Prince Throws No. 17 Kentucky to 20th Win of Season

LEXINGTON, Ky. – In a game that took just over an hour and 20 minutes to play, the No. 17 Kentucky softball team behind seven inning in the circle from Meagan Prince and a home run by Katie Reed took the series opener with the No. 22 Arkansas Razorbacks, 2-1 on Friday night. 

The win is the 20th of the season for the Wildcats, who improve to 20-6 on the season, and now sit at .500 in the Southeastern Conference at 2-2. The No. 22 Razorbacks fall to 22-7 overall and 2-5 in the SEC. 

Prince needed just 114 pitches to get through Friday night’s game, as she picked up her ninth win of the season to improve to 9-3. The only run that Prince allowed in the game was a solo home run in the top of the second inning to Tori Cooper on the first pitch of the frame. Prince entered the game with a 1.06 ERA and also exits with the same number in her 16 appearances this season. Friday night marked the eighth complete game of the season for Prince.

Game two of the series will be on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET from John Cropp Stadium in Lexington. The game will be shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app with Dave Baker (pxp) and Carol Bruggeman (color) on the call.  

1:22. The game took just one hour and 22 minutes to play on Friday night – the fastest seven-inning game for the Wildcats this season. 

In the bottom of the third inning – Bailey Vick scored the winning run as she walked to lead off the inning and came around to score on a hard-hit ground ball to the right side by Erin Rethlake with one out. 

Katie Reed was the key player in the game for Kentucky, scoring the first run of the game on a home run to left, sacrificing Bailey Vick over into scoring position – which was the winning run, and then also playing sensational defense. 

In the bottom of the first inning, Reed homered to left field for her second homer in three games to give Kentucky a 1-0 lead. UK 1, ARK 0

On the first pitch of the second inning, Arkansas’ left fielder Tori Cooper homered to left field to tie the game. It was just the fourth home run given up by Prince all season. UK 1, ARK 1

Bailey Vick scored the winning run in the bottom of the third inning. Vick led off the inning with a walk and was sacrificed over to second on a bunt by Katie Reed. A wild pitch brought Vick to third with one out and then a hard-hit grounder to the right side by Erin Rethlake gave UK the game-winning run. FINAL – No. 17 Kentucky 2, No. 22 Arkansas 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.