Tough Schedule Has UK Ready to Rake in Postseason
The Kentucky softball team gathered at John Cropp Stadium and tuned into ESPN2.
When the Selection Show began, there were times the Wildcats could hardly tell whether they were seeing the teams that made the field or a listing of their opponents from the 2019 season.
After all, UK played 42 of their 55 games against teams that ended up making the NCAA Tournament.
“There’s not a lot of unknowns to us,” Rachel Lawson said. “That’s the beauty of playing such a demanding schedule.”
The schedule was so demanding that it was ranked as the toughest in America for the second year in a row. By making it through with a record of 33-22 and tying for second place in the Southeastern Conference – which landed all 13 of its teams in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field – the Cats earned a No. 14 overall seed and the right to host the Lexington Regional starting Friday.
“The hard part about playing such a demanding schedule is you get knocked down early and you have to figure out how to pick yourselves up,” Lawson said. “If your goals are as lofty as this team, of making a postseason run, it requires a lot of discipline and it requires a lot of hard work. That’s not always fun, so the fact that they’ve made it through that gauntlet and that they have seen the rest of the people, it allows them to be able to feel more prepared.”
Kentucky made it through that gauntlet with both a national seed and a clear identity. Led by SEC Player of the Year Abbey Cheek and fellow seniors Katie Reed and Jenny Schaper, UK is undisputedly one of the most potent offensive teams in the country. UK is 11th in the NCAA at 6.45 runs per game, which also ranks first in the SEC.
That’s somewhat of a departure from the past, though the results – a fourth straight year receiving a national seed – are more of the same.
“I’ll tell you, it’s different,” Lawson said. “For years, for the first nine years of at least my part of the program, we were a team who was one of the top teams in the country in pitching and we’d have always a great defense and then you had to figure out how to score a run or two.”
This year, by contrast, UK has been held to two or fewer runs just 10 times. Cheek is hitting a staggering .448 with 20 home runs and an on-base percentage of .629, though she’s hardly the only threat. Three other Cats have double-digit home runs, four have at least 39 RBI and every player who has at least 100 at-bats this season has scored 20 or more runs.
“Being able to have batters one through nine being able to produce is something that every team wants,” Reed said. “To be able to have that this year has been really special.”
It’s that kind of production that makes Lawson confident heading into Friday’s NCAA Tournament opener at 2:30 p.m. vs. Toledo. The Rockets will present a test, as will fellow regional contestants Illinois and Virginia Tech, but Lawson believes the Cats will be ready.
“I think more than anything this team is very adaptable,” Lawson said. “They’ve worked so hard on their offensive game plans that they’re able to switch them up pretty quickly. I do think that’s why offense, in the end, will be the one thing that kind of helps carry us and adapt.”
The good news about this weekend is the Cats won’t have to adapt to their surroundings. They will playing this weekend at home and in front of their home fans, the same ones who watched UK run-rule three straight opponents at John Cropp Stadium in regional play last season.
“It’s really incredible,” Cheek said. “The Big Blue Nation is always out and supporting us, so I think it’s just really cool to have that fan base. People say that if you’re at home it’s an advantage and I definitely agree with that.”
A few weeks ago, when UK closed its regular-season home schedule with four wins in five days over Auburn and Eastern Kentucky, there were no guarantees the Cats would play again this season at home. Those wins and a series victory at then-No. 3 Alabama the next weekend erased those doubts.
“We’re just going to try to cherish every moment,” Reed said. “It’s always great to play at home on our field where we practice, where we’re comfortable, in front of our fans. We’ll definitely have the advantage this weekend, but we still gotta come out and play well.”
No one understands that fact better than the team that played the hardest schedule in the country. The Cats did so knowing that was the best way to pursue their ultimate goal: the Women’s College World Series. Now, that pursuit enters its final phase.
“It’s always on our mind,” Cheek said. “We always talk about it every day, so I think it’s just really cool that we’re starting postseason. We gotta take it game by game and I think if we do that we should have a good shot at making it.”
