Kentucky softball (24-17, 6-9 SEC) toppled Marshall by a score of 7-3 on a cold but celebratory night at John Cropp Stadium.
The freshmen for Kentucky, Carson Fall and Julie Kelley stole the show on the mound, they each pitched three innings with Fall starting the game.
Kelley was the only one of the pair to allow a run before Head Coach Rachel Lawson subbed in Alexia Lacatena to finish the seventh inning.
Pitching wasn’t the only positive for Kentucky as Peyton Plotts and Karissa Hamilton both homered to put the Wildcats up big to secure the win.
Aside from the freshman getting good reps on the mound, the story of this game truly lies in the history between these two schools or lack thereof.
The two programs have been scheduled to face each other 17 times since the first matchup in 2005 where Kentucky took the win.
20 years since that first mid-week matchup, Marshall has yet to win a game against Kentucky. Marshall is 0-15 versus the Wildcats. Kentucky could have two more wins or losses against Marshall, however games in 2017 and 2014 were cancelled.
“I feel really fortunate that kind of surprises me,” Lawson said when asked about the record. “A lot of times I think it’s probably in Lexington so [we] probably have a little of an edge there.”
Lawson would be right as eight of the games have been in Lexington, five have been a home game for Marshall and one game in 2008 was played in Chattanooga, Tennessee as a neutral site game.
The first-place people tend to look when a team has such little success against an opponent is coaching. However, Morgan Zerkle is only in her second year at the helm for Marshall.
Marshall has had five different head coaches in the 20-year span of misery when facing Kentucky.
The longest tenured coach in this time for Marshall was Shonda Stanton who faced and lost to Kentucky 10 of the 15 times its happened.
Taking a look back at Lawson however, she has been at the head of Kentucky’s team for all but three matchups against Marshall.
So maybe instead of looking at what Marshall is doing wrong it may be better to look at what coach Lawson and Kentucky are doing right.
No matter how it’s looked at or who deserves the credit, it truly is an interesting and one-sided history.
Up next for the Wildcats is the 2025 Boston Tournament in Boston, Massachusetts starting on Friday, April 11, with the first pitch being set for 1 p.m. ET.
