March 10, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After seven scoreless innings of play Kentucky and No. 18 Louisville needed extra frames to decide a winner. The Cardinals claimed a 3-0 victory in eight innings of action with two home runs in the extra stanza to break the scoreless tie.
Kentucky falls to 14-6 while, Louisville improves to 15-5 on the season. With the win Louisville has now evened the series at 12 games apiece.
Juniors Megan Yocke and Samantha DeMartine led the Blue and White with a single each, while sophomore pitcher Chanda Bell tossed eight complete innings and struck out seven in just her third loss of the season. Bell was sensational on the mound for the first seven innings of action, allowing just three hits and a pair of walks before the Cardinals broke the tie in the eighth inning.
Kentucky had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when Yocke led off the stanza by earning a walk. Senior Natalie Smith shifted Yocke into scoring position with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. The inning ended though with Yocke still standing on second base, which forced the extra innings.
Kentucky got a base runner in the bottom of the third when junior Annie Rowlands was plucked with a pitch. Rowlands would then attempt to swipe second and was caught in her steal attempt for the first time this season.
Yocke singled in the top of the fourth with one out, but the inning ended with back-to-back fly outs.
Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the eighth, DeMartine earned a one-out single along the right-field line in a last-ditch comeback effort. However, UK would leave the base runner aboard as the inning ended with a strikeout and a pop-up.
Louisville’s best chance to push across a run early in the game came in the fourth inning. The Cardinals had a leadoff double and then followed that up with a single, but the runner held on third. Bell and the UK defense escaped the tight situation with three consecutive outs. Bell jammed the first batter into a foul out and then sat down the next better on strikes. The final out came on a fly out to Rowlands in left field.
The two teams will complete their home-and-home series in April when UK travels West on I-64 to Louisville. The next meeting will occur on April 7 with a first pitch set for 5 p.m. ET.
Kentucky returns to action when it opens Southeastern Conference play beginning Saturday. UK travels to Auburn for a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday. First pitch both days will begin at 2 p.m. ET.
