Softball Cats Ready for Challenging Weekend Against Alabama
The Kentucky softball team is ranked seventh in the country and has a 23-3 record so far this season. But the Cats will be underdogs this weekend against No. 4 Alabama and that’s just fine with UK head coach Rachel Lawson.
“Every game in the history of the 14 years I’ve (been at UK), we’ve been the underdog,” Lawson said. “And we’ve beaten 30 top five teams. So while other people get nervous, I don’t at all because this is my life. Every time we step out on the field, we’re facing someone who’s ranked pretty high that has outstanding players.”
Kentucky started its season with 19 straight wins but the Cats have now lost three of their last four. While Lawson knows that there is now a solid scouting report on her team, she also expects the Cats to perform and make plays.
“When you get further along in the season, scouting plays a key role, and playing so many games on TV really helps,” Lawson said. “I knew that those tendencies would be exploited. I think the thing that surprised me is, out of the meat of our order, I don’t think I would have anticipated all of the infield pop ups. I expected a little bit of a dip. I did not expect the soft contact that we made. One of our team premises is to put it in play, put it in play hard and force the defense to make plays. I know that is what we have to get back to doing.”
After falling to Western Kentucky 2-1 in nine innings on Wednesday, Lawson has emphasized getting hits in crucial situations.
“The thing we’ve really had to focus on the last few days is, who is going to step up and be that person who is going to drive in those runs when we can move them around,” Lawson said. “And that’s where our focus us right now. You can win ballgames against good teams when you’re leaving that many people on. That’s definitely a priority of ours.”
Lawson knows that timely hitting will be especially important against Alabama this weekend.
“Against teams like Alabama and pitching like Alabama, you’re not going to have that many opportunities so you’re really going to have to capitalize when you have them,” Lawson said. “We’ve got to make sure we get that timely hit.”
Lawson has a very good idea of what her team will face in Alabama this weekend.
“They’re outstanding, they have to be one of the oldest teams in the country,” Lawson said. “They have so many seniors and super seniors. Because they have such an older team, they have a little bit of an advantage there. There’s not a part of their lineup right now that haven’t faced our pitchers. That’s going to create a challenge. Luckily, our pitchers have gotten a lot better this year. So hopefully, they will create matchups that they’re not expecting.”
While Kentucky’s hitting has cooled off a bit after a torrid start, Lawson has been happy with her pitching and defense.
“We haven’t hit well over the past five to ten games, but our pitching has been outstanding,” Lawson said. “Our batting average has taken a little bit of a dip but our pitchers have done an outstanding job of holding the other teams even lower. So I’ve been really pleased with our pitching. Our defense has gotten a lot better. We still have a miscue here and there but we’re not having the number of miscues that we had. Every day we trend and we make more plays and that’s something that I expected out of such a young team. I’m just really happy that they are continuing to get better every day.”
And as far as being the underdog this weekend, Lawson looks at the situation as more of a chance to do something special.
“To have the opportunity to get on the field and beat someone is why we do that,” she said.
The Cats will be the underdog heading into the three-game set with the Tide but Lawson hopes her team will take advantage of the opportunity in front of them.
