UK softball look to take fourth straight victory over the Cardinals
Sophomore Outfielder Bailey Vick hits a pop up towards left field for a double on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in Lexington, Ky. Ky won 8-0. Photo by Edward Justice | Staff
April 17, 2019
The Kentucky Wildcats softball team and the Louisville Cardinals will go head to head in the annual “Battle of the Bluegrass” game. The Cats are coming off a win against No. 5 LSU, their first top-10 win of the season.
UK has an overall record of 26-17 and are 9-9 in SEC play. Comparably, Louisville is 27-15 overall and in 8-7 in ACC play. Kentucky and Louisville will meet for the 40th time, and the Wildcats lead the series 20-19, while winning the last three meetings.
Striking first has been a common theme for the Cats as they have scored first in 29 of 43 games, including scoring 17 different times in the first inning.
Senior threat Abbey Cheek has broken many records including career homers, career RBI and career slugging percentage. While the seniors are standing out, so are the freshman. Kayla Kowalik reached base in 27 games spanning from February 23 to April 12, which is the second-longest on-base streak.
The Wildcats have outscored their opponents 99-32 in the first innings of their games this year, and this season alone, have had 11 run-rule wins.
Louisville is coming off a series win against Boston College where senior standout Megan Hensley hit two home runs and also collected four RBI. She leads the team in both home runs (8) and RBI (32).
Freshman Charley Butler is on an eight-game winning streak and Sidney Melton leads her team with a .331 batting average. As a team, they have a combined total of 77 stolen bases this season, breaking the program record set in 2010.
The in-state rivals are set to play at 6 p.m. in Ulmer Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky and will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.
