Karlyn Pickens strikes out 29 as North Buncombe softball wins 13-inning playoff marathon

SHELBY – All it took for North Buncombe softball to reach a second consecutive 3A regional final was a lifetime high in innings, pitches and strikeouts from the defending Gatorade State Player of the Year.

And to avoid coming any closer to the 200-pitch mark, Tennessee signee Karlyn Pickens had to score the game's only run, too.

Pickens struck out 29 in a 13-inning, one-hit shutout Friday, outdueling Crest freshman Aidan Ledbetter with a legendary performance to bring the Black Hawks back to the brink of their first state championship appearance.

"We were just running off pure adrenaline at that moment, and everybody wanted it so bad," Pickens said. "We weren't going home without a win."

Pickens retired all but four batters she faced and allowed only one baserunner past first base. Crest did not get the ball out of the infield; the Chargers' lone hit was a nubber that floated over Pickens and died at the top of the circle.

Her 29 strikeouts are tied for the eighth-most in NCHSAA history and the most since 2009.

"She pitches her heart out," freshman Molly Clark said. "We all know that, and so we just keep on building her up every time."

North Buncombe had 11 hits, left seven runners in scoring position and had three runners thrown out at the plate Friday. A first-inning triple was erased by a 5-3-2 double play, and a seventh-inning double didn't score a run due to the baserunner believing it was a home run and celebrating prematurely.

"This team just wants it so bad," Pickens said. "We understand that if you're going to get far in state, we've got to flush all those things that happen. Just mind over matter."

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Chargers pitcher Aidan Ledbetter never blinked or wavered. The freshman acknowledged there was "definitely pressure" facing off with Pickens, an All-American senior, but she didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"It was the same thing she's been doing all year," Crest coach Gregory Earl said. "She stays composed, she trusts her defense. That's a lot, coming out of a freshman, to pitch 13 innings like that. ... She just really stepped up."

Ledbetter fooled Pickens during her first four trips to the plate and intentionally walked her in the fifth, but to lead off the 13th inning, Pickens put down a

perfect bunt up the first-base line, and she stole second on the next pitch.

"I was just trying to do whatever it took to get my team going," Pickens said. "If that meant I had to bunt, then I was gonna bunt. And that started a lot of momentum."

An infield single moved Pickens to third. Clark slapped a single up the middle to score Pickens, and before she headed back to the dugout, Pickens flexed her right arm, slapped her bicep with her left and pointed out to Clark standing on first base.

"Molly has worked very, very hard trying to learn how we hit, and how we do working inside out," Black Hawks coach Tiffani Ferguson said. "She got the outside pitch, she took it, and it just worked."

With a lead finally in hand, Pickens went back to work, knowing she was three outs away from the state semifinal series.

"I was like, all right, I've got to take this to next level," Pickens said. "Full throttle."

Sure enough, a game that had it all — exhausted players drinking coke in the dugout and eating cookies on the field for energy boosts, a lengthy umpire discussion about a heckling fan, a violent collision up the first-base line, several injury delays — concluded with what had been its most consistent feature since the very beginning:

Pickens struck out the side in the 13th, blowing away the final batter with her 164th pitch of the night and advancing to next week's best-of-three regional final against Central Davidson.

"I'm so incredibly proud of every single person on this team for stepping up and being behind me," Pickens said. "We just — I love them so much."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Karlyn Pickens strikes out 29 as North Buncombe softball wins 13-inning playoff marathon