What was once considered a “rebuild” season for UK softball became a season full of toughness and grit that now results in the team becoming one of the 16 national hosts of the NCAA Tournament’s regional round.

After a lackluster performance in the brutal SEC tournament, exiting in the second round after losing to No. 7 Auburn, the Cats will be hosting DePaul, Marshall and Illinois beginning Friday. The four teams will play a minimum of three games over the weekend in the double-elimination series.

“We knew we were a bubble team,” First Team All-SEC shortstop Katie Reed said. “When we were the first bubble team to get out [of the SEC Tournament], we were just kind of waiting to see at the selection show.”

Reed, the star player and leadoff batter for UK, has never been in an NCAA Tournament where the Cats haven’t hosted the regional round.

The Cats now get to host three other teams that UK head coach Rachel Lawson repeatedly described as “aggressive.”

Lawson’s description is certainly backed by statistics, especