LEXINGTON, Ky. – Virginia Tech outhit Kentucky, but committed four errors and the Wildcats capitalized by scoring three runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth to take control of the game and secure a 8-1 victory in game three of the NCAA Lexington Regional on Saturday at John Cropp Stadium.
After three scoreless innings from both Kentucky starting pitcher Grace Baalman and Virginia Tech ace Carrie Eberle, the Wildcats took control of the game in the fourth inning scoring three runs. The scoring started when Kayla Kowalik hit one of her three singles on the day and later scored when Lauren Johnson placed a blooper down the leftfield line that got away from the VT rightfielder giving Johnson a triple. After Kelsee Henson was hit by a pitch and Bailey Vick walked to load the bases, Jenny Schaper ripped a single to leftfield to score two runs after Virginia Tech’s first error of the game.
UK added four more runs in the fifth inning on two hits and three Virginia Tech errors. Kowalik and Vick each had RBI singles in the inning. The seven run lead was all Baalman needed for Kentucky, throwing seven innings allowing eight hits and one run with three strikeout and zero walks. The win was Baalman’s 10th of the season while Eberle went six innings in the loss allowing seven hits, eight runs, three earned with six strikeouts.
The Wildcats will advance to the regional final Sunday at noon ET while Virginia Tech will return to action later Saturday against the winner of Toledo and Illinois at approx. 5 p.m. ET.
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
NCAA SOFTBALL REGIONALS
UK-VIRGINIA TECH
MAY 18, 2019
JOHN CROPP STADIUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
Kentucky Head Coach Rachel Lawson
Opening Statement …
“I don’t believe the score was indicative of how tight that game was the majority of the time. I thought our team did a great job fighting and staying in the game. I thought their team did as well. It came down to at first we got some runners on, we were having a hard time at first, but then we were able to break through with kind of a bloop hit and that kind of for us just opened the flood gates. Our base running – we did a great job of that. I was really proud of our team for continuing to fight. I also thought Grace did a great job on the mound, when we had people on base she did a nice job of coming up with some quality pitches and then our defense again held strong. Overall I thought it was a great game for us, and again I can’t stress enough, I think Virginia Tech is such a good team, and I don’t think the score was indicative of how good that game was.”
On if she was planning to have pitcher Grace Baalman pitch the entire game …
“Grace is an artist, so you really don’t know what you’re going to get from day to day. I knew she had been feeling good, but the thing about her soreness is she really hasn’t had a hard bullpen since the last time she was out. So, we just spun things. She did a little bit more yesterday, but you didn’t know if she was going to get enflamed or what the case was going to be today. So I wanted to make sure that I waited for tomorrow. Obviously I planned for all our pitchers, including Grace, I was hopeful she would be ready today. And again when you’re playing a team like Virginia Tech you don’t know that the game is going to go that way so I had to prepare to play two games today and I think you have to go deep in the pitching staff. So anyway I had an idea she was going to pitch. I was hopeful she would pitch, but I really didn’t know.”
On looking patient going up against the Atlantic Coast Conference pitcher of the year …
“I’ll tell you what I was really happy about: when we came out first inning, it was just bad. She really did such a good job. She mowed us over. What was so proud of our team for doing is they didn’t let that inning define the next inning or the rest of the game. What they did is they just learned from those at-bats. The people behind them positioned themselves better. They angled better. They were able to pick up the pitcher better. I was just really happy that they continued to stress it. They didn’t let things worry them. They continued to play their game and they stayed in the moment.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#3, Grace Baalman, P
On her mindset pitching out of jams …
“Just not to worry about giving up a hit, just go at the next batter, try to spin it, try to get them to fly out, ground out. Just to keep working and try not to get into my head that they got a hit. [I was thinking] ‘It’s okay, just go at the next batter.'”
On how she feels after throwing complete game …
“I’m not really sure yet. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow, but I’m hopeful that it’ll feel good tomorrow and I’ll be ready to help our team out tomorrow too.”
On whether she prefers advance notice before a start …
“It doesn’t really matter to me, all year we know a couple hours before the game. I think all of our pitchers are ready to go at any moment, so it doesn’t really matter to us. We’re ready to face any team that they throw at us.”
On how her approach changed over the course of the game …
“You can really go out and attack hitters when you have a big lead. You just go out, attack hitters, you’re playing for outs, so it really helps me attack the zone and not worry about them hitting the long ball, because if they hit the long ball it’s only one run, so it’s nice to be able to attack the zone and be really comfortable with that.”
# 6, Jenny Schaper, C
On driving in runs in the fourth and fifth innings….
“I think that was huge because at that point it was only 1-0, which against a team that is as good as Virginia Tech you need more than one run. I went up with the approach of just, there was runners all over the place so I was like ‘just drive in one, just drive in one. I tried my best to stay in the at bat and compete until I got a pitch I could hit.”
On who’s the fastest on the team …
“Depends on the day, maybe if you put them (Kayla Kowalik and Bailey Vick) in a foot race. I don’t know who would win.”
#99, Kayla Kowalik, C/OF
On her three hits …
“What I really try to focus on is I kind of go up with the same approach every time. It’s really just setting your vision. It helps a lot. Just starting with BP and starting setting your vision, setting your goals and stuff like that. We had a really good scout, and we knew what to hunt for and that really contributed to our success.”
On what she was hunting for …
“I was hunting for just something that was mid-thigh in my zone, preferably outside. Luckily she hung a couple pitches I was able to capitalize on.”
On if she saw her mom in the crowd moving around the stadium …
“No, I didn’t notice her bailout. I don’t really pay attention to a whole lot of that stuff, but knowing my mother that is something that happened. And if it works it works. I didn’t notice her, I noticed my sister out in centerfield. It’s something normal that she does. She just gets away just to take a breather and not stress out so much.”
On her nice catches in the past two games …
“What’s going through my head is ‘catch the ball, 1.’ It’s taken a lot of work if you would have seen some of my catches, or not catches at the beginning of the season. I would have never expected that I’d be making some of these plays now. It’s just a lot of hard work, and a lot of time with the coaches helping me out as well as everybody else. And the girls right beside me letting me know ‘here’s what you do, here’s what you don’t do. And so in the end it just becomes routine and something like that doesn’t really faze you.”
On making the move from catcher to outfield …
“I would say perspective-wise it was a big change, but I was willing to make that because in the end I do love softball, and however I can get on the field and contribute I’m willing to do whatever it takes. It really wasn’t that difficult for me. It really wasn’t that hard.”
About how this regional atmosphere compares to her expectations before coming to UK …
“Most definitely, maybe even exceeded my expectations. Coming in I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. I’d been to a couple games and it was always really hyped. It was always great. Amazing plays were always made. I expected the exact same thing coming in, and it’s like my biggest dream to now participate and maybe make big plays and do big things.
