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UK softball picked up a huge series win over No. 1 LSU over the weekend, topping the Tigers in Friday and Saturday’s match before dropping the Sunday tilt. The series served as the Cats’ SEC home opener.

Saturday

By Lamar Smith

A highlight-reel catch by Tigers third baseman Sahvanna Jaquish while falling into the UK dugout in the sixth inning epitomized an ebb-and-flow Top 15 matchup between No. 1 LSU and No. 15 UK.

The play was eventually overturned, however, and became a ground-rule sacrifice fly, capping off a Cats 5-2 rally victory.

“Certain ground rules like when you’re going into a dugout or you’re going over a fence … they go over the ground rules at the beginning of the game,” UK head coach Rachel Lawson said. “In this case it was because of the dugout area. It was an outstanding catch by their third baseman and she’s just so strong and so fast, her momentum carried her into the dugout, which is dead ball territory.”

All runners were allowed to advance on the play, scoring the final run in the inning to seal the win for UK.

Freshman left-hander Erin Rethlake gave up five hits and two runs in 2.1 innings of work. Rethlake started well until she got into a jam in the fourth inning, giving up three straight hits and LSU the lead.

Fellow freshman pitcher Meagan Prince was then brought in as relief and threw 4.1 scoreless innings while collecting five strikeouts.

UK scored the last four runs of the game, including three in the sixth. Junior third baseman Nikki Sagermann went 2-for-2 on the day, including a solo home run. Sagermann led off the bottom of the sixth with a hit up the middle to start the run-filled inning.

”I was actually seeing the ball pretty good and I felt confident in my bat,” Sagermann said. “So when I got that single, I kind of felt the fire coming from my team afterwards.”

Sunday

By Christian Cevallos

UK softball failed to pick up the sweep against LSU, falling to the Tigers 2-0 on Sunday.

Junior right-hander Kelsey Nunley gave up two runs (one earned) off seven hits in 6.1 innings of work. Nunley also struck out a season-best nine batters and threw 119 pitches on the day.

The star pitcher said she was happy about her performance, despite the loss.

“I felt great, thought I did well,” Nunley said. “Just have to prepare for the next game.”

Mistakes plagued the Cats as they allowed four errors in the game, one of which turned into a run in the fourth inning.

UK was also stifled offensively by LSU as the Cats only managed three hits and struck out eight times. Senior catcher Griffin Joiner was disappointed by the team’s effort at the plate.

“We did not bring our stuff offensively,” Joiner said. “But we’ll bounce back from this.”

The Cats were poised to mount a rally in the sixth inning when junior centerfielder Sylver Samuel hit a single and reached second base on an error by the Tigers first baseman Sandra Simmons, but Samuel was left stranded on the bases in the end.

LSU Baylee Corbello was awarded the win for her complete-game shutout while Nunley took the loss.

Lawson said the Cats will have to improve offensively when they travel to face instate rival Louisville.

“We were very strong today, very tough pitching. But we’ll be able to bounce back against Louisville,” Lawson said.

First pitch at Ulmer Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday.