Two Pitchers Headline SEC’s First Softball Weekly Honors of 2026
SEC Weekly Honors
With the first weekend of college softball in the books, that means it’s time for weekly awards. One of the best and deepest conferences in the nation, the SEC, has announced their Freshman, Pitcher, and Player of the Week awards.
In the season’s first honors, two out of the three are pitchers. Across softball this past weekend, great pitching took center stage with several no-hitters and a huge amount of strikeouts thrown. It was no different in the SEC.
The SEC Freshman of the Week went to Hailey Nutter out of Kentucky. Nutter is a freshman pitcher who started her career off right with two wins against Loyola Chicago and Minnesota.
The cool thing is she did not allow a run in either game, and in her first ever collegiate start, she pitched a seven-inning, complete-game no-hitter while striking out 14 of the 21 batters she faced. Nutter followed that up with a five-inning shutout that resulted in the Wildcats run-ruling the Golden Gophers, 8-0. Nutter amassed a total of 22 strikeouts on the weekend with no walks.
I had the chance to see Nutter pitch in the fall against Louisville, and she looked poised and ready to go then. Look for her to be a standout for the Wildcats and put together a nice career.
SEC Pitcher of the Week went to Karlyn Pickens of the Tennessee Lady Vols. Pickens has started the season off as usual, as the senior dominated in Clearwater at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
Karlyn fanned 22 batters in 14 innings pitched over the weekend and concluded that with a two-hit performance against the No. 5 Oregon Ducks. Off the field of play last week, Pickens also became the first-ever collegiate softball player to sign an NIL partnership with the Athletes Unlimited Softball League.
To round out the SEC weekly honors, Reese Atwood of the defending national champion Texas Longhorns brought the SEC Player of the Week back to Austin. Atwood has cemented her name atop Longhorns softball history with 58 career home runs. One more and she will own the top spot altogether as she is currently tied. Atwood finished the weekend slashing .500/.600/1.063 with three home runs, 10 RBI, and seven runs scored.
As the season moves forward, there will be a great chance you will see these names show up in the weekly honors more than once. This season has gotten off to a fun start. With another great slate of softball coming this weekend, it will be interesting to see who claims these honors next week.
