2018 Kentucky Softball Preview - Part I
2018 Kentucky Softball Preview
Part I – The Circle
To start the 2017 season, any Kentucky softball fan would tell you that their main concern for the season would be the pitching. How would a pitching staff without four-year ace Kelsey Nunley be able to stack up against the best of the best week in and week out? Well, that question was answered in the form of Meagan Prince. Prince stepped up and led the Wildcats to their fifth NCAA super regional in seven years with some incredible performances in the circle. The problem? She was a senior.
So now, the question for Rachel Lawson becomes, who replaces her?
Well – the answer is simple. A pitching staff. One that could go up to seven deep in 2018, making it one of the deepest staffs not only in the SEC, but in the entire country.
The leader will no doubt be Erin Rethlake, who is back for one more year in the Blue and White. The Huntington, Indiana native had a break-out performance in the 2017 postseason and will look to build off of that in 2018. Rethlake threw a phenomenal game vs. Auburn in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, started the Lexington Regional final vs. Illinois and game two of the Eugene Super Regional that silenced the Oregon offense for six innings.
Rethlake led the UK pitching staff in 2017 with a 1.95 ERA and has only gotten better in the offseason, according to head coach Rachel Lawson. One of the most athletic players in the league, she also hit .300 last year after two seasons to begin her career under .200 at the plate. The speedster set a new career high with 16 stolen bases and all of this came while performing admirably in the circle.
So, that’s the old blood. The expected. But what about the unexpected?
Enter Grace Baalman and Autumn Humes.
Both unique stories in their own right. Baalman, the freshman from Harding, Illinois, has set virtually every possible pitching statistic record in Illinois HS softball and re-wrote it every year of her career. She has more perfect games than humans have fingers to count and an ERA as small as the margin for error in an SEC dropball. The 6-footer has immense talent at the plate, using her wingspan to gain traction on batters and strikeout opponents at an alarming rate.
Humes is a different story. In an environment where transfers happen seemingly every day, this will be the first incoming transfer for Lawson in her 11-year tenure at Kentucky. The good news? She’s worth it. Humes is the 2017 NCAA Division II National Freshman of the Year, where at Harding University (Ark), she went 33-3 in 2017 as a freshman in the circle with a 1.19 ERA in 49 games. She also was stellar at the plate, hitting at a .346 clip with 24 runs scored, seven home runs and 53 runs batted in.
Larissa Spellman also returns in the circle after a successful freshman campaign a year ago. The New Jersey native saw quality time in the circle for non-conference play as well as a dose of SEC action at Missouri last season and helped guide the Wildcats to a pair of wins in 2017. If you know anything about pitchers under Lawson at Kentucky, they only get better as time goes on – and expect nothing less from the small bulldog from Butler in upstate NJ.
Two returning players, Kalia Johnson and Ashley Ruiz figure to make their marks in the circle this season along with freshman Bethany Todd – who joins the Wildcats from Woodford Co. HS – fresh off yet another deep run in the KHSAA Tournament on the heels of Todd’s powerful arm.
Bottom line on pithing this year for Kentucky? It will be more than adequate to compete with the SEC’s toughest schedule.
But then again – under Rachel Lawson – when has it not?
