Kentucky softball (26-27, 1-22 SEC) dropped the second game of its series against No. 4 Texas (38-8, 15-6 SEC) 6-1 on senior night at John Cropp Stadium.

Despite strong fielding and pitching performances from the Wildcats, they ultimately fell short after giving up five runs in the seventh inning.

The Longhorns ripped three singles to start the seventh from Jaycie Nichols, Ashton Maloney and Kaydan Henry.

Katie Stewart sent them all home at once with a grand slam to left field, giving Texas a 5-1 lead with no outs in the inning.

The Wildcats gave up another run, unearned, after issuing two walks. Hannah Wells doubled down the left field line before Nichols reached on a fielding error, allowing Adayah Wallace to score as Kaiah Altmeyer and Taylor Anderson advanced on the play.

Abby Hammond stopped the damage with a popout from Mahoney to end the inning.

“Well, you know, they would have been really tough plays—amazing plays,” head coach Rachel Lawson said. “But you can’t. She’s probably going to be really close to SEC Player of the Year. So it’s hard when you have to make those stops on defense so you’re not in a situation where you have to pitch to one of the best hitters in our league with the bases loaded.”

Kentucky could not find its rhythm at the plate, going three up, three down to close out the game.

Despite the late-game surge from the Longhorns, Kentucky produced one of its best performances in SEC play, with Sarah Haendiges and the defense leading the way.

Despite the loss moving the Cats to now sit at 11-9 on the season, Haendiges added to a strong year, going 6.2 innings with three strikeouts.

“Yeah. I mean, Sarah Haendiges on the mound, she was just a true lion,” Lawson said. “She was doing such a good job on the mound, keeping them, and then we came up with those key plays to keep us in the game.”

The Longhorns recorded 12 hits on the day, leaving nine runners on base.

The Wildcats had multiple impressive defensive stops, including a diving catch from Carly Sleeman and a leaping catch from Karissa Hamilton.

Despite the strong defensive play, Kentucky was unable to find any rhythm on offense. Sleeman started the game with a home run to center field, recording her 14th home run of the year.

Kentucky could not ride the momentum, recording just one more hit on the day, with Hamilton adding a double down the left field line.

“It’s more about the offense,” Lawson said. “So we’ve got to be able to produce our way. So we’re putting pressure on the other team when offensively if you’re not stringing hits together the other team’s pitchers get a little more confidence. You know, everything keeps rolling and it’s only a matter of time, so we’ve got to flip the script.”

For Ella Emmert, Maddy Clark, Haendiges and Hamilton, this marked one of their final home games of their Kentucky careers outside of postseason play.

The No. 15-seeded Wildcats went on to fall to No. 10 seed Mississippi State 4-3 in the first round of the SEC Tournament, marking the end of the Cats’ 2025-26 season.