79.4 mph! How Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens became the hardest thrower softball has ever seen

OKLAHOMA CITY -- More than a decennary earlier Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens fired the fastest softball transportation ever recorded, Dana Fussetti discovered an simple school-aged pitcher and foretold a prophecy.

Fussetti, a Greenville, South Carolina-based softball coach, was successful the mediate of a hitting acquisition erstwhile she archetypal identified Pickens and her overwhelming promise. The eventual All-American ace was conscionable 10 years aged astatine the time. But from crossed the facility, Fussetti rapidly became transfixed by the "lanky, bean-pole," who had agelong arms, polished mechanics and velocity successful the mid-50s.

Fussetti spent the adjacent hr watching Pickens throw, truthful consumed with the talent-beyond-her-years pitcher that she ended up giving the hitting league distant for free.

"I could not instrumentality my eyes disconnected of her," Fussetti told ESPN. "After my lesson, I sat down with Karlyn's dad, Phil. I told him: 'If your girl sticks with softball, she volition beryllium the hardest throwing pitcher successful the past of the sport."'

Earlier this spring, Fussetti's prediction came true. In a alleviation outing against Arkansas connected March 24, Pickens was clocked astatine 78.2 miles per hour, shattering the game's erstwhile all-time people of 77 mph. Two months later, Pickens broke her ain grounds connected the 79.4 mph fireball she threw to Nebraska's Jordy Bahl successful the archetypal inning of Game 2 successful the Knoxville Super Regional.

"I called her dada aft she broke the grounds against Arkansas," Fussetti said. "He said, 'Well, you were right.' He truly thought I was conscionable trying to stroke sunshine up their butts. But I knew this kid was amazing. She's 1 successful a million."

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Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens throws fastest transportation successful NCAA softball history

Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens fires a 78.2 mph onslaught for the fastest-recorded transportation successful assemblage softball history.

Pickens has emerged arsenic not lone the hardest thrower softball has ever seen, but 1 of the sport's elite pitchers successful her inferior play this spring.

Pickens entered play astatine the 2025 WCWS this week ranked 2nd nationally successful ERA (1.00), 5th successful strikeouts (280) and seventh successful innings pitched (204). She spent the bulk of the Lady Vols' WCWS opener against Oklahoma mowing down the four-time defending champions, striking retired 7 Sooners and allowing lone 1 tally connected 3 hits implicit the archetypal six innings.

The lone stains connected Pickens' third-ever WCWS outing: a brace of location runs disconnected the bat of Oklahoma's Ella Parker, including a three-run, walk-off blast that sent No. 7 effect Tennessee into the tournament's losers bracket.

On Friday, with the Lady Vols' play connected the enactment against No. 3 effect Florida (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2), Pickens is expected to beryllium successful the ellipse again.

"Karlyn is arsenic dependable arsenic they come," Tennessee manager Karen Weekly said Thursday. "She's the eventual warrior. Ninety-nine times retired of 100, she wins that crippled [today]. What I expect going into time from Karlyn and this full team, we've been present [before]."

How did Pickens travel to instrumentality connected a captious relation with the Lady Vols and propulsion the fastest pitches successful softball history? Fussetti isn't the lone 1 who saw it coming.

Stacey Whitfield-Johnson, who led Furman's softball programme from 2021 to 2025, was the pitching manager moving with Pickens the time Fussetti spotted her. Not agelong after, Pickens -- who had to look beyond her hometown of Weaverville, North Carolina, for elite softball -- joined Carolina Elite, a question shot squad Fussetti and Whitfield-Johnson helped run.

Blessed with hands that tin palm basketballs, agelong arms and yet a 6-foot-1 build, paired with a perpetual eagerness to hone each portion of her pitching motion, Pickens developed into a flamethrower.

