Feb. 16, 2003
Palo Alto, Calif. – The University of Kentucky softball team was defeated by No. 14 Stanford in the championship game of the Stanford Invitational Feb. 16, in Palo Alto, Calif. The Wildcats (4-6) finished the tournament 3-2 with a win over Penn State and two victories over Missouri.
Stanford was he first to put runs on the board. In the second inning, following two singles, Michelle Thiry hit a line drive over centerfielder Jessica Nance’s head. The double brought in both baserunners and gave the Cardinal the lead. Another double went right off the tip of Nance’s glove and sent Thiry to third. A single by Lauren Lappin scored Thiry for the 3-0 advantage.
Thiry did some more damage in the bottom of the fifth. Leading off, she took the first pitch from Amy Kendall and drilled it over the left field fence to put Stanford up 4-0.
After one hit and nine strikeouts in four innings, Kentucky was finally able to get something going offensively in the fifth. Freshman Ingrid Lochelt bunted down the first base line and beat out the throw. Kendall then hit an infield single advancing Lochelt to second. With Brook Bowman coming in to run for Kendall, freshman Becky Abner bunted through the gap between first and second. Lochelt was able to come all the way around to score, cutting Stanford’s lead to three. That was all UK could get, though, as three straight outs ended the inning, stranding two Kentucky runners.
The Cats went three-up and three-down in the sixth and seventh innings and Stanford got the 4-1 win. Stanford pitchers Laura Severson and Tori Nybalt combined to strike out 13 Kentucky batters.
Next up for the Cats is a trip to Texas as they will compete in the Houston Invitational, Feb. 21-23.
Championship Game R H EKentucky 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 1Stanford 0 3 0 1 0 0 X 4 8 0
-UK-
