February 15, 1999

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The Kentucky softball team opened the 1999 seasonwith a pair of losses in the Texas-Arlington/Pepsi Intercollegiate Classicon Friday. The Wildcats (0-2, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) fell by a scoreof 5-1 to the Colonels of Nicholls State (1-5).

The Wildcats trailed by a score of 2-0 in the top of the fourth whenfreshman Sandi Dengler scored on a single by junior Sarah Snider. Denglerreached first after being hit by a pitch, then moved to second on a singleby freshman Tracie Potts. Snider followed with a two-out single to scoreDengler from second.

The Colonels put the game out of reach with a three-run inning in thebottom of the sixth and went on to win by a score of 5-1. Snider provideda bright spot for the Cats as she went 2-2 in the game and recordedKentucky’s only RBI.

In game two of the tournament, UK was blanked, 10-0 in five innings, byIllinois-Chicago. The Flames were ranked No. 24 in the USA Today/NFCApreseason poll. Kentucky got down early after IUC (3-4) posted five runsin the bottom of the second. The Wildcats struggled at the plate as theymanaged only three hits against the Flames.

“We have definitely not put all facets of the game together,” UK coachBeth Kirchner said. “When we played good defense, we couldn’t hit. Whenwe had good pitching, we made poor decisions. We need to work to put allthe components together.”

UK continues action in the UTA tournament on Saturday, as they faceStephen F. Austin at 12:15 p.m. (EST) in the final game of pool play.Double-elimination bracket play begins Saturday afternoon.