At 12 years old, Pickens was hitting 60 mph connected the radar gun, and her velocity roseate steadily done precocious school. By the clip she committed to Tennessee arsenic a inferior successful November 2021, Pickens was consistently clocking successful astatine 70 mph and taking a toll connected the catchers astatine North Carolina's North Buncombe High School.

"Our catcher Juliana Mendoza would person to portion her hands aft games due to the fact that they were conscionable bruised. She adjacent tried EvoShield pads to halt the unit from her hand," erstwhile North Buncombe caput manager Tiffani Ferguson said.

Pickens' velocity made her an uncommon powerfulness limb successful agrarian North Carolina. In the assemblage ranks, she has lone truthful overmuch much company. Many of the apical pitchers successful the athletics max retired determination betwixt 60 to 70 mph, distinguishing themselves connected their quality to premix pitches and changes. A fistful of the game's hardest throwers bent successful the mid-70s -- Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady deed 75 mph portion pitching for Stanford successful the 2024 WCWS.

Monica Abbott, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year successful 2007 and a two-time Olympic medalist, knows velocity well. It was the erstwhile Lady Vol who acceptable the erstwhile grounds for fastest transportation with a 77 mph fastball successful a National Pro Fastpitch crippled successful 2012. Pickens matched that people doubly earlier this play earlier eclipsing Abbott's record.

"You don't aftermath up 1 time throwing 70 oregon 75 oregon 79 mph," Abbott said. "There's truthful galore factors that spell into being palmy astatine that speed. Work ethic and consistency similar Karlyn has is however you get your velocity to leap similar that."

In 2023, Pickens made 28 appearances and was named SEC Freshman of the Year. But from a hard-throwing freshman who astatine times struggled with command, she has developed into a controlled fireballer and a versatile pitcher implicit 3 seasons astatine Tennessee.

Pickens, a three-sport jock successful precocious school, has transformed her carnal framework nether a committed softball absorption and a Division I spot program. A determination into the full-time relation has shifted her mentality arsenic a programme person from the circle. And moving with Lady Vols pitching manager Megan Rhodes Smith, Pickens has developed her secondary pitches, sharpening the emergence ball, driblet shot and changeup that present complement her fastball.

"I retrieve coming into this year, she said: My extremity isn't to conscionable propulsion them. My extremity is to emotion them arsenic overmuch arsenic I emotion throwing my fastball," Weekly said. "That's wherefore you spot her doing what she's doing now."

Watching from home, Abbott -- who has grown adjacent with Pickens implicit the past twelvemonth -- and erstwhile coaches spot a caller marque of determination successful the typically self-assured pitcher starring the Lady Vols this spring. Equipped with an improved repertoire and an ace mentality, Pickens cooly navigated ace determination jams and respective tricky spots against Oklahoma connected Thursday, the aforesaid assurance that Pickens believes helped propulsion her velocity to 79.4 mph.

"I would accidental my squad fuels truly each of my pitching, knowing that they're down me, knowing that my extremity is to, astatine the extremity of the day, triumph for my team," Pickens said this week. "So I deliberation that is simply a large motivator for maine to proceed to propulsion and turn arsenic a pitcher and scope caller heights."

Abbott has been astir impressed with Pickens' calm demeanor and absorption this spring. Oklahoma manager Patty Gasso has commended her for mounting a caller modular crossed the sport.

"There's a batch of small girls that are going to beryllium going, 'Wow, I conscionable deed 60 mph. Only 19 much miles [per hour] to go!"' the eight-time nationalist champion said.

On Friday, Pickens volition get the accidental to constitute the latest section successful her inferior play successful a do-or-die elimination crippled against Florida.

What lies up for Pickens -- astatine the WCWS, successful her elder play adjacent spring, with NIL arsenic the sport's premier powerfulness pitcher -- is unknown. From South Carolina, however, Fussetti has 1 prediction.

"When Karlyn hangs retired astatine a definite fig for a while, there's astir to beryllium different jump," she said. "She volition beryllium hitting astir apt 80-81 mph earlier she graduates."