Tennessee softball bowing out of SEC tournament early no surprise. Will NCAA regional be any different?
It was the fifth loss of the season when junior pitcher Karlyn Pickens (20-8) started and didn’t give up any earned runs. Her ERA went down to 0.92 in the loss.
“Facts are facts. There’s zero earned runs on there,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. “I know (Pickens) is going to probably look at it a little differently, but … we talk about mistakes – we make a couple plays a little cleaner, we’re in a real battle. Who knows, maybe we’re in one of those extra inning ball games.It wasn’t a surprise that Tennessee softball’s offense couldn’t overcome errors that led to unearned runs in its SEC tournament quarterfinal loss.
It felt inevitable that the Lady Vols’ inconsistent offense would catch up to them in the postseason, and it didn’t take long. No. 4 seed Tennessee didn’t have any offensive buffer for two critical errors and six unearned runs in the 6-1 loss to No. 5 seed Arkansas (40-11) at Jack Turner Softball Stadium in Athens, Georgia, on May 8. The signs of a postseason loss like this have been there from the season opener on Feb. 6 when Tennessee lost 7-1 to Nebraska. It was the first of five losses this season when Pickens started and didn’t give up a single earned run. The Huskers broke open the game in the fifth inning when multiple fielding errors led to five runs.
