LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The University of Kentucky softball team Southeastern Conference play when it travels to take on No. 18/20 Auburn over the weekend, Mar. 11-12, in a three-game series. UK will play 10 straight games away from the friendly confines of the UK Softball Complex, as it continues its longest road trip of the season.
The Cats will play nine games in 10 days. They face Auburn for three games this weekend and then head to Georgia for a three-game series beginning Tuesday, Mar. 14. The Wildcats will wrap up the road swing at South Carolina, Mar. 18-19, in Columbia.
The Cats and Tigers have met 24 times previous to this weekend with the Tigers holding a 16-8 edge in the series. The conference foes met four times last season with AU taking three of those meetings. The Cats won the series opener in Lexington on Apr. 30 by a final score of 5-2.
The Cats are 3-6 all-time in SEC openers after defeating Ole Miss in the 2005 conference opener. The first win came Mar. 24, 2000, with a 4-3 win over Auburn. The Cats also won Mar. 7, 2001, with a 4-1 win over Georgia. All three wins were in Lexington. UK is 3-1 in SEC home openers and 0-5 when opening the conference season on the road.
The Cats defeated Eastern Kentucky, 8-2, in their last outing to push their winning streak to five games and move to 12-6 on the year. Auburn topped Samford by a score of 1-0 on Wednesday to improve its record to 11-2 on the season.
?Well, our pre-season vacation is over and it is time to get busy and that’s what we will be doing on this conference road trip,? said head coach Eileen Schmidt. ?Nine games in 10 days will be a tough task, but that is what we are going to do. Auburn is a big swinging team and they have solid pitching. We are going to have to be ready from the start.?
Five Cats are batting .300 or better this season, led by junior Katie Campbell with a .451 average. Junior Brooke Marnitz follows at .382, while freshman Megan Miller is hitting .368 in her first season with the Wildcats. Seniors Meghan Cooper and Lori Melchi follow at .360 and .340, respectively.
The Wildcats have won a season-high five straight games and are now 12-6 on the year which matches is the best start in school history through 18 games. UK started the 2004 season with an 11-6-1 mark.
?We have the best pre season in school history because we have played with heart,? said Schmidt. ?That’s why you play the game. Now we have to carry that passion and heart into conference play.
?Someone asked me the other day ?Coach, if u could pick a team in the SEC you wish you were like, who would it be? and I said “Kentucky,?? added Schmidt. ?We might not match up on paper with Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, etc., but we play with passion and effort and we play hard. We enjoy playing and I can?t ask any more from a group of young ladies than quality effort every day.?
The Cats and Tigers kick off the three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday, Mar. 18, at Jane B. Moore Field. A single game on Sunday wraps up the series. Play is set to begin at 2 p.m. each day.
