Offense Comes Alive as UK Splits Doubleheader
The same Kentucky team played both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday, but the Wildcat offense couldn’t have looked much different.
UK came alive in game two and clubbed the Cats past Alabama.
“In game one, we didn’t have a lot of energy and enthusiasm and we weren’t being aggressive in the box,” Katie Reed said. “We were just kind of out there, not really doing anything. We just wanted to go into game two kind of changing our mindset and just have more energy and really being aggressive.”
After managing just one hit off Alexis Osorio in a 9-0 game-one loss, No. 19 UK (20-10, 3-7 Southeastern Conference) salvaged a Saturday split with an offensive explosion and an 11-6 win. The Cats pounded out 14 hits and drew five walks, with seven different players tallying a base knock, to beat No. 16 Alabama (23-9, 4-4 SEC).
“We had a pretty long chat in the locker room and we just talked about (how) we didn’t have a lot of energy, we weren’t ourselves, we weren’t the team that we knew that we could be,” catcher Jenny Schaper said. “I think we kind of ate some food, regrouped, talked amongst ourselves and then came out almost like new people.”
The talk between games went a long way, but it may have been a defensive play that really got the bats going.
In the top of the first, the Crimson Tide had already scratched out a run and loaded the bases with only one out, seemingly poised to sustain the momentum from game one. Alabama then smacked a grounder to Reed’s left and the All-American shortstop did what she does, ending the inning and shifting the momentum all in one deft motion with a double play.
“I always tell the team you never know when a game-winning play is going to happen,” Rachel Lawson said. “I think that particular (play) could be one of the game-winning plays. I think if she doesn’t get that, turn that double play and they put a couple runs on the board, I think you go back into defensive mode.”
Reed would go on to have a big game at the plate, with three hits, three runs batted in and a home run in the sixth inning that plated a pair of big insurance runs. Jenny Schaper and Bailey Vick joined her in tallying three hits, with Schaper doubling in three runs in the second inning.
“One, it shows that they’re tough and they know how to battle,” Lawson said. “And the other thing is that’s what you need for the postseason because you’re playing back to back to back.”
Also giving the Cats a boost on Saturday was a big crowd packing John Cropp Stadium. The 2,425 fans in attendance set a record for a Kentucky home game.
“Wins in the SEC are not easy to come by,” Lawson said. “So any time you’re playing at home, you want to be able to seal up the series. Of course, Alabama’s such a great softball program, such a storied program. To be able to compete with them and hopefully win the series would mean a lot about how far Kentucky softball’s come.”
