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The Kentucky softball team earned its first-ever victory over Louisiana State today, Apr. 9, as it snapped a 16-game losing streak against the Tigers by winning game two of a Southeastern Conference doubleheader. UK fell 6-1 in the opening game and then took game two by a final of 5-1. The Tigers are now 21-15 on the year and 5-12 in the SEC, while the Wildcats move to 17-30 overall and 3-16 in conference play.
In the opening game of the double dip, the Wildcats got on the board early with a run in the second inning. Jessica Nance led off the inning and reached base on a throwing error by the third baseman. She moved to second on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Katie Campbell and plated the first run of the game on Lori Melchi?s single to center field.
The lead would be short-lived as the Tigers scored six runs in the home half of the inning on four this and one Kentucky error. Only one of the six runs was earned in a half-inning that saw two Wildcat pitchers in starter Meghan Cooper and reliever Samantha Allen.
UK threatened in the top of the seventh as pinch hitters Emily Marks and Amber Nix were both hit by pitches to put runners at first and second. Ashley Fertic had a two-out single to shallow left field to load the bases, but Amber Janneck was thrown out at first on a strikeout to end the threat and the game.
Allen pitched shutout softball the rest of the way and allowed just two hits over the next four-plus innings. Allen retired the side in order in three of the four full innings she tossed and retired nine in a row before Leslie Klein reached on an error in the fifth. Cooper (6-14) took the loss but gave up just three hits in 1.2 innings of work. She walked two and allowed six runs to score.
?We had a great pitching performance from Samantha Allen but we just weren?t able to score any runs for her,? said head coach Eileen Schmidt. ?She pitched a great game and it?s disappointing that we weren?t able to give her any support.?
Emily Turner (10-9) got the win for the Tigers. She allowed one unearned run on three UK hits and struck out four in the complete game.
The Tigers struck first in game two as leadoff hitter Camille Harris belted a solo homerun off UK starter Amy Kendall to give LSU an early 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats claimed the lead in the top of the fourth as they batted around. Fertic drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cooper. Janneck followed with a single to right field to put runners at the corners for Nance who delivered a two-run double down the third base line to clear the bases. Campbell collected the third straight hit with a single to center to put runners at first and third and send the Tigers to the bullpen for reliever Tiffany Garcia. She was greeted with more of the same as Ashley Dimkich singled up the middle to score the fourth run of the inning for the Cats.
UK added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Brooke Marnitz drew a lead off walk and scored on Fertic?s fourth double of the year, a shot off the left field wall, to go on top 5-1.
Kendall (1-2) was sharp in the circle for the Wildcats. The junior retired the side in order twice including a 1-2-3 seventh as she earned her first victory of the year. Kendall gave up just one earned run on five hits and struck out one in the complete game. She allowed just one runner past second base and stranded five Tigers on the paths.
Nance went 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs. The senior center fielder collected three hits on the day and scored twice in the twinbill. Fertic was 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, while Janneck singled, stole her second base of the year and scored once for the Wildcats.
?We had a great effort by Amy Kendall on the mound and we were able to get her some run support in this game,? said Schmidt. ?Jessica Nance hit the ball well for us and we were able to put some runs on the board. We had a good fourth inning and this was a good win for us, but as a whole, I think we?re capable of playing better than we did tonight.?
The series wraps up on Sunday, Apr. 10, with the third, final and rubber game of the weekend slated to begin at 1 p.m.
