ATHENS, Ga. – The Southeastern Conference announced its 2025 postseason softball awards Friday, with Tennessee junior Karlyn Pickens earning SEC Pitcher of the Year honors for the second consecutive season. Pickens and teammate Taylor Pannell were both named to the All-SEC First Team.
Pickens dominated from the circle throughout the season, becoming just the seventh pitcher in league history to win the award multiple times. She joins an elite group that includes Georgia’s Michelle Green (2003, 2005), Tennessee’s Monica Abbott (2004, 2005, 2007), Florida’s Stacey Nelson (2008, 2009) and Kelly Barnhill (2017, 2018), and Alabama’s Kelsi Dunne (2010, 2011) and Jackie Traina (2012, 2014).
The right-hander closed the regular season with a 20-7 record, a 0.96 ERA, 18 complete games, six shutouts and 221 strikeouts in 167.1 innings pitched. Opponents hit just .164 against her.
In conference play, Pickens went 11-4 with a 1.13 ERA, tossing 10 complete games and three shutouts. She struck out 113 batters over 93.0 innings.
Pannell, a redshirt sophomore infielder, turned in a career year at the plate, posting personal bests in batting average (.414), runs scored (48), hits (63), doubles (11), triples (2), home runs (15), RBIs (60), walks (30), on-base percentage (.516), slugging percentage (.809) and stolen bases (9). The First Team honor is the second of her career.
Since 1997, Tennessee has earned 87 All-SEC selections from 47 different student-athletes.
The All-SEC teams are voted on by the league’s 15 head coaches. Each team includes 21 student-athletes, along with a nine-member All-Defensive Team. Ties were not broken in the voting process.
