Kentucky Hosts Mississippi State to Open 2019 SEC Home Slate
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Riding a season-high eight-game winning streak, the No. 15/18 Kentucky softball team will open its Southeastern Conference home slate of games this weekend welcoming in the Mississippi State Bulldogs to Lexington for a three-game series at John Cropp Stadium beginning Friday.
Friday night’s game will be streamed live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the ESPN app with Dick Gabriel and Carol Bruggeman on the call. Both Saturday and Sunday’s games will be televised live on the SEC Network with Pam Ward (pxp) and former Arizona All-American Jenny Dalton-Hill on the call from Lexington with a Noon ET first pitch.
The Wildcats took care of business in their first two midweeks of the season, run-ruling both Miami and Syracuse in the pair of home openers for UK. The offense exploded for a total of 22 runs, outscoring the RedHawks and Orange 22-1 in the 10 innings of softball played this week.
In the circle, three pitchers saw action, including freshman Tatum Spangler – who capped off her first-career complete-game as a Wildcat on Tuesday night in a 9-1 win over the RedHawks. Larissa Spellman earned her second win of the season on Wednesday in a 13-0 win over Syracuse.
Kentucky trails the series with Mississippi State 26-30 all time. The Wildcats lost the last three-game series with the Bulldogs 2-1 in Starkville on the final weekend of the regular season in 2016. In Mississippi State’s last visit to Lexington, Kentucky swept the Bulldogs 3-0 (2016).
This weekend is Cancer Awareness Weekend at John Cropp Stadium, as different forms of cancers will be featured each game. The Wildcats will be wearing teal helmets, belts and socks on Friday night to raise awareness for ovarian cancer – the same form of cancer that affected the Mississippi State Bulldogs last season with the passing of teammate, Alex Wilcox. Saturday’s game will feature gold for the fight against pediatric cancer and Sunday will be green for awareness of lymphoma in conjunction with St. Patrick’s Day.
Tickets for this weekend’s games are available on UKathletics.com/tickets. Gates to John Cropp Stadium will open 90 minutes prior to first pitch of each home game in 2019. General admission tickets for adults (19-64) are $8, and youth tickets (6-18) are $5 each. Seniors (65+) can purchase $5 tickets.
Kentucky baseball is also in action, meaning fans who show their baseball ticket stub at the John Cropp Stadium ticket booth can purchase a softball ticket for $3.
Fans are encouraged to park in the Blue Lot of Kroger Field and ride the complimentary shuttles to John Cropp Stadium, which will run continuously before and after the games. Parking in the soccer/softball complex lot is extremely limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
For the latest on UK Softball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKSoftball.
