When you lose an ace, who do you turn to? For Tennessee softball head coach Karen Weekly, it’s simple – hand the ball off to another one.
Erin Nuwer was sensational in the circle again on Tuesday, facing the minimum in her 4.2 innings of brilliance as No. 1 Tennessee softball scraped past Belmont, 1-0. The sophomore struck out seven and allowed just an infield hit, which she promptly erased when she induced a groundball back to the circle and turned a 1-6-3 double play.
“We’ve seen it all year,” Weekly said. “The blessing of having a deep pitching staff, that we’re able to go to Erin as quickly as we did and know that she’s gonna keep ‘em down.”
Tennessee ace Karlyn Pickens, who had started the game, departed in the second inning after a visit to the circle from the medical staff to examine her right shoulder.
“I wasn’t out there, but I just know that she had a little bit of discomfort, and then threw a pitch and said she still felt the discomfort,” Weekly said.
Nuwer came out of the bullpen in the third inning to relieve Sage Mardjetko, and she inherited a tough spot with runners on first and second awaiting her. She promptly struck out the first batter she faced and induced a weak flyout to left field to navigate through the inning.
“It says a lot about her and her ability to just have that kind of belief in herself, which is the big thing this year,” Weekly said. “It also speaks to the preparation that Megan (Rhodes Smith) has done with them, and a big key for us early this season was put all of our pitchers in different roles. Starting role, middle role, closing role.”
The win on Tuesday ended up the ninth of the year for Nuwer in 10 appearances. She’s allowed just a single run in her 37.2 innings on the season. While Pickens is still viewed as the ace of the staff, Nuwer also leads the team in wins, appearances, ERA and opponent batting average.
For Weekly, it’s quite a luxury to have three aces at her disposal at any time of the game to shut things down. Mardjetko didn’t have her ace stuff versus Belmont, but Nuwer certainly did, silencing Belmont and ensuring that Ella Dodge’s first inning RBI double stood up as the game winner.
“All three of them act like an ace, they do, and they have the confidence and they know that that’s who they are,” Weekly said. “I think because of what we’ve done so far this year, Erin was very comfortable in that situation.”
But this hasn’t been just a stretch of dominance against mid-major opponents – she has shut down some of the game’s best offenses. Nuwer’s masterpiece remains her one-hit shutout over UCLA, a team that currently is ranked second in the nation with an output of 11.1 runs per game. That performance came a day after she struck out the side in her lone inning of work against Nebraska, one of the top teams in the country.
Her opening night no-hitter against BYU acted as merely a dress rehearsal for the success to come. Since then, she’s aced every test handed to her, but her biggest could come this weekend.
With Pickens’ injury designation as day-to-day, Weekly is ready to roll with the group she’s got.
“I’m just this kinda person who’s like, whatever you tell me the situation is, we’re gonna go and go win,” Weekly said. “I’m not saying anything is gonna be easy, but we’ve got really good pitching with Sage and Erin, and Peyton Hardenburger. Man, she’s a really good pitcher, who, again, just hasn’t had the opportunities because of the depth we’ve had.”
Should Pickens not be available in Tennessee’s upcoming series with LSU, Nuwer appears ready to step up and lead the Lady Vols’ charge into SEC play.
