March 15, 2003
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
The University of Kentucky softball team (9-14, 1-4) earned its first win in SEC competition today with a 4-1 victory over Ole Miss (10-14, 2-3) in the first game of a doubleheader at the UK Softball Complex. Ole Miss came back to take game two, 8-4.
After two uneventful innings in the first game, Ole Miss threatened in their half of the third. With runners on first and second with two out, the Rebels’ top batter, DeDe Justice was intentionally walked to load the bases. But UK pitcher Amy Kendall was able to get Andrea Brahs to ground out to third, ending the inning.
Kentucky got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Nikki Jones led off with an infield single. Following a stolen base by Jones, sophomore Brook Bowman looped a single into left field. Bowman then preceded to steal second bringing up senior Lyndsay Angus. Angus, who is second on the team in batting average was given a free trip to first, loading the bases for junior Rachel Friberg. Friberg knocked a single through the middle scoring Jones. Bowman came home after the next batter, freshman Ingrid Lochelt, followed suit with a single of her own. Ole Miss’ pitcher, Lindsay Price, retired the next three batters, ending Kentucky’s inning.The Cats struck again in the fifth. Two straight doubles by sophomore Megan Brooks and Jones, and an error on a Brook Bowman bunt, put UK up 4-0.
A home run by Desiree Layman in the top of the sixth was all the Rebels could get and Kentucky got their first SEC win, 4-1. Kendall pitched a complete game three-hitter for her sixth victory of the season.
A flurry of runs started the second game. Pitching only her second game of the year, sophomore Bobbi Darretta struggled in the top of the first. Brooke Turner led off the game with a home run that snuck inside the left field foul pole. Although that was the only hit in Ole Miss’ half inning, they scored three more runs on four walks, a hit batter and two Kentucky errors.The Cats evened the score in the bottom of the inning. The Rebels’ committed three errors, which, when added to singles by Jones, Angus and sophomore Jessica Nance, led to four runs. But that was the end of the scoring for Kentucky, who couldn’t get anything going the rest of the game.
Mississippi added three runs in the fourth and another in the top of the seventh to take the second half of the twinbill, 8-4.
“I was very pleased with the way we played in the first game,” Coach Beth Pruitt said. “We had good pitching, we played clean defense and we were aggressive on the bases. I thought we were pretty sloppy to start the second game. We seemed to lose our composure and we weren’t able to make adjustments at the plate.”
Nikki Jones went 5-7 in the two games, increasing her team high batting average to .419 and extending her hitting streak to 13 games. She also moved into second place on UK’s career hits list (228).
The rubber match of the series with Ole Miss will take place Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at the UK Softball Complex. Admission is free.
Live Gametracker stats will be available on the softball schedule page.
Game 1Kentucky 4, Ole Miss 1Ole Miss 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 1Kentucky 0 0 0 2 2 0 X 4 6 0
Game 2Ole Miss 8, Kentucky 4Ole Miss 4 0 0 3 0 0 1 8 8 4Kentucky 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 5
