No. 11 Kentucky Bounced from SEC Tournament by No. 13 LSU
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 11
Kentucky softball team was eliminated from the 2016 Southeastern Conference
Softball Tournament on Friday afternoon, suffering a 3-1 loss to the No. 13 LSU
Tigers at Nusz Park in Starkville, Miss.
Kentucky will now await its NCAA
Tournament fate on Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET, when the NCAA Softball Selection
Show will be presented live on ESPNU with Beth Mowins, Michele Smith and Amanda
Scarbrough.
Kentucky has an impressive hosting
resume to present to the NCAA selection committee, including a 20-3 road
record, the most road wins by any team in the country, a second-place finish in
the SEC – which is widely considered the best softball conference in the
country, and four wins away from home against top-10 teams. The Wildcats had a
43-11 regular season record, which was the most wins by any Wildcat team in the
regular season in program history, and also 17 SEC wins – which was the most
ever recorded by a UK team.
In typical UK/LSU fashion, the game
was scoreless through the first four innings, with just three combined hits in
the game until the Tigers came to bat in the top of the fifth inning. LSU got
two one-out singles from Amber Serrett and Emily Griggs before Sandra Simmons
homered to rightcenter field to score all three of LSU’s runs.
Kentucky scored its only run off of
an RBI double by freshman Katie Reed to the gap in rightcenter field. The RBI
was Reed’s 19th of her freshman campaign on her seventh double of
the season. The hit scored Maisie Steed.
The NCAA selection committee will
set the bracket for the 2016 NCAA Softball Championships, placing the 64
qualifying teams into 16 regional pods of four teams for the regional round to
take place next weekend at the top-16 seed home venues. Those regionals will
eliminate 48 teams, leaving the final 16 teams to be placed into eight Super
Regionals, where a three-game series will be played between two teams at the
higher-seeded teams’ campus, with the winner advancing to the Women’s College
World Series in Oklahoma City.
Key Stat
Three – The three runs scored by
LSU in the fourth inning were Kentucky’s first runs yielded to the Tigers in
the four games played, as Kelsey Nunley and Meagan Prince combined to throw
25.1 scoreless innings before allowing a run to LSU.
Key Play
LSU’s Sandra Simmons launched the
game-winning three-run home run in the top of the fifth inning to give the
Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Key Player
Katie Reed had a good day at the
plate for UK, including driving in the Wildcats’ only run of the game in the
bottom of the seventh inning with a double to the wall in right center.
Run Recap
LSU got two one-out singles from
Amber Serrett and Emily Griggs before Sandra Simmons homered to rightcenter
field to score all three of LSU’s runs. LSU
3, UK 0
In the bottom of the seventh
inning, Christian Stokes led off the inning with a single to left to give UK a
base runner. Stokes was wiped out on a fielder’s choice to Steed, who came
around to score on an RBI double by Reed. FINAL
– No. 13 LSU 3, No. 11 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.
