Karlyn Pickens gifted dumpling toy by fan after taking hit to her face in AUSL game

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Karlyn Pickens' eventful outing in the circle for the Carolina Blaze ended with a surprise from a fan on July 18.

The former Tennessee softball star pitcher got hit in the face by a line drive from Oklahoma City Spark shortstop Sydney Romero with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning. Pickens took the hit on the chin and quickly recovered to scoop the ball up, but the Spark scored a run to extend the lead to three.

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Pickens had a solid start to the game and threw seven strikeouts with seven hits allowed and three earned runs in 4⅔ innings. But the Spark scored eight unearned runs with Pickens in the circle and the Blaze lost 12-4 in extra innings.

A fan brought a gift for Pickens, who recorded an unboxing video on her Tiktok account.

The fan delivered the squishy dumpling toy to rookie catcher Reese Atwood to pass along to Pickens, who had a dark purple bruise on her chin where the ball hit her.

"This is an unboxing for the fan that gave me a dumpling after I got hit in the face," said Pickens, who was standing with Atwood in the video.

"She said, 'Make sure you get this to Karlyn,' " Atwood said. "And she was like, 'is she OK?' and I said, 'She'll be OK.' Let's see, is it a sparkly (one)?"

"It's not going to be," Pickens said skeptically.

But when Pickens opened the dumpling container, both she and Atwood gasped when they saw a pink glitter dumpling.

"My luck has not ran out, people!" Pickens said, grinning.

The dumpling toys are one of the current internet sensations, combining the popularity of blind unboxing toys and squishy fidget toys. Customers won't know which dumpling they purchased before opening it, and the glitter dumplings are considered rare.

Pickens, who was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2026 AUSL Draft, has been one of the top pitchers in the AUSL during her rookie season. She's second in the league in strikeouts (60), games started (10), innings pitched (60⅓ innings), and she owns a 3.13 ERA, which ranks fifth among pitchers who have thrown at least 30 innings.

The Weaverville, North Carolina, native left Tennessee as a two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year, a three-time first-team All-American and the record holder for the fastest softball pitch ever recorded (79.4 mph). She led the Lady Vols to the Women's College World Series three times and ended her career with a 71-33 record, 824 strikeouts, 26 shutouts and four no-hitters.

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬.Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Karlyn Pickens gifted dumpling toy by fan after taking hit to her face in AUSL game

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