Cheek’s Late-Inning Bomb Powers Kentucky to 2-1 Win over EKU
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman Abbey Cheek’s
two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth was enough to power the No. 12
Kentucky softball team past Eastern Kentucky, 2-1 on Staff Appreciation Night
at John Cropp Stadium on Wednesday night.
Cheek stepped to the plate with one out and a
runner on first, trailing the Colonels by a run in the bottom of the sixth
inning and deposited her sixth bomb of the season over the wall in right center
to score two and put the Wildcats ahead for the rest of the game.
Kentucky moves to 35-8 overall on the season
with Wednesday night’s win over EKU and remains at 11-4 in Southeastern
Conference play. EKU drops just its ninth game of the season to fall to 27-9 on
the season and remain 11-2 in Ohio Valley Conference action, where they sit second
in the league.
Junior Meagan Prince picked up her
team-leading 16th win of the season on Wednesday, throwing three full innings
of scoreless action, only allowing one hit to the 10 batters she faced. Prince
is now 16-2 on the year and sports a 1.81 ERA in the circle for Kentucky.
Junior Shannon Smith started the game for UK, earning a no decision on four
innings pitched. Smith allowed just one run on a home run, the only hit she
allowed all game long while striking out seven of the 16 batters that she
faced.
Kentucky picks up with SEC play on Friday as
UK welcomes in the Missouri Tigers for a three-game series in Lexington over
the weekend. Friday’s game will start at 6 p.m. ET and be shown live on the SEC
Network+ with Mark Buerger and Carol Bruggeman on the call. Buerger and
Bruggeman will have the call on Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. ET on the SEC
Network+ before a Noon ET finale against the Tigers on Sunday afternoon with
Cara Capuano joining Bruggeman in the booth for an ESPNU national telecast.
Key Stat
Six. With her sixth home run in the bottom of
the sixth inning, freshman Abbey Cheek tied the team lead with six homers in
the 2016 season. Cheek is joined by senior Christian Stokes and sophomore
Brooklin Hinz.
Key Play
Cheek’s two-run home run in the bottom of the
sixth inning was Wednesday’s key play in the game.
Key Player
Shannon Smith was the key player in Wednesday’s
game, throwing 4.0 innings allowing just one run on one hit and striking out
seven batters in her time in the circle.
Run Recap
Eastern Kentucky took an early 1-0 lead in the
top of the fourth inning as Colonel second basemen Hannah Clark homered off S.
Smith to leftcenter field, her team-leading sixth homer of the season. EKU
1, UK 0
After leaving the bases loaded in the third
and fifth innings, Kentucky finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth as
Cheek hit her sixth home run of the year, scoring Christian Stokes, who led off
the inning with a single through the left side. Meagan Prince came in to get
the final three outs of the game and close out UK’s fourth win in a row and
sixth win this season at John Cropp Stadium. FINAL – No. 12 Kentucky 2,
Eastern Kentucky 1
For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram
and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
