Pickens Strikes Out Nine as Tennessee Shuts Out Oregon in Top Five Battle
Tennessee Shuts Out Oregon Behind Pickens
This opening weekend of Division I College Softball is not disappointing at all, and this top five matchup between No. 4 Tennessee and No. 5 Oregon was another old school postseason feel of a game. With aces in the circle for each team, the hits and runs were very slim and hard to come by.
However, the Tennessee Lady Vols broke to an early 1-0 lead after Lyndsey Grein struggled with command to start the game. She gave up a run without giving up a hit in the inning. Walks were taken by Sophia Knight, Elsa Morrison, Taelyn Holley, and Emma Clarke, who was credited with an RBI. Grein was able to sit Meredith Barnhart down on a strikeout looking.
Grein’s changeup is one of the best in softball, and when she gets that moving right, hitters are often confused. Grein tossed a 14-strikeout no-hitter against Missouri on Friday and was right back tonight to give six innings with five strikeouts, and two runs on two hits. This is something worth watching closely this season. What type of load will she have to carry?
This game had nothing much going on but good pitching and defense. Karlyn Pickens went right to work and opened her outing with a strikeout to Ayanna Shaw. Pickens would issue a walk in the inning, but Oregon was able to make nothing of the runner. That was the case all evening. Pickens was consistent with solid stuff to record strikeouts or induce groundouts. The defense behind her was locked in, and that makes her job a lot less stressful.
Pickens had a fantastic day on Friday as well, striking out 13 in seven innings pitched in a win over Liberty. Karen Weekly does have arms, and as she told me in the fall, she doesn’t want Karlyn to carry the same load that she carried last season. However, a competitor is a competitor and I believe Pickens wants the ball as much as she can get it.
The defensive play of the night came in the third inning. With Oregon having two on and one out, Elon Butler sent a deep fly ball to right, and Gabby Leach doubled up Shaw at second as she tried to tag from first. That ended the inning, stranding Amaral at third.
Moving to the sixth inning, Tennessee was able to strike again for a run to extend their lead to 2-0. Gabby Leach led off the inning with a double, and with one out, Ella Dodge brought her home with an RBI double. Tennessee has bats, and as this season goes on, you will see just how much they actually have.
In the seventh inning, Lyndsey Grein issued a leadoff walk, then the Ducks went to Elise Sokolsky, and she gave all she was allowed to give. Tennessee ended up in a bases-loaded situation after taking walks. Sokolsky, however, was able to escape unscathed with a strikeout to Elsa Morrison, but Oregon still had to see Karlyn Pickens for their last chance, and she would finish the deal. Pickens was down in the count 3-0 to Kaylynn Jones and battled back to a strikeout for her ninth of the night.
With two outs, Oregon’s Katie Flannery was able to come through with just the third hit of the night for Oregon as Bella Faw couldn’t come up with the hard-hit ball. That gave the Ducks a shot to extend and possibly tie the game, but Emma Cox popped out to first to end it.
Karlyn Pickens delivered again and has now tossed a total of 22 strikeouts on the young season. Tennessee improved to 5-0 and tonight showed that even in a low-scoring game, they can, of course, rely on Karlyn Pickens to hold the other team at bay. Oregon has some players, and what she was able to do against them just reiterates the dominant pitcher she is.
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