Tennessee's hopes for a deep run in the NCAA softball tournament depend heavily on the talents of Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year Karlyn Pickens.
So far, so good.
The 6-foot-1 sophomore from Weaverville, North Carolina, allowed just two hits in seven innings Friday afternoon as the Lady Volunteers blanked Dayton 3-0 before a Knoxville Regional crowd 0f 1,934 inside Sherri Lee Parker Stadium. It was the first game in eight days for Tennessee (41-10), which received the NCAA tournament's third overall seed after losing in the SEC tourney quarterfinals to LSU.
"It was good to get off to a good start," Lady Vols head coach Karen Weekly said in a news conference. "The postseason is just about winning. It doesn't matter how you do it. I thought our pitching was phenomenal.
"Karlyn was really on, and I thought we made some really nice defensive plays behind her."
Pickens echoed Weekly's sentiments about the defense, saying, "Any ball hit to our infield is pretty much a guaranteed out."
Dayton (33-20) sent 23 batters to the plate, and Pickens struck out 12 of them. Pickens got all the support she needed in the second inning, when Destiny Rodriguez singled in Giulia Koutsoyanopulos and Zaida Puni.
"Karlyn is still nowhere near her potential in just what she can do, but the growth she's made this year I'm incredibly proud of," Weekly said. "Not many athletes as gifted as Karlyn are as self-aware and open to trying new things and growing and just being honest about themselves. It's a lot of fun to coach her."
The Lady Vols will face Virginia (33-18) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Cavaliers advanced in the double-elimination format with a 7-0 thumping of Miami of Ohio (48-8), which will face Dayton in Saturday's second game.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.