UK Seniors Eager to Make Last Supers Shot Count
Abbey Cheek is counting down in her head.
Three, two, one…
Three wins shy of the Women’s College World Series when Kentucky was bounced in regional finals when she was a freshman.
Two wins from the big stage when UK made it to super regionals but was swept by Oregon when she was a sophomore.
One win away from realizing a dream when the Wildcats took game one of a super-regional rematch with Oregon last year only to fall short.
Three, two, one…
This weekend, Cheek is trying to finally get to zero. She will take one last shot at super regionals this weekend.
“We’re ready to have this opportunity again, especially our senior class,” Cheek said. “We’ve been so close to the World Series – three games, two games and one game away – so I think we’re really just excited to get back to it.”
Cheek, the SEC Player of the Year, and No. 14 seed Kentucky are westward bound, as the Wildcats will travel to face No. 3 overall seed Washington beginning Friday at 9 p.m.
“It’s like we’re right there,” senior Katie Reed said. “That feeling, we’re knocking on the door and we just gotta push through. We know how close we are. We just gotta make sure we do the little things. They’re going to be a really good team. They’re the three seed. But we’re also a really good team.”
Neither team, as Reed suggested, will lack for confidence this weekend in Seattle. The Huskies haven’t lost a game in more than a month, most recently completing a sweep through regionals with a no-hitter against Mississippi State. Kentucky, meanwhile, had the highest combined run differential (plus-22) of all teams that swept their regionals – the second year in a row the Wildcats have accomplished that feat.
“Any team in the super regionals can beat anybody else,” UK head coach Rachel Lawson said. “Washington’s definitely a great team and they deserve the higher national seed, but the difference between the two teams isn’t as great as you would see in a regional format.”
Washington is indeed a great team. Led by a pair of star pitchers in Gabbie Plain (21-2, 1.21 ERA) and Taran Alvelo (25-4, 1.58 ERA), the Huskies are 48-7 on the season, with 21 coming in shutout fashion.
“They have two outstanding pitchers who give you completely different looks,” Lawson said. “One’s a power pitcher who throws hard and the other one does a great job. She has tremendous spin and speed and throws a good dropball and can also bring it up.”
The Wildcats saw both in a 4-2 loss against Washington on Feb. 22, with Alvelo giving up two runs in 6.2 innings before Plain recorded the final out. The duo deservedly gets plenty of attention, but Lawson is equally impressed by the other eight Huskies who take the field with them.
“Washington’s always one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Lawson said. “I don’t know what their stats are in terms of defense, but they’re very fast. They’re always really gritty. They do a great job. They cover a lot of the field, so balls don’t really fall in on their defense.”
UK has never had an offense better equipped to cope with such a challenge challenge.
Lawson credits Cheek, Reed, Jenny Schaper and UK’s senior class as a whole for transforming the culture of the program. Kentucky was once known for pitching and gritty defense alone, but this year the Cats field one of the best offenses in America.
“We’re producing one through nine in the lineup,” Reed said. “We have runners getting on base and then our RBI hitters are hitting them in. That’s really you can ask for, giving our pitchers run support, playing good defense. We had a really great weekend (at regionals), so we’re just hoping to continue that at Washington.”
If they do, it’ll mean Kentucky is headed back to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series for the first time since 2015 – the year before Cheek, Reed, Schaper and company arrived on campus. Those seniors have heard so much about knocking on the door to the WCWS that simply opening it and walking through isn’t enough for them.
“I just want to burst through it, really,” Schaper said. “Yeah, going to supers is great, but that is not our goal. Our goal is to take it a step further and get to the World Series. For myself personally being a senior and I know Katie and Abbey, we’re going to give it everything we have to get there.”
There’s no doubt about that.
“It would be a dream come true,” Reed said. “That’s everyone’s dream. From being a little girl watching it, that’s where you want to be. To have another chance, another opportunity to get there, we’re going to leave it all on the field.”
