Errors Plague Kentucky in Rubber Game at No. 16 Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. – In what has been the exception to the norm all season for the No. 17 Kentucky softball team, the Wildcats committed four errors and managed just three hits in a 3-1 loss to the No. 16 Georgia Bulldogs on Monday night at Jack Turner Stadium in Athens. 

The loss is just the sixth all season for UK, and drops the Wildcats to 19-6 overall on the season including a 1-2 record within the Southeastern Conference. The win for Georgia gives the Bulldogs the series win with wins on Sunday and Monday to capture the three-game set. UGA improves to 26-4 overall and 2-1 in SEC play. 

Kentucky’s Meagan Prince was charged with the loss in the circle, although two of her three runs were unearned and baserunners were a result of uncharacteristically poor defense from the Wildcats infield. The four errors committed by UK was the most since April of 2016 when UK committed six in a loss to Missouri. Prince falls to 8-3 on the year. Georgia’s Brittany Gray gets the win, her 16th of the season compared to just two losses. 

UK will next be in action on Friday night at John Cropp Stadium at 6 p.m. ET against the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Wildcats will not play Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday night as was originally scheduled, so there will not be a midweek game. All three games of the Arkansas series will be shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. 

Four. The four Kentucky errors told the story of the game, as the Wildcats committed their most miscues all season long in the field.

The key play came in the second inning as the Bulldogs’ speedy Cortni Emanuel scored on a throwing error from the UK defense to make it a 2-0 game – coming around to score from first on the play. 

Alex Martens was the key player in the game for Kentucky, scoring the Wildcats’ only run of the game in the top of the sixth inning on her second home run of the season. It was an overpowering blast into the trees in right field that got the Wildcats back in the game. 

With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Kentucky committed its first fielding error of the game on Sydni Emanuel and she came around to score on what would have been an inning-ending ground ball with two outs as the Wildcats couldn’t handle it in the infield. UGA 1, UK 0

In the second inning – it was much of the same, as C. Emanuel scored from second on a one-out infield single that turned into an error on a bad throw that went past the first base bag and into shallow right field. UGA 2, UK 0

In the bottom of the fourth inning, S. Emanuel singled with one out and then a double to Alyssa DiCarlo out to right field scored Emanuel from first. UGA 3, UK 0

Kentucky’s only run of the game was scored by Alex Martens, as she homered to right field in the top of the sixth inning. FINAL – No. 16 Georgia 3, No. 17 Kentucky 1

For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.