‘Answer-Back’ Cats Take NCAA Opener
Kentucky’s resilience didn’t come easy.
It was hard earned through the gauntlet laid down by the nation’s toughest schedule. Then it was put to the test out of the gate in the Wildcats’ first game of the NCAA Tournament.
Consider the first test passed.
“We’re kind of an answer-back team, so whenever they put up two runs all of us came in dugout, we got together,” right fielder Lauren Johnson said. “We were like, ‘It’s two runs. Every game this year we have scored a lot of runs and we have faith in our teammates.”
The Cats, hosting a regional for the fourth straight season, fell behind 2-0 before even setting foot in the batter’s box at John Cropp Stadium. That didn’t faze them.
Kentucky answered Toledo’s pair of runs in the top of the first inning with a four-spot in the bottom of the opening frame, with a usual suspect – Abbey Cheek – delivered the big blow in the form of a two-run double. Autumn Humes, meanwhile, locked things down in the circle and retired the next nine batters in order en route to a 7-2 victory to advance to a winners’ bracket matchup with Virginia Tech at noon on Saturday.
“Toledo’s a great team and obviously they’ve accomplished a lot of things to get here,” Humes said. “They came out really aggressive and I think that me and my team made the adjustment to find our center and go out and be aggressive with them.”
That was an approach Humes might not have been able to take a season ago. Now, with a season at UK under her belt, weathering the storm of a bad first inning is something she can manage.
“Last year, first year in the SEC, I had a really bad habit of letting things get out of control and out of my hands,” Humes said. “One thing that I’ve learned this year is if things are starting to go south or if they are not going as planned, that I learned to just take a breath and figure out what needs to be done in that moment, in that pitch to get the job done. I’ve learned a lot about self-control this year and I think that just comes with more experience and maturity.”
Humes’ lone hiccup came in the fifth inning, when she allowed a leadoff single. The next Toledo batter – leadoff hitter Kylie Norwood – smacked a fly ball deep to center field that seemed dangerous until Kayla Kowalik came up with a highlight-reel catch for the inning’s first out. Another single later, Humes induced a double play to end the threat altogether.
“That’s always something that a pitcher loves to see, is the girls behind her working really hard for her,” Humes said. “All credit to them because they’ve put in so much work every day to be able to do that. It’s definitely relieving when you see them making plays like that. It makes my job so much easier.”
Humes will undoubtedly pitch again this weekend, but exactly when remains to be seen. Lawson says Grace Baalman is available after not pitching in the SEC Tournament last weekend, but he hasn’t yet made up her mind about how to approach the ACC regular-season champion Hokies and won’t until she watches plenty more film.
“I’m not really sure what I’m going to do tomorrow,” Lawson said. “I know Grace is available, I know Autumn’s ready, Meghan (Schorman) and I also know the other two are available. Right now, Virginia Tech is a great pitching team. They’re smart, they can hit the ball and to me I think I’m going to have to use multiple pitchers to make it through tomorrow.”
