No. 10 Kentucky Hosts No. 19 Michigan, Drake and Kent State
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After climbing into the top 10 of the 2022 softball polls for the first time all season, the No. 10 Kentucky Softball team will play host to the 2022 John Cropp Classic this weekend at John Cropp Stadium as it opens the home portion of its schedule.
All UK games of the 2022 John Cropp Classic will be broadcasted on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the ESPN app with Dave Baker and Jenny Dalton-Hill on the call from Lexington. All other games will be on ESPN+.
Parking is available in the John Cropp Stadium parking lots in the Barnhart Family Athletic Complex, and are first-come first-served. Parking is free for all UK Softball home games this season. All Kentucky games for the weekend will require a ticket, with both Friday and Saturday’s games being sold as session tickets, where one ticket will get you in to both UK games. Tickets can be purchased at UKathletics.com in advance, or can be purchased at the door. All tickets remaining for the weekend are general admission seats, as the lower seating bowl is sold out.
Kentucky Softball will be debuting a new videoboard in left field as part of its stadium upgrades for home games in 2022. The new board manufactured by Formetco was installed in the late fall to John Cropp Stadium and will help to enhance the fan experience.
Gates to John Cropp Stadium will open one (1) hour prior to first pitch of the first game of each day. Thursday, gates will open to fans at 4 p.m. ET.
The tournament opens Thursday night at 5 p.m. ET as UK plays No. 19 Michigan in a top-25 showdown as one of two games that the Wildcats and Wolverines will play. Also competing in the tournament is Drake and Kent State, both of whom are off to strong starts on the 2022 season.
Lauren Johnson leads the Kentucky offense with a .533 batting average through the opening three weekends of play, with 24 hits, seven extra-base hits, 16 RBI and four stolen bases. Erin Coffel continues to creep into the top of the SEC in hitting, sporting a .462 batting average with a team-leading six home runs and 26 RBI. 2021 NFCA All-American Kayla Kowalik is not taking a step back in 2022 with a .489 batting average through 14 games, logging 23 hits and last weekend broke the school runs scored record for a career with her 174th run against LIU.
In the circle, Kentucky is led by three different pitchers, all of whom have recorded three wins. Alexia Lacatena (3-0), Miranda Stoddard (3-1) and Stephanie Schoonover (3-0) have thrown the lions share of the innings this season, but close behind is Kennedy Sullivan, who is 2-0 with 12.1 innings thrown and only two earned runs surrendered in those 12.1 innings. The UK team ERA is 1.89 and has four complete games thrown as a staff.
For the latest on UK Softball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKSoftball.
