By Kristopher Reid

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Whatever gave UK momentum to get a 28-16 record before Tuesday was completely gone when Louisville dominated the Cats 8-0 in six innings, giving the Cardinals their first-ever win in John Cropp Stadium.

The Cats gave up eight runs, ten hits and only got one hit for themselves.

“This is not our team,” UK head coach Lawson said. “This is not what we’ve done for the last eight years. This is not the team that’s been to Super-Regionals three out of the last four years. This is not the team that made it to the World Series, that’s been in the post-season the last six years. That is not us.”

Louisville scored two runs in the second inning, two runs in the fourth, three runs in the fifth, and another in the sixth. All but one player had a hit off of the three pitchers that UK used on Tuesday. The losing pitcher, sophomore Shannon Smith, threw three innings and allowed four hits.

Lawson  brought in sophomore Meagan Prince to cool down the Cardinals, who started off strong after pitcher Maryssa Becker slammed a home run to send her and another runner home. Prince is 12-5 on the season.

The problem was that Louisville hits well against left-handed pitchers, like Prince. Their average increases from .307 to .393 when they hit against a lefty. In the 1.2 innings pitched, Prince allowed four hits and two runs.

Freshman Erin Rethlake was brought in as well to stop Louisville from doing any more damage.

But that didn’t work. In 1.1 innings pitched, Rethlake allowed two hits and three runs. Lawson switched back to Smith to close out the game, but it seemed like nothing could be done on the mound to stop the Cardinals.

Christian Stokes, who leads the teams in hits, struck out three times. The only hit came after a lead-off single by Nikki Sagermann in the first inning. Becker was nearly perfct after that.

Lawson said that a change is needed for the Cats.

UK is going to need to play better against their next opponent, Western Kentucky. And the Hilltoppers are arguably better than the Cardinals, even.

“Western (Kentucky) is an awesome team. Their RPI is in the Top 35 in the country. They have one of the best pitchers in the country. They’re senior-laden and they’re tough,” Lawson said. “They’re everything a good softball team is. So I expect that they’re going to come out and play incredibly hard. I think we’re going to have to be really tough to beat them.”

The Cats look to defeat the Hilltoppers on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at John Cropp Stadium. The program will have a staff home run derby immediately following the game, where Lawson will pitch.