Barnhill’s No-Hitter Spoils Kentucky’s Solid Pitching Performance

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the first time since the 2013 season, the Kentucky softball team was no-hit, as No. 3 Florida’s Kelly Barnhill struck out 15 batters en route to her second complete game of the season to clinch the series win at John Cropp Stadium on Sunday afternoon. 

The no-hitter for Barnhill was her second of the season, and drops her ERA from a 0.20 entering the day to a 0.19, leading all active pitchers in the NCAA and the Southeastern Conference. Florida with the win improves to 40-3 overall on the season and is now in first place alone in the SEC with a 15-2 league record. 

Kentucky was last no-hit by Arkansas in 2013 at Bogle Park in Fayetteville – in a game the Wildcats lost. UK drops to 26-13 overall on the season and is now tied for seventh with Ole Miss in the SEC standings with a 6-9 league mark. 

The Wildcats will dip out of conference on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET for midweek showdown with the Indiana Hoosiers. The game will be at Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington and will be streamed live on Big Ten Network Extra on laptops and mobile devices. 

Zero. The no-hits by Kentucky’s offense was the first time since 2013 that UK was no-hit.

After retiring the first two batters of the game, the Gators got three-straight hits from Karli Kivistad, Danielle Wheaton and Aleisha Ocasio to take a 1-0 lead. 

Erin Rethlake was the key player for UK in the game, going 4.2 innings, allowing just two runs on three hits and striking out four. 

After retiring the first two batters of the game, the Gators got three-straight hits from Karli Kivistad, Danielle Wheaton and Aleisha Ocasio to take a 1-0 lead.  UF 1, UK 0

In the fifth inning – Florida took a 2-0 lead as again, with two outs, the Gators mounted a rally. Nicole DeWitt was hit by a pitch and Kvistad walked to put two on with two outs. Wheaton then singled into center and scored DeWitt from second to put the Gators up by two. FINAL – No. 3 Florida 2, No. 21 Kentucky 0

For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.