Carolina Blaze Take Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens No. 1 Overall in 2026 AUSL College Draft

The Carolina Blaze selected Tennessee right-hander Karlyn Pickens with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 Athletes Unlimited Softball League College Draft on Monday night, headlining a top-three sweep of pitchers on ESPN2.

Pickens, a two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year and the third pitcher in Tennessee program history with four career no-hitters, was the first name announced by Commissioner Kim Ng on the league’s first college-draft broadcast. The Texas Volts followed with Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady at No. 2, and the Oklahoma City Spark took Belmont’s Maya Johnson at No. 3 — the highest pro draft pick in Belmont University history in any sport.

“Our staff believes Karlyn is the whole package,” Carolina Blaze general manager Dana Sorensen said in a statement. “She is an ultimate competitor, and we feel that four years pitching in the SEC has given her the best preparation for the pro league. We are so thrilled to bring the North Carolina native back home to the Blaze.”

Sorensen also pointed to the right-hander’s pitch mix beyond her record-setting fastball: “We all know the velocity, but beyond that, she has the ability to go up and down in the zone with elite stuff and adds an emerging change-up that has some of her best swing-and-miss numbers.”

Pickens threw the fastest recorded pitch in NCAA softball history during her Tennessee career and entered the draft with four career no-hitters — joining Olympic silver medalist Monica Abbott and Ivy Renfroe as the only Lady Vols pitchers in that group.

17 picks, all 17 Golden Tickets

The four-round draft assigned all 17 of the league’s pre-announced Golden Ticket recipients to AUSL rosters. The two expansion franchises took the deepest classes — the Portland Cascade with four picks, the Spark with three. The Carolina Blaze and Chicago Bandits also drafted three players each. The Texas Volts and the defending-champion Utah Talons took two apiece.

Round 2 produced one of the night’s most distinctive moments: Texas teammates went back-to-back at picks 7 and 8, with catcher Reese Atwood joining Pickens in Carolina and infielder Leighann Goode joining Canady on the Volts.

The full pick-by-pick breakdown is available in our complete 2026 AUSL College Draft results.

What’s next

Drafted players retain their NCAA eligibility through the remainder of their college seasons and may sign with their AUSL teams once that eligibility expires. The 2026 AUSL season opens June 9, with the Carolina Blaze playing home games at Smith Family Stadium on the Duke University campus.

Pickens is set to lead Tennessee into the SEC Tournament this week before the Lady Vols’ postseason run. Her professional debut with the Blaze, like every drafted player’s, will follow her college finish.