Defense Gets UK Past Pitchers' Duel

Way back on Tuesday, Rachel Lawson predicted Kentucky’s infield defense would be key to advancing in this weekend’s NCAA regional.

Based on the way the Wildcats relied on their gloves on Saturday in a win over Illinois, Lawson knew what she was talking about.

“Illinois is a team that puts in the ball in play and they run and they run,” Lawson said. “They have such an outstanding offense, so if we didn’t play tough defense I don’t think I would be sitting here talking about the win.

No. 14 UK (38-17) played spotless defense behind Meagan Prince to eke past the Illini, 1-0. Though the Cats’ bats were mostly silenced by Illinois starter Breanna Wonderly, UK made it into Sunday’s regional final by shutting down the opposition and scratching across a run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Breanne Ray to score Bailey Vick.

“Meagan was awesome,” Lawson said.

Prince limited Illinois to three hits in her complete-game shutout, but struck out only three. Instead of going for punch outs, Prince executed the game plan to perfection and coaxed 13 ground-ball outs against only four on fly balls in retiring the final 14 batters she faced in order.

“I have all the confidence in the world in my defense,” Prince said. “If I didn’t, I don’t feel like I’d be the pitcher I am today.”

Ten of those ground-ball outs went to the left side of the infield, with shortstop Katie Reed and third baseman Abbey Cheek not letting a thing past them. Reed was particularly outstanding, making a tremendous running catch on a rare pop up in the sixth and then snaring two tough grounders for two of the three outs in the final inning.

“When Meg’s on the mound we know that we’re probably going to get more ground balls a lot, especially to the left side,” Reed told the TV broadcast crew. “I kind of position myself a little bit different depending on if a slapper’s up, a hitter’s up. It’s important when Meg’s on the mound to position myself differently on defense.”

The final component that paved UK’s path to victory was Lawson’s pitch calling, which she said she mixed up more than at any time she can remember. 

“When a team can put the ball on the ground and just run, you’re leaving it up to chance,” Lawson said. “If it bounces, does it bounce three feet to the left? Does it bounce three feet to the right? Does it get a high hop? You never know and so we couldn’t afford to let them put the barrel on the ball.”

That unpredictability, in Lawson’s mind, made Prince’s performance all the more impressive.

“Your pitcher has to be awesome to be able to have different game plans every single time a certain batter comes up and we didn’t want to get predictable from batter to batter either,” Lawson said. “So it was just like putting her on random and shuffle and seeing what was going to happen. She responded. She was great.”

Now, the question becomes whether Prince will be called on again on Sunday. It’s Lawson’s custom to not reveal her starter until close to game time even to the pitcher herself, but this weekend’s format adds a wrinkle to that process. The Cats won’t know whether they will be facing Illinois, Marshall or DePaul until Saturday evening, which means Lawson has more to think about.

“As much as our pitching staff won’t know until tomorrow what’s going to go on, I’m probably not going to know until tomorrow at about 4 a.m.” Lawson said. “I make that decision after I sleep.”

Prince is accustomed to that kind of uncertainty, but one thing she knows is that she will be ready to go.

“I always got something in the tank,” said Prince, who started on both Friday and Saturday. “I’ll find it.”