Before Karlyn Pickens was the No. 1 overall draft pick this year, she became one of the biggest softball players in the country at the University of Tennessee. She took the sport by storm, bursting onto the scene as the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year. Then she was the back-to-back Pitcher of the Year, cementing herself as one of the best in the college game.
But Pickens broke into the larger sports zeitgeist when she threw the fastest recorded pitch in college softball at 78.2 mph on March 24, 2025, against Arkansas. But that didn’t last long when she reset the record again at 79.4 mph during the NCAA tournament in May of that same year.
“Her name is synonymous with some of the greats that have come through Tennessee; all you have to say is ‘Karlyn’. Everybody knows who you’re talking about. Just like you say Peyton, Chamique or Candace,” Tennessee Softball Head Coach Karen Weekly said in the feature story.
Tennessee Athletics released a 35-minute feature story about Pickens on their YouTube page on Sunday, chronicling some of the highs of her career, behind-the-scenes moments and final games as a Lady Vol.
“Karlyn will have a legacy forever at Tennessee,” Weekly said in the piece. “She is everything you would want in a young woman, a human being.”
The feature also includes the next chapter of her career as a pro, like being handed her ‘Golden Ticket’ by idol Jennie Finch and making her AUSL debut with the Carolina Blaze.