Tennessee softballbegins its seventh appearance in theWomen's College World Seriesagainst a familiar program, which also happens to be the sport's biggest titan:Oklahoma. The Vols,however, have already had one successful swing at taking down college softball's Goliath this season, as they took the regular season head-to-head series against theSooners. It was just one of three SEC regular-season series losses thatOklahoma, which is looking for its fifth straight national championship, had. A big reason for the Vols' regular-season success was theirstar junior pitcher Karlyn Pickens,who Tennessee will need to beat the Sooners on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET at Devon Park in Oklahoma City. REQURIED READING:WCWS bracket 2025: Full schedule, matchups for NCAA softball tournament In that three-game weekend series back in March in Norman, Pickens went 2-0 in 12 2/3 innings of work and struck out 12 Sooners' hitters while giving up just four runs on 10 hits and three walks. The success the back-to-back SEC Pitcher of the Year had against OU is a small snippet of the dominance that she has showcased this entire season inside the circle for the Vols. A top-10 finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year award, Pickens put Tennessee on her back in the Knoxville Super Regional vs. Nebraska with back-to-back complete game performances to win the series. But as fans watch the Vols play for their first WCWS national title with Pickens in the circle, one thing will stand out above all the skills that the North Carolina native has while pitching: how hard she pitches. Here's what you need to know on how hard Pickens throws inside the circle: In short, very, very, very fast — like literally so fast. In Game 1 of the Knoxville Super Regional, the Vols' right-hander showed that she has more gas in the tank to showcase, as she set a new NCAA record for fastest pitch recorded with a 79.4 mph fastball on the seventh pitch of a first-inning at-bat against Nebraska's Jordy Bahl. Bahl, who is one of the other top pitchers in the country, would foul off the pitch. As noted bythe Big Ten Network's Sydney Supple,Pickens' near 80 mph pitch gave Bahl (or any batter) a reactionary time of .341 of a second to pick up and swing at the pitch. The distance from the rubber on the pitcher's mound to home plate is 43 feet. Karlyn just hit 79.4 on the gun 🔥🔥🔥the new fastest pitch in NCAA Softball history, breaking her own record of 78.2pic.twitter.com/WuVWJrccdr — Tennessee Softball (@Vol_Softball)May 24, 2025 Pickens' flame-throwing pitch against the Cornhuskers broke her previous NCAA record of 78.2 mph, which sheset back in Marchagainst Arkansas. Prior to setting the record against Arkansas in SEC play, Pickens had beentied with former Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbottfor the fastest pitch in NCAA history, a record that Abbott held for 13 years. "She's definitely in a league of her own," Abbott recently toldKnox News, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Pickens. Abbott added: "Some people were like, 'Oh, man, RIP to your record.' And I was like, 'Not really – like hell yeah, look at our sport.' I held that record for 10-plus years ... And we got someone that's just a junior in college breaking it? That's incredible." REQUIRED READING:There's more to Tennessee flamethrower Karlyn Pickens than the fastest pitch ever in softball Pickens enters the WCWS with a 24-9 record and a 1.00 ERA in 204 innings of work in the circle this season. She has recorded a career-high 280 strikeouts while throwing 22 complete games, two of which came in the Knoxville Super Regional vs. Nebraska. Her 1.00 ERA in the circle this season leads all Tennessee pitchers and ranks second in the country, only behind Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady's 0.89 ERA. Here's a game-by-game breakdown of Pickens' stats this season in the NCAA softball tournament: vs. Miami (OH) (Knoxville Regional, Game 1):3.0 innings with six strikeouts while allowing two hits and a walk vs. Ohio State (Knoxville Regional, Game 2):7.0 innings with 10 strikeouts while allowing five hits, two runs (one earned) and two walks vs. Ohio State (Knoxville Regional, Game 3):2.0 innings with five strikeouts while allowing zero hits, zero runs and zero walks vs. Nebraska (Knoxville Super Regional, Game 1):3.2 innings with seven strikeouts while allowing five runs (three earned), four hits and two walks vs. Nebraska (Knoxville Super Regional, Game 2):7.0 innings with 11 strikeouts while allowing five hits, two runs (two earned runs) and a walk vs. Nebraska (Knoxville Super Regional, Game 3):7.0 innings with 10 strikeouts while allowing two hits and a walk This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:How hard does Tennessee softball pitcher Karlyn Pickens throw?
