Feb. 14, 2003

Stanford Box Score

Missouri Box Score

Palo Alto, Calif. – The University of Kentucky softball team split a pair of games on the first day of the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. The Wildcats (2-5) defeated Missouri 5-4 in eight innings and fell to the 14th-ranked host Cardinal, 8-0, in five innings.

The Cardinal jumped all over the Wildcats starting the game with two runs on three hits. They added three more in each of the second and third innings for the 8-0 lead. UK was unable to get anything going offensively, scattering three hits over five innings.

In the early game against Missouri, the Cats got off to a good start scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Senior Nikki Jones led things off with an infield single. Sophomore Jessica Nance then hit a line drive to the gap in right-center. The triple for Nance scored Jones. Senior Lyndsey Angus reached base on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Freshman Ingrid Lochelt singled, scoring Nance and Angus.

The score remained 3-0 until Missouri struck in the top of the fifth. With two outs, the Wildcats committed two errors and allowed the Tigers to score twice. Mizzou scored again in the top of the seventh inning and when UK failed to scored in their half of the inning, an extra frame would be played.

The international tiebreaker rule would be played, where a player would be placed on second at the beginning of the inning. Missouri was able to bring their player home following a single and an error and threatened to score another as they had a runner on third with one out. But two Tigers popped up, ending the inning.

Sophomore Megan Brooks was placed on second for Kentucky in the bottom of the eighth inning. Sophomore Brook Bowman advanced her to third with a sacrifice bunt and Jones tied the game with a single to right field. Nance followed her with another right-field single, moving Jones to second. Erin Kalka came into pitch for the Tigers and faced Angus. After staying alive through many 2-2 pitches, Angus singled up the middle, scoring Jones and giving Kentucky their second win of the season.

It was Kentucky’s second straight extra inning game. They lost to Illinois State, 4-3, in eight innings in the consolation game of the Fun & Sun Classic on Feb. 2.

The Cats will face Penn State on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET and then will play a seeded game at 6:30 p.m. ET or 8:45 p.m. ET. Live Stats can be found at www.ukathletics.com.

First Game                       R H EMissouri   0 0 0   0 2 0   1 1   4 8 2Kentucky   3 0 0   0 0 0   0 2   5 7 4

Second Game R H EStanford 2 3 3 0 0 8 10 0Kentucky 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4