The Kentucky softball team couldn’t recover from a four-run third inning and a dominant pitching performance from South Carolina hurler Julie Sarratt, as UK was ousted in the first round of the 2013 Southeastern Conference Tournament on Wednesday evening, 6-3.The evening kicked off what was supposed to be a memorable event for UK as the SEC Tournament made its way to Lexington for the first time in school history in the newly renovated John Cropp Statdium. However, the Wildcats seventh-inning rally fell short after scoring two in the frame and bringing the tying run at the plate before Sarratt ended the game on a strikeout.The result wasn’t what the Cats wanted, but it wasn’t enough to make them look past what this weekend means to UK and its softball program.”I would like to thank the SEC and the University of Kentucky for putting on this venue right now,” head coach Rachel Lawson said. “I think the SEC is a special tournament because all the teams who come here, all 10 of them are exceptional teams. I think it’s a great venue and barring the rain everything else has turned out really nice, both from the SEC side and from our side.”UK freshman pitcher Kelsey Nunley was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team earlier in the week and had been reliable for the Cats all season, especially down the stretch. Wednesday just wasn’t her night either, as South Carolina had a good game plan adjusting to her attack.Nunley had been on fire for Kentucky, winning two games over perennial powerhouse and defending champion Alabama last weekend. It turned out she just didn’t have it tonight and Lawson gives credit to the Gamecocks for having a good scouting report on her freshman.UK came off one of its biggest series wins over Alabama last weekend and figured to carry that momentum into this weekend’s tournament. That series win may have bit them in the rear-end as the Cats seemed to have locked themselves into good position as far as seeding goes in the NCAA Tournament.Kentucky has essentially clinched an at-large bid into the postseason and are hoping to host a regional tournament, while South Carolina had a little more to play for being considered on the bubble.”I think at times, especially when you are dealing with a team so youthful with five freshmen and a sophomore behind the plate, I think sometimes their focus is a little misguided,” Lawson said. “I think beating Alabama was a big deal to them and beating South Carolina three times earlier in the year, offensively we didn’t start strong and they came out and seemed a little hungrier than us.”Looking forward the Wildcats can learn from their mistakes and will have some time off to shake this loss off and look ahead to achieving their ultimate goal of making it to the Women’s College World Series.”We need a day off so tomorrow we will take off and watch the teams who are playing,” Lawson said. “Obviously we have good pitching, we have won a lot of games. Offensively, I think we are going to have to do a better job of mixing things up. I think we have a good game plan we just didn’t execute them this weekend. We have a lot of big wins and a lot of experience going into postseason I just think it depends on if it’s a good matchup for us or not.”