April 1, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky softball team will travel to Starkville, Miss., for a three-game series with Mississippi State Friday and Saturday. The teams will play a doubleheader Friday night beginning at 5 p.m. ET. The series will conclude with a single-game on Saturday with first pitch set for 2 p.m. ET.
Junior Samantha DeMartine was heroic for the Wildcats in an upset bid of No. 7 Georgia last week at the UK Softball Complex. DeMartine blasted a two-run walk-off home run in guiding UK to a 4-2 win over the top-10 ranked Bulldogs. It was the first walk-off home run of the first baseman’s career.
Senior Molly Johnson has been on a torrid pace at the plate in the last half of the season. Johnson has charted at least one hit in 22 of UK’s last 25 games. In that stretch she has hitting streaks of 10 and eight games. She made history last week as well with her 32nd career home run in the win over Georgia. With that round tripper she now holds the school record, surpassing Brooke Marnitz, for the UK career record. This marks the second offensive record she has broken this season after setting the doubles mark earlier in the year.
Mississippi State is 19-16 overall and hold a 2-7 clip in Southeastern Conference action. In non-conference action both UK and the Bulldogs have earned a victory over the Terrapins of Maryland.
Senior All-SEC performer Chelsea Bramlett paces the offense with a squad-best .529 batting average and an incredible 43 stolen bases on the year. Kaili Smith powers the bats with eight home runs and 40 RBI.
In the circle the Bulldogs have struggled as the team holds a combined ERA of 4.68. The pitching staff also has only totaled 150 strikeouts on the season. Misty Flesher leads the rotation with a 7-4 record and 72 innings pitched.
Mississippi State holds a 23-11 overall mark over the Wildcats, but the Blue and White earned a 3-0 sweep over the Bulldogs in last year’s series.
Brittany Cervantes’ walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning propelled the Kentucky softball team to an 8-7 win and a sweep of the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Lexington a season ago. In addition to Cervantes’ blast, Megan Yocke had an incredible series against the Bulldogs which included her first career grand slam in the fourth inning to ignite the Kentucky offense.
With Kentucky trailing by a run in the bottom of the final stanza, Yocke drew a leadoff walk to put the tying run on base to open the inning. Cervantes had already tallied a pair of hits in the game, but the Bulldogs’ coach Jay Miller opted to pitch to the right-handed freshman. Cervantes made Kelsey Numberg pay after taking a 3-2 count and fouling off a number of pitches. The first year player drilled her team-best ninth homer over the left field wall for the game-winning walk-off blast.
For the most up-to-date information on the UK softball team please visit UKathletics.com.
