening.”
That commitment matters most with the pitch Nuwer is still building. She has spent the fall with associate head coach Megan Rhodes Smith adding new pitches and working on her technique. The main project is a rise ball she wants to throw harder.
On Friday the results were better than okay. Nuwer didn’t allow a hit in her five innings pitched. The way she did it was what you’d hope to see coming in the spring. She began the game with two strikeouts recorded in the first inning, and showed to bother hitters with her change of speed and location. Even when she got behind 3-0 to one hitter in the fourth inning, Nuwer battled her way back and induced a weak fly out to center. Also, she doesn’t have a bad glove either. Nuwer will be one of the best fielding pitchers in the nation.
“It felt good,” Nuwer said. “Just getting ahead was really helpful for me tonight. Keeping them off balance and just not getting too deep into counts and keeping my pitch count really low was really helpful.”
That approach sets the tone for the whole staff. When asked to describe the identity of Tennessee’s pitching staff, she answered right away.
“Attack,” Nuwer said. “Attack the zone.”
In her third year on Rocky Top, Nuwer has two main goals for herself and the staff. One is relentless aggression in the zone. The other is the freedom she’s been working toward since June. If she can keep both, a pitcher who went 15-1 in 2026 has another level to reach.
“We want to be very good about our attack, like I talked about,” Nuwer said. “Just competing, keeping as many people off base as possible, keeping our pitch count as low as possible, and then just once again, like having fun.”
