The Wildcat softball team will host the Kentucky Invitational this weekend, Mar. 5-6, at the UK Softball Complex as it opens its home schedule. UK is 7-14 after playing its first 21 games away from the friendly confines of Lexington, Ky.

Youngstown State and Belmont make up the three-team field. YSU is currently 2-2, while the Bruins own a 1-2 record this season.

YSU and BU kick off the tournament on Saturday with a noon contest. The Cats then play their first home game of the 2005 season when they face Belmont at 2:30 PM. UK wraps up day one of play with a 5 PM showdown against the Penguins.

The tournament continues on Sunday, Mar. 6, at 10 AM when YSU and BU face off again. The Cats then take on BU at 12:30 PM, followed by the sixth and final game of the tournament at 3 PM between UK and YSU.

Kentucky has faced Belmont once prior to this weekend. That meeting came on Feb. 24, 2002, and UK won by a final score of 18-2 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Cats and Penguins have also faced off once before. UK defeated YSU, 3-1, in Lexington on Feb. 28, 2004, in this same tournament.

The Wildcats have won a season-high three straight games after taking home the hardware with a 5-1 record at the Frost Cutlery Invitational last weekend in Chattanooga. Junior Amber Janneck?s solo walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh gave the Cats the tourney title.

Janneck leads the Cats with five roundtrippers and 11 runs batted in this season. She is batting .271 (16-for-59) and is tied with Jessica Nance for the team-high with 10 runs scored. The duo also lead the team with three doubles each.

?We would really like to get these games in, knowing the weather is going to be tough,? said head coach Eileen Schmidt. ?We finished off a good Chattanooga tournament and we have some things that we still need to adjust before we begin Southeastern Conference play next week against Ole Miss. It’s important that we get some people healthy and some time on the field.?