March 15, 1999
CONWAY, S.C. – The University of Kentucky softball team split in its two games Monday at the Coastal Carolina Invitational Tournament.The Wildcats opened the tournament with a 9-6 upset win over Middle Tennessee State (13-7).
UK jumped on the Blue Raiders early as junior Leslie Kwiatkowski hit her third home run of the season, a three-run shot over the right field fence, giving the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.MTSU slowly crept back into the game, striking for one run in the bottom of the third and two runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game, 3-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Blue Raiders scored three runs on four hits to jump ahead 6-3 while UK committed two errors. Back came the Wildcats in the sixth inning led by Andy Eilertson who singled, scoring Colleen Boddy and Shanna Martini. Kwiatkowski scored UK’s other run in the inning on a wild pitch.
With the score tied 6-6, the Wildcats took matters into its own hands in the top of the seventh.
Tiffany Kruse singled to score Beth Fogle and advance Jen Howland to second. Kwiatkowski doubled scoring Howland and moving Kruse to third. Kruse scored on an error to put UK up 9-6.UK pitcher Keary Camunas won her fifth game of the year while recording four strikeouts.
However, it was UK’s damage at the plate that did in MTSU. Kwiatkowski led the way going 3-4 with four RBIs and scoring two runs. Boddy was 2-3 with an RBI and scored a run while Howland went 2-4 scoring two runs.
UK nearly pulled off its biggest upset of the year when they took on 17th-ranked Illinois Chicago in its second game.
In the first inning, Kruse hit a single to score Fogle and give UK a 1-0 lead. The Flames came right back in fourth when they tied the score, 1-1.In the sixth inning, Kwiatkowski hit a double off the right field fence to score Kruse and give the Wildcats another one run lead.
UK appeared to have the game in hand with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when three straight singles spelled doom for the Wildcats. Freeman singled to score Booth from second base and send the game into extra innings.
In extra innings, UK took one run leads into three straight innings but Illinois-Chicago was able tie.
Flames pitcher Samantha Ilui decided the game with her bat as she hit a three run shot over the left field fence as UK fell 7-5 in eleven innings.The Wildcats (8-14) were able to score five runs on just two hits off Ilui who has now defeated UK three times on the year.
On Tuesday, UK will face host Coastal Carolina at 2 p.m. before single elimination tournament play begins on Wednesday.
