No. 14 Kentucky softball (13-4) played in four games in the Queen City Classic tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the weekend, winning two of the games by decisive margins and coming up short in the other two.
During the final game of the weekend against UNC Wilmington, Wildcat senior Erin Coffel hit a home run over the center field wall for her 62nd career home run, breaking the all-time program record.
Before Coffel stole the show, the Cats were originally scheduled to begin play on Friday, March 1, but the games were moved up due to weather and eventually canceled.
The following day, the team finally took the field to face Minnesota and Charlotte.
The game against Minnesota proved one-sided and only required six innings to finish, as the Wildcats scored an 8-0 victory by mercy rule.
Kentucky scored at least one run in each inning and came out of the game with nine hits – four of which were home runs.
Coffel hit the first of those home runs in the first at-bat of the game.
She also drove in a run in the second from an RBI single that led to junior Margaret Tobias crossing the plate.
Kentucky fifth-year Rylea Smith walked off the game in the sixth with a two-run shot that scored Coffel. It marked her second home run of the year and first since the team’s opening game of the season.
Senior ace Stephanie Schoonover pitched a complete game and allowed only two hits while striking out five.
After the win against Minnesota, the Cats fell into a slump in the middle of the tournament, dropping games against Charlotte and Fordham.
The Wildcats were in a good position to win the game against Charlotte, as home runs by senior Grace Lorsung and freshman Ally Hutchins, as well an RBI single by freshman Peyton Plotts helped create a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.
However, the 49ers hit a three-run homer off a pitch by Kentucky freshman Sydney Langdon that walked off the game and snapped the Cats’ six-game win streak.
Both Langdon and fifth-year Jaden Vickers saw time in the circle during the 4-3 loss, combining for 10 strikeouts.
The game against Fordham on Sunday morning saw an even first inning, but the Rams kept adding on runs and the Cats could not catch up, resulting in a 10-8 loss.
Sophomore Lauryn Borzilleri of Kentucky had a great game despite the loss, hitting a two-run homer in the first inning and driving in another run in the sixth on a sacrifice bunt.
Hutchins also had a big play in the third, contributing an RBI double that put the Cats within one run of Fordham.
Four different Kentucky pitchers saw action during the game. Vickers was credited with the loss because she allowed the run that gave the Rams the lead that Kentucky could never regain.
Despite the loss, Vickers struck out three of the ten batters she faced in two innings pitched.
The final game of the weekend against UNC Wilmington got off to a slow start, as neither team scored until Kentucky put up a three-run effort in the fourth.
The fifth inning of that game saw Coffel’s record-breaking home run, which was perhaps the highlight of the whole tournament.
Coffel, who tied the record earlier in the tournament with her leadoff shot against Minnesota, surpassed Abbey Cheek (utility for UK from 2016-2019), on the school’s home run leaders list.
The game ended in an 8-1 victory for the Wildcats, and Schoonover got the win after pitching a complete game and only allowing three hits while striking out nine.
Kentucky’s next game on the schedule is its home opener. The Cats will face Bellarmine on Wednesday, March 6, beginning at 5 p.m. EST at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. The game will be televised on SEC Network+.
