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How Karen Weekly explained Tennessee pitching strategy in WCWS losses to Texas

OKLAHOMA CITY — Even though it only needed one win to make the Women's College World Series finals, Tennessee softball managed its pitching staff in expectation of playing two games.

The No. 7 seed Lady Vols (49-12) were eliminated from the WCWS in the semifinals by taking back-to-back losses to No. 2 seed Texas (51-12) at Devon Park on June 1, ending their season. They lost the first game 5-2 and the second game 4-0.

Tennessee used each of its top three pitchers in the games, starting Erin Nuwer (15-1, 1.04 ERA) in Game 1 and Karlyn Pickens (15-8, 1.70 ERA) in Game 2. Sage Mardjetko (16-3, 1.45 ERA) also pitched in Game 1.

“Knowing what could be on the horizon, I think you almost have to plan for the possibility of two games,” Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said. “You're hoping to go out there and win it in one.”

Nuwer pitched the first two innings of Game 1, long enough to get through Texas’ full batting order once. Mardjetko then relieved Nuwer. Weekly said she made that decision because of how well Mardjetko did against Texas in the Lady Vols’ WCWS opening win against the Longhorns on May 28.

In that game, Mardjetko pitched four scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and two walks with a strikeout. She didn’t have the same success in the semifinals, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in 2⅓ innings.

“Sage did such a good job against them the other day,” Weekly said. “So, we got exactly what we wanted out of Erin. We wanted her to get us one time through the lineup without any damage, and she did, and then hand it over to Sage.”

At the start of the fifth inning, Pickens began warming up in the bullpen. Mardjetko didn’t get pulled until later in the inning, after giving up a home run, a double, a walk and two singles that amounted to three runs. However, instead of putting Pickens in, Weekly elected to go back to Nuwer.

“Just staying ready,” Pickens said of her bullpen activity. “Never know when you might go into a game. Yeah, that's my job. It's not my job to decide when I go in, so just stay ready.”

Weekly said she was planning on putting Pickens in if Tennessee took the lead which never happened. Pickens instead started Game 2, pitching the entire game and allowing four runs, seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings.

“You kind of have to balance how many bullets are you going to use in Game 1 if you get to Game 2?” Weekly said. “You want to get to Game 2 and have a good plan with your pitching staff. I felt like we got to Game 2 with a good plan. We got to Game 2 with a rested Karlyn, and pitching wasn't so much the problem today. We just didn't mount an offensive threat.”

Tia Reid covers Jackson State sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email her at treid@usatodayco.com and follow her on X @tiareid65.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Karen Weekly explained Tennessee pitching strategy in WCWS sweep by Texas

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