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The Kentucky softball team earned a 2-1 extra-inning win over the No. 4 ranked Tennessee Lady Vols today, Mar. 29, in Knoxville. The Wildcats are now 15-26 on the year and 2-12 in the Southeastern Conference, while the Lady Vols fall to 38-5 overall and 8-2 in the league. UT defeated the Cats, 5-0, in the opening game of the SEC twinbill.
?This was a great win for our team and for our program,? said first-year head coach Eileen Schmidt. ?We had a gutsy performance tonight on the mound, in the field and at the plate.
?Meghan Cooper was great at the plate and on the mound,? added Schmidt. ?She absolutely kept us in that game long enough for someone to step up offensively like Marnitz did in the eighth and our defense came through in the last inning.?
The Wildcats scored first in the extra-inning affair in the top of the first. Marnitz led off with a single down the left field line and stole second. She would score on Cooper?s double to right-center field to give UK the early 1-0 lead.
Cooper went to work on the mound and was impressive en route to her fifth win of the season. Cooper retired the Vols in order in the first and didn?t allow a run until the third when UT scored its lone run of the game. Chiles reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at a run apiece after three innings of play.
Cooper (5-12) walked just one batter during her 8.0 inning outing and did not allow an earned run. She gave up just eight hits to the fourth-ranked team in the nation which is batting .361 as a team this season.
The Lady Vols? Monica Abbott relieved starter Megan Rhodes in the fifth inning and held the Cats to just two singles through her first three innings of work until Marnitz led off the top of the eighth. The sophomore shortstop from Lexington sent Abbott?s delivery over the wall and screen in deep center field, onto the Alcoa Highway which stretches through the outfield at UT?s Tyson Park.
Cooper went back to work on the mound in the bottom of the eighth. After allowing a leadoff walk, she got a fly ball to center for the first out of the inning. A single by the catcher, Shannon Dopeking, put runners at first and second with one out. That brought the designated player, Brittany Bessho, to the plate. She grounded sharply back to Cooper who threw to Ashley Fertic at third. Fertic tagged the base at third for the force and threw across the diamond to Megan Glenn to complete the game-winning double play.
The Wildcat defense turned a pair of double plays on the day to give them 15 twin killings on the season.
Marnitz went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI in the game. Cooper added a double, while Fertic, Lori Melchi and Alli Eckman each singled for the Wildcats? six hits of the game.
In the opening game of the doubleheader, Abbott (26-2) tossed the second perfect game of her two-year career at UT.
The third, final and rubber game of the series is slated for tomorrow, Mar. 30, at 4 p.m.
