Michael Allen 
The Tennessee softball team has an intersquad scrimmage to prepare for their fall classic
Meta Description: Tennessee Softball finishes undefeated in the fall schedule despite having to fill a lot of experienced that has graduated.
Tennessee softball have been on top of the SEC over the last 2 seasons. The success has a lot to do with the fantastic pitching from Payton Gottshall as well as Karlyn Pickens who have been a great 1-2 punch during this time. Gottshall has now moved on after using all of her eligibility, but the talented Pickens returns. Tennessee’s offense has also been very good with people like Kiki Milloy, Rylie West, and Zaida Puni who have all moved on as well. Despite having to replace a lot of talent, Karen Weekly’s squad went undefeated through the fall games including 2 wins over rival Kentucky. The question is this: can the 2-time defending SEC champs remain on top with powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas now coming into the conference?
The Lady Vols still have a lot of experience returning on this season’s roster despite all the talent and experience that graduated this past season. They return 12 players that received significant playing time at one point or another during the season. Among those are Laura Mealer, who showed that is versatile enough to play any position Coach Weekly needs her to on defense. Unfortunately, she was very inconsistent at times from the plate, but is expected to take that next step with another year of experience under her belt. Talented young players Bella Faw, Taylor Pannell, Alannah Leach, and Gabby Leach are expected to fill roles of players who departed from last year’s squad. Pannell and both Leach girls all made big plays when it mattered last season, while Faw had her season cut short due to injuries.
Perhaps the biggest return of all for this team is Junior right-hander Karlyn Pickens on the mound. Pickens had a fantastic freshman season 2 years ago where she showed off her raw power which touched 75 MPH at times. Her sophomore season was even better as she started getting more control of her offspeed pitches to compliment her fastball. She is the reigning SEC co-pitcher of the year as well as being named to the all-SEC 1st team last year. If she improves as much going into her junior season as she did her sophomore season, Pickens could very well be the national pitcher of the year which would hopefully help lead the lady Vols back to the WCWS.
Tennessee didn’t get quantity from the transfer portal, but the quality looks very good, at least on paper. Weekly picked up Aubrey Barnhart (Texas Tech), Sage Mardjetko (South Carolina), Ryan Brown (Texas), and Kinsey Fielder (Washington) out of the transfer portal.
Barnhart comes home to Tennessee after stints at Alabama and Texas Tech. She is a utility infielder who had a .989 fielding percentage last season at Tech, while also batting .277 with 7 home runs and 23 RBI. Barnhart was the Gatorade Tennessee state player of the year in 2020 after her successful career at Goodpasture Christian School.
Mardjetko comes to Tennessee after a very good freshman season at South Carolina where she had an 8-9 record overall with 119 strikeouts over 118 innings pitched. Mardjetko fell victim to a team that couldn’t score a lot of runs in conference play which led to a losing record overall. She was named the 2023 National softball player of the year by USA Today for her performance at Lemont High School in Illinois.
Brown comes back home to Tennessee after a freshman season at Texas that saw her play in 11 games for the Longhorns. Brown was a standout at Independence High School in Thompson Station, TN. She is a player with a lot of firepower at the plate.
Fielder comes to Tennessee from Washington where she played for 2 years. She made the freshman all Pac 12 team in 2022, and had a .277 batting average last year as a sophomore. She started all but 7 games for the Huskies in her 2 seasons there. She is a threat at the plate and on the basepaths. She was a four-time all state selection in high school at Brought Lee’s Summit North High School in Missouri.
Coach Weekly did another great job recruiting as well this season by bringing in talented players like Peyton Tanner, Zoie Shuler, Emma Clarke, Saviya Morgan, Erin Nuwer, and Amayah Doyle to help anchor this talented squad.
The Lady Vols have high expectations for this season, and for good reason. Despite winning the SEC for a second straight year, Tennessee went home earlier than expected last year with a super regional loss to rival Alabama. After making it to the WCWS semifinals the season before, it was a disappointing finish to a season that had people thinking that it was possible to win the program’s first national title.
The goals remain the same, but the road will be a little more difficult with Texas and Oklahoma joining the league. The SEC still runs through Rocky Top, the question that remains is this: will the National Championship run through Rocky Top as well?
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