April 6, 2000

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky softball team will play host to the 18th-rankedSouth Carolina Lady Gamecocks in a pivotal four-game series beginningFriday, April 7, at the UK Softball Complex. The doubleheader on Friday isset for 5 p.m.

“South Carolina has a very storied history of success and they will be agood measuring stick for us to see how much progress we’ve made,” UK coachBeth Kirchner said. “They have good pitching and defense, but we will needto be ready to play clean defense as well.”

UK (23-17, 5-3 SEC) sits atop the Southeastern Conference EasternDivision, while USC (27-15, 8-7) is close behind in second place.

The Cats scored two come-from-behind victories at Louisville on Wednesday.UK has won six of its last seven games and 16 of the last 21 after startingthe season at 7-12.

Last season in Columbia, S.C., UK upset the then 10th-ranked LadyGamecocks, 4-2, in the opening game of the series, but dropped the nextthree games to USC.

The Lady Gamecocks went on to share the 1999 SEC Eastern Division titlewith Tennessee and participated in the NCAA Tournament, before beingeliminated by Texas Tech, 4-1.

USC is led by sophomore hurler Megan Matthews, who was outstanding in herfreshman campaign, posting a 29-15 record, striking out a league-leading313 batters and recording an NCAA-best nine saves. Matthews, a native ofGreer, S.C., was a 1999 NFCA honorable mention All-American, the secondfreshman in school history to receive such an honor.