UK softball hopes for similar fortune as baseball team

One team dropped two of three to a division rival, and the other was swept by the No. 7 program in the country.

Both the baseball and softball teams suffered setbacks this weekend, but both teams are still looking to make each setback a minor bump in the road along the way to a successful season.

“It was a tough series,” UK head coach Gary Henderson said.  “I thought their kids competed well, I thought ours did too.  Obviously we came up short twice.”

The baseball team trailed 13-2 after four innings in game one of a double header Saturday, but scored 12 unanswered runs over the final three innings to fall short in their comeback by one run.  South Carolina closed out a 20-19 victory.

UK freshman third baseman Andy Burns belted a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Bat Cats a victory in game two, and South Carolina starting pitcher Blake Cooper held UK to two runs in a complete game victory in the series finale Sunday.

“If you wait until the ninth inning every time, sometimes it’s not going to work,” Henderson said after UK’s 4-2 loss Sunday.  “Obviously it didn’t work tonight.”

The softball team faced No. 7 Georgia in a three-game showdown for vital position in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division race.

Coming off the program’s first no-hitter, freshman pitcher Chanda Bell limited Georgia to two earned runs in six innings in the series opener, but recorded just her fifth loss of the season.  Bell didn’t fare as well in game two, surrendering eight runs in a 1.1 innings in a 10-0 loss.

The Cats dropped the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader 5-2 even with Bell coming out of the bullpen to pitch 2.1 scoreless innings.

Bell has headlined the softball team’s resurgence this season.  The freshman broke UK’s single season strikeouts record just 28 games into her first season and no-hit Western Kentucky in game one of a double-header Thursday.

The softball team is trying to follow the baseball team’s recent rise to prominence among SEC foes.  The Cats were just 17-37 last season and 5-16 in the SEC.

The baseball team was 24-30 just two seasons before it went 44-17 to win the SEC Championship.  The softball Cats appear to be on a similar rise.

They sit in fourth place in the Eastern Division with a 5-7 record, and the Cats are on their way to developing a home-field advantage by winning all five of their home games this season.

Both the baseball and softball teams suffered setbacks this weekend, and both teams face possible turning points early in their seasons.  |

“We’ve got 21 to go,” Henderson said.  “In one weekend they can change drastically.  We’ve got to get back to being competitive at the plate and have a good weekend in Oxford.”

Henderson is right.  The season is long.  But both the baseball and softball teams can continue to grow in prominence depending on how they respond to these early bumps in the road.

Jon Hale is a journalism senior. E-mail jhale@kykernel.com.