Karen Weekly explains why Tennessee used multiple pitchers against Oklahoma

Karen Weekly didn’t shy away from answering questions regarding Tennessee’s strategic decisions against Oklahoma on Saturday.

The Volunteers made a surprising decision in the circle, starting Karlyn Pickens, the third pitcher in the rotation. Tennessee didn’t open the game with ace Ashley Rogers or Payton Gottshall.

“I like what Pickens can do,” Weekly explained, making sense of her decision. “I like her variety of pitches and that was really what went into it, was watching them and how they approach at-bats. I knew it was a risk, and I take full responsibility for it.”

Alas, the Volunteers were eventually run-ruled, and it brought up a myriad of question marks as to why Tennessee didn’t just roll with their best options right out of the gate. Afterwards, Weekly elaborated on the Lady Vols’ strategy against the Sooners, doubling-down on what she believed was the correct strategy prior to the game.

“Yeah, so just scouting them, kind of watching a lot of the other games where people had been able to kind of hold the number in check as far as runs scored. I felt like Karlyn presented a pretty good option to start with,” explained Weekly. “I didn’t plan on anyone going the full game or letting them see anybody too many times. I thought that was something else important in terms of just trying to keep them off balance.

“We planned to throw different people at ’em. The people we put in there I thought had the pitches in their arsenal that would be most successful. We didn’t execute in a lot of those instances, but ultimately that decision is on me.”

Additionally, Weekly harkened back to a game against he Florida Gators earlier in the season, where the strategy was for Rogers or Gottshall to come in after Tennessee secured a lead.

“Yeah, I think Ashley was going to be our back-end person situationally if the game warranted that,” added Weekly.

As you can see, it didn’t work out for Weekly’s squad, and now with the loss Tennessee is now forced to play out of the loser’s bracket at the Women’s College World Series going forward.

With both starting pitchers available going forward, Tennessee will still have a chance to make some noise and get itself back into the thick of things. Rogers sports a 19-1 record with a 0.83 ERA, while Gottshall has a 16-1 record with a 1.57 ERA. Contrast that with Pickens’ 9-6 record and 2.84 ERA.

The post Karen Weekly explains why Tennessee used multiple pitchers against Oklahoma appeared first on On3.