Kentucky softball (24-21, 1-16 SEC) fell 6-0 to the Tennessee Lady Volunteers (36-6, 11-6 SEC) after a late game surge.
The Wildcats extended their SEC losing streak to 16 games due to lack of run support for the Lexington native, and starting pitcher, Abby Hammond.
Hammond was coming off a stellar performance on against Morehead State, going the distance and all seven innings in the shutout win.
She only went six innings in the loss, giving up one earned run on three hits; however, head coach Rachel Lawson took full accountability for the pitching change.
“It was probably my fault when it got away, to be totally honest […] I should’ve kept Abby in the game,” Lawson said.
After seven innings against Morehead State followed by six against Tennessee matchup – one featuring a top 10 opponent – Hammond has shown significant development early in her career with Kentucky.
“She really showed true character, she competed the entire time,” Lawson said following the game. “She did a great job commanding her stuff and was really focused pitch by pitch […] really showed a lot of maturity for her age.”
With just a single strikeout on the evening, Hammond has relied, and succeeded, on batters making their own mistakes and producing jammed contact.
Of the 18 Lady Vols Hammond retired, eight came from fly outs and nine came from groundouts, keeping her defense on their toes with every upcoming pitch.
A crucial two-out error in the third inning by Emory Donaldson gave the Lady Vols their first run of the game after the ball trickled under her glove into left field.
The unearned run didn’t shape or throw Hammond off her game –she continued to use her pitch-by-pitch mentality to give every ounce of effort to her team and the sold-out crowd at John Cropp Stadium.
“Just one pitch at a time to do the best I can do, and they’re going to do the same thing behind me,” Hammond said.
While progress continues on the mound, Kentucky continues to push through the gauntlet of the SEC without run support for Hammond and the pitching staff.
“We’re going to have to learn how to really play the game pitch by pitch, just like Abby did tonight,” Lawson said about the hitting performance.
After a no-hitter in game one, the Wildcats’ bats have been silent for 16 straight innings.
Hammond was given no run support, as the Cats threatened multiple times with one-out doubles, yet failed to cash in on those opportunities.
“That seems to be something that keeps happening, we have good people up to the plate, I just think they’re trying too hard and not focusing,” Lawson said about the plate approach.
Kentucky got five chances with runners in scoring position, but would go 0-for-5 in those situations, failing again to find the timely hit that’s been so dearly wanted from Lawson.
The Cats are slowly improving as they look to break their SEC losing streak.
“We’re really close, but this is the world we live in […] all the best softball teams in the country rest in the SEC,” Lawson said.
