Resilient Cats Run Streak to 10 ahead of SEC Play
Taking a struggling team into Southeastern Conference play would not be ideal for a softball coach.
Fortunately for Rachel Lawson, she doesn’t have that problem.
Three days away from its SEC opener – against No. 2 Florida no less – Kentucky won its 10th straight game. The No. 22 Wildcats (15-3) came back from an early 1-0 deficit to down SIUE (8-4) at John Cropp Stadium on Tuesday, 4-1.
“I really like our resiliency,” Lawson said. “We seem to be allowing the other teams to put a run on the board, but it doesn’t seem to affect us. We get in there, we get our at-bats, we take our hacks and we come back.”
Abbey Cheek clubbed her seventh home run and added a sacrifice fly, while Katie Reed and Erin Rethlake added run-scoring singles. Rethlake also tossed four scoreless innings in relief to pick up her fourth win.
“Our team this year, if we get down we don’t dwell on it,” Cheek said. “We just go in and have good at-bats and string hits together as a team. There’s no reason to be down.”
With 11 of the SEC’s 13 teams ranked this week, UK will face stiff challenges week in and week out and surely more early deficits. The Cats will be much better suited to handle them than they would have been last month.
“I feel a lot better than three weeks ago,” Lawson said. “If you would have asked me after opening day, I don’t think I would have known what I would have said.”
Opening day brought a pair of losses to New Mexico State for the Wildcats. UK gave up 22 runs in the two defeats, but only 29 since as the Cats have won 15 of 16 games. That’s the sign of a pitching staff that is improving at a rapid pace.
“Overall, I think we’re doing a good job,” Lawson said. “I think that we’re going to have to be a lot sharper when we’re in SEC play and then as we head on to the postseason.”
More importantly, the Cats possess a trait that will be of paramount importance in facing a punishing SEC schedule. There’s no getting around the fact that things, from time to time, are going to go wrong against the best teams in the country. What encourages Lawson is that she has a team able to handle that.
“I feel really good because we’re steady,” Lawson said. “I like that about teams. I think when teams are unflappable when things don’t go their way and they’re able to bounce back, I think that’s a sign of teams that are championship-caliber teams.”
