The Kentucky softball team will wrap up a season-long 11-game homestand on Tuesday, Mar. 13, when it hosts Mississippi State for a Southeastern Conference doubleheader. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at the UK Softball Complex.
Tuesday marks the 28th all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Bulldogs. MSU has won the last seven matchups and holds a 19-8 advantage in the series.
The Bulldogs are currently 15-11 on the year and 0-3 in SEC play after dropping three games at Alabama over the weekend. MSU had won three straight before being swept by the undefeated Crimson Tide.
MSU is batting .310 as a team, led by Chelsea Bramlett who is hitting .424 with five doubles and 10 RBI. Courtney Bures leads the team with 26 RBI, while Hayle Guess is batting .338 with a team-high four home runs. Sarah Hickerson and Kelli Miller have led the pitching staff with an ERA of 1.35 and 1.56, respectively. Hickerson leads the staff with 34 strikeouts in 41 innings of work. Miller is 6-5 on the year with two complete games and has struck out 31 batters in 54 innings this season.
The Wildcats snapped an 11-game SEC losing skid with a 2-1 win over Auburn in their last outing. The league win was the first for UK it defeated Florida Apr. 22, 2006, in Gainesville by a final of 3-2. UK continued to add to its best start in school history and is now 13-6 on the year with a 1-2 mark in conference play.
Kentucky has posted a .345 team batting average and 25 homeruns through its first 19 games this season. The Cats have homered in all but four games and have lost three of those contests.
Senior Katie Campbell leads the Wildcats with a .436 batting average and eight doubles. She is second on the team with five homeruns and has driven in 17 runs this season. Senior Brooke Marnitz leads the team and the SEC with 33 RBI and nine homers. Marnitz is batting .414 with four doubles, 20 runs scored and nine bases on balls, including back-to-back intentional walks in the second game of the Auburn series.
Freshman Amber Matousek has a team-low 2.48 ERA and remains perfect on the year at 5-0 after earning the victory against Auburn on Sunday. Matousek has tossed three complete games and is second on the team with 19 strikeouts. Freshman Jennifer Young leads the team with six wins on the year. Young is 6-3 with a 3.67 ERA and leads the team with 42 innings pitched.
?We did not begin the weekend well but we finished on the right path,? said head coach Eileen Schmidt. ?Mississippi State is in the middle of a very long road trip so we need to be ready right off the bat. They have been scoring early and often. Their pitching staff has been doing a good job of managing games and keeping teams off the board.?
