March 8, 2009
BATON ROUGE, La. – Two four-plus run innings doomed the Kentucky softball team as they dropped the series deciding game to LSU, 10-2, Sunday at Tiger Park.
Kentucky falls to 10-6 on the year and 1-2 in the conference, while LSU improves to 14-5 and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
Junior Molly Johnson led off the game with a walk after fending off 11 pitches in the at-bat. Sophomore Meagan Aull forced the Tigers’ hurler to toss 13 pitches to her before she flew out to the centerfielder. On the first pitch of the at-bat, sophomore Megan Yocke singled through the left side to place runners on first and second in the opening frame. However, the Blue and White would leave the base runners in the paths as the next two batters dropped on a foul out and a line-drive to the second baseman.
LSU jumped out in front to an early 5-0 lead in the bottom of the stanza. Juliana Santos hit a grand slam to aid the Tiger cause.
UK was unfazed however and fired back with a run of its own in the top half of the second. Freshman Brittany Cervantes led off with a double that nicked the tip of the left center fence. Cervantes moved to third on junior Destinee Mordecai’s sacrifice bunt. Cervantes rounded home on senior Katie McCarty’s single that laced the left field line to bring UK closer at 5-1.
Junior pitcher Amber Matousek entered the game in the bottom of the second in relief and immediately sat the Tigers down in order.
With two outs on the scoreboard, Yocke delivered her second hit in the early going. The catcher sent a well-hit deep fly ball into left field that grazed the yellow trim on the fence and the ball took an unfortunate hop back inside the park for a stand-up double. The Wildcats left her on second base when the inning ended on a pop-up to the second baseman.
The Tigers added a run in the bottom of the third off of a two-out solo home run to left field to increase its lead to 6-1. The inning did feature a highlight-reel catch by Aull in centerfield. LSU’s lead-off batter lofted a ball into shallow right-center which Aull was able to lay out and snag before it hit the grass.
UK went down in order in the top half of the fourth unable to get anybody on base in attempt to catch the home squad. LSU put two base runners on with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Matousek retired the next two batters to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the top of the fifth UK found some offensive rhythm when freshman Macy Allen got nailed in the shoulder and was rewarded first base on the hit by pitch. Sophomore Annie Rowlands followed with a single that dropped into left center field to place runners on first and second. On the first pitch throw to her, Johnson drilled ball against the left field wall for an RBI stand-up double to bridge the gap to 6-2.
LSU scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to capture the series clinching victory.
The Wildcats are back in action again on Tuesday when they hit the road again. The Blue and White will travel to visit in-state opponent Morehead State for a pair of games beginning at 3 p.m.
