Feb. 10, 2000

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky softball team will begin the 2000 season onFriday at the Texas-Arlington Tournament in Arlington, Texas. The Cats beginpool play at 9 a.m. when they take on preseason No. 8 Oklahoma.

UK will face the Purdue Boilermakers at 11:15 a.m. on Friday, beforeconcluding play with a 3:45 p.m. contest against the Louisiana-Monroe LadyIndians.

“We are very excited to begin the season, and our expectations are veryhigh,” UK coach Beth Kirchner said. “We have improved in all facets of the gamedefensively, offensively, pitching, athleticism, and we all have moreexperience. We are opening up with Oklahoma, a good team that is expected towin the Big 12. It will be a good measure to see how far we have come.”

The 20 team tournament consists of five pools, four teams in each pool.Tournament format will be used on Saturday and Sunday with seeds beingdetermined by the results of pool play from Friday. After the first round ofthe tournament, each game will be single elimination.

Participating teams include Arkansas, Auburn, and Ole Miss from theSoutheastern Conference, along with 1999 College World Series participantSouthern Mississippi.