The Kentucky softball team will open its longest homestand of the season when it welcomes No. 13 LSU to town this weekend, Mar. 25-26, for its SEC home opener. UK will play its next 13 games at the UK Softball Complex, including a trio of three-game conference showdowns.
The Cats and Tigers will play a doubleheader on Saturday, followed by a single game on Sunday. Game time is set for 1 p.m. each day.
The Cats will host No. 2 Tennessee in a mid-week series, Mar. 29-30, and No. 6 Alabama next weekend, Apr. 1-2. Both schools went to the Women?s College World Series last season. The Cats are 1-7 when playing nationally ranked opponents. UK defeated No. 13 Washington in its season opener, but recently dropped a pair of three-game series to No. 20 Auburn and No. 11 Georgia.
The Wildcats are 4-5 all-time in SEC home openers, including a 5-3 win over Ole Miss last season. The Cats won three straight home openers from 1999-2001 and had lost three straight before their win over the Rebels last year.
LSU swept a non-conference series over UK head coach Eileen Schmidt?s former team, Northwestern State, this week to improve to 28-5 on the year. The Tigers are currently second in the SEC Western Division with a 4-2 conference mark. Their two losses came at the hands of No. 11 Georgia last weekend in Baton Rouge. LSU won the final game of the three-game series and brings a three-game winning streak to Lexington.
UK and LSU meet for the 19th time this weekend. The Tigers hold a 17-1 edge over the Cats after taking two of three games from the Cats last season. UK recorded its first-ever win over LSU in 2005 with a 5-1 win over the Tigers in Baton Rouge.
The Cats are coming off their first SEC series win in two seasons at South Carolina last weekend in Columbia. UK is fourth in the SEC East with 14-13 overall record and a 2-7 mark in conference play.
Senior Meghan Cooper found her groove as the Wildcats entered SEC play. Through their first nine SEC games, Cooper has hit .440 and scored five runs. On the year, Cooper now leads the team with a .387 average and 21 runs scored. She is third on the team with eight walks and leads the league with nine HBP. She is second on the team with four stolen bases and leads the team with three triples.
?This is going to be a long week for us with three of the toughest teams in the SEC and two that were in the World Series last year,? said Schimdt. ?We begin with LSU this weekend and they are tough. They have solid pitching and solid hitting. The weather is going to be tough as well. We are going to have to bring our ?A? game every pitch, every out, every inning.
?This is a great week of competition. The best,? added Schmidt. ?All we have to do is rise to the challenge, stay loose, play like we know how and we will be competitive.?
