Rethlake Pitches Kentucky to Record-Tying 12th-Straight Win

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Junior pitcher Erin Rethlake continued her sensational start to the 2017 season with her fifth win of the season, as the No. 19 Kentucky softball team shutout Kent State, 2-0 on Saturday afternoon to win its school-record tying 12th game in a row. 

Saturday’s win was part of day three at the John Cropp Invitational – which will conclude on Sunday afternoon with a tripleheader headlined by No. 19 Kentucky facing No. 15 Michigan at 2 p.m. ET. The game will be shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app with Dick Gabriel and former Purdue head coach Carol Bruggeman calling the action. 

Kentucky improves to 17-4 on the season with Saturday’s result – just one week before Southeastern Conference play begins next week in Georgia for the Wildcats. Kent State with the loss drops to 8-9 overall on the season and is now 1-2 at the John Cropp Classic. Kentucky remained perfect during the tournament – with a 4-0 record this weekend so far. 

One. Kentucky pitching, led by five shutout innings from junior Erin Rethlake and two three-strikeout innings from Meagan Prince, only allowed one hit on the day. 

Abbey Cheek roped a one-out double to the wall in right field with Hannah Huffman pinch running at first base. Huffman came around to score what turned out to be the game-winning run on the play.

Meagan Prince was the key player in the game for Kentucky – as she came in to pitch the sixth and seventh innings. She faced six batters, and struck out all six of them with four swinging K’s and two looking K’s. 

Both of Kentucky’s runs were scored in the bottom of the fourth inning. Alex Martens broke up a perfect game for KSU’s pitcher, Ronnie Ladines with a single up the middle to start the inning. Martens was pinch ran for by Huffman, who came around to score from first on Cheek’s RBI double to the wall in right. Katie Reed then doubled with two outs to score Cheek. FINAL – No. 19 Kentucky 2, Kent State 0

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