OKLAHOMA CITY — Tennessee softball pitcher Karlyn Pickens isn’t just breaking records with every mph she adds to her top speed. In Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso’s eyes, she’s setting a new standard for the sport.
The back-to-back SEC Pitcher of the Year already accomplished an incredible feat in March, when she hit 78.2 mph, the fastest softball pitch ever recorded and breaking Tennessee legend Monica Abbott’s 2012 record of 77 mph. Just two months later, Pickens broke her own mark, throwing 79.4 mph in the NCAA super regional against Nebraska.
“It’s pretty amazing, really,” Gasso said during the Women’s College World Series media day on May 28, the day before Oklahoma plays Tennessee (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). “And there’s a lot of little girls that are going to be going, ‘Wow, I just hit 60! Only 19 more miles to go’ . . . So it’s great for our game. It’s phenomenal.”
Gasso still remembers when Pickens came to Oklahoma City as a freshman in 2023 when she was “wowing everybody.” ESPN analyst and former Texas A&M two-way star Amanda Scarborough said it was funny for Gasso to be the one to say Pickens is setting the bar, because Gasso has done that herself, leading Oklahoma to four straight national championships.
“Any time that somebody does something amazing, like winning four national championships in a row or Karlyn hitting almost 80 mph,” Scarborough said, “that new standard is now something that little girls can strive for and know that it’s possible, and it’s from her hard work.”
As a former Big 12 pitcher and player of the year at Texas A&M, Scarborough knows just how difficult it is to do what Pickens has done, adding even more velocity after arriving at Tennessee throwing as hard as she did. Pickens has told Scarborough that it took a lot of work on her mechanics with pitching coach Megan Rhodes Smith.
“The mechanical changes and time that she spent in her freshman year has paid dividends (in) not only her speed, but her movement, too, with her rise and her drop to make her this complete pitcher,” Scarborough said.
Scarborough has enjoyed watching Pickens on the field this season because of how engaged she is with her emotions. It wasn’t a side that Scarborough saw as often during Pickens’ first two seasons, but now it’s something she can tell Pickens has embraced.
“This new emotional side that comes out of her, this competitor, fire, that specifically this year has come out a lot more . . . ” Scarborough said. “You can really tell that she’s a leader and that emotional leader for the team, and so I just love watching her compete along with all the great tools that she has.”
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on X @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: At WCWS, Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens as new standard for softball