March 20, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Kentucky softball team is riding a seven game winning streak and travels to Arkansas for the third weekend of Southeastern Conference play Saturday and Sunday. Kentucky has strung together seven straight wins which was highlighted by a sweep of Auburn at home last weekend.
The sweep of the Tigers was the first SEC sweep UK has posted since taking four games from Tennessee in 2000. UK is off to the best start in school history ringing up 17 wins in the early part of the season and in turn is receiving votes in both top-25 polls this week for just the second time in school history. Freshman pitcher Chanda Bell was named the SEC Freshman of the Week after going 3-0 last week, including two wins over the Tigers. In that series she tossed nearly 30 strikeouts, including matching her school-record of 15 in a game in the first game of the series.
Arkansas comes into the three-game series with an impressive 16-9 record, including an unblemished 5-0 start in conference play. Their SEC victories came against South Carolina and Mississippi State. The Wildcats and Razorbacks have met 32 times in their 12-year history. Arkansas holds a 22-10 advantage in the record which includes a 3-0 sweep last season.
Sophomore Megan Yocke was a machine at the plate going 4-for-7 with a slugging percentage of an astounding 1.571 for the series against Auburn. She tallied game one’s walk-off home run, two triples while also showing her unselfishness at the plate with a pair of sacrifice hits. Four Kentucky batters hit over .500 for the three games led by Yocke’s .571 average. The sophomore backstop leads the team with a .412 average in conference play.
Arkansas’ SEC victories came against South Carolina and Mississippi State. Arkansas swept Mississippi State in a three-game mid-week series to move into first place in the SEC West with a 5-0 mark.
Three Razorback batters are hitting over .300 for the season led by Whitney Cloer’s .380 average. As a team Arkansas has registered 19 home runs and a total of 61 extra base hits. In the circle, three different pitchers have earned starts. Miranda Dixon sports the best record (9-2) and earned run average (2.13). Dixon also leads the rotation with 73 strikeouts on the year.
Live stats are available at UK’s Official Homepage. Additionally, a complete recap of the games will be available at UKathletics.com.
