May 11, 2000

COLUMBUS, Ga. – The University of Kentucky softball team fell to the25th-ranked South Carolina Lady Gamecocks, 2-1, in the first round of the 2000Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament Thursday at the South CommonsSoftball Complex.

UK led 1-0 going into the top of the seventh but was unable to put USCaway to capture the opener. Next up for the Cats will be an elimination game atnoon on Friday, May 12 against the Florida Gators. UF dropped a 1-0 decision to11th-ranked Alabama in the first round Thursday.

“It is very difficult to lose a game that we were so close to winning,”UK coach Beth Kirchner said. “(USC starting pitcher) Megan Matthews kept us offbalance, and we didn’t have one of our typical offensive games.”

In the fifth inning, Jennifer Howland reached on an error by USCshortstop Kendra McCutcheon and advanced to second on the throw with two out.Freshman Nikki Jones’ bunt single moved Howland to third, however USC thirdbaseman Sondra Hall overthrew first base trying to get Jones out at first asHowland came home to give the Cats a 1-0 lead.

Three straight USC singles off UK starter Keary Camunas, loaded thebases with one out in the seventh. Pinch hitter Heather Culver struck swingingfor the second out of the inning. Lady Gamecock designated player DebraleeTroesh followed with a single down the right field line, scoring Jodi Fittro>from third base and Megan Donohoo from second as USC went on to a 2-1 victory.

Matthews, who struck out eight, improved to 22-14, while Camunasdroppedto 19-14 on the season.

                        R H EUSC     0 0 0 0 0 0 2   2 10 2UK      0 0 0 0 1 0 0   1 4 1

WP Matthews (22-14) and Genovese, LP Camunas (19-14) and Angus.Records USC (36-25), UK (36-28).

Eleven Cats Named Academic All-SEC Honors:

UK and Ole Miss topped the list of 2000 SEC Softball Academic Honor Rollhonorees with 11 selections.

Seniors Colleen Boddy, Michelle Bucci, Keary Camunas, Sarah Snider, juniorsTiffany Kruse and Leslie Kwiatkowski, along with Angie Dal Pozzo, SandiDengler, Beth Fogle, Jennifer Howland, and Tracie Potts were named AcademicAll-SEC.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must: 1) have a 3.0 grade pointaverage for either the past year (two semesters or three quarters) or acumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for their career, 2) be a sophomore or higherin terms of academic classification, 3) and have 24 semester or 36 quarterhours toward their degree.