April 1, 1999

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky softball team will square off against No. 10 South Carolina Friday and Saturday at Beckham Field in Columbia.

Friday’s doubleheader will begin at 5 p.m. with the second game beginningat 7 p.m. On Saturday, the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m.

UK (16-22, 1-3 SEC) is coming off a two-game sweep over Kent at home onWednesday. The Wildcats defeated the Golden Flashes 9-1 in the first gameand 5-0 in the second game. UK has won six out of its last nine games.

UK’s team batting average rose to .276 with sophomore outfielders LeslieKwiatkowski (.398) and Tiffany Kruse (.388) leading the way respectively.Last weekend, USC split with Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss. butbounced back to sweep Ole Miss.

The Gamecocks (26-7, 3-1) lead the SEC in pitching with an earned runaverage of 1.48 while opponents are hitting just .192 off USC.

USC has one of the league’s top players, freshman pitching sensation MeganMatthews.

Matthews leads the SEC in nine out of the eleven the pitching categories.On the season, she has struck out 172 batters and owns 18 wins. Theopposition is hitting .158 off Matthews.

“Our goals for this weekend are to play the same attacking-style offenseas we did during the week,” UK Head Coach Beth Kirchner said. “We areworking toward a four-game series in which we put together good offense,good defense, and good pitching.”

Last year in Lexington, the Wildcats upset the Gamecocks 3-2, in the firstmatchup of the four-game series. USC leads the overall series, 1-7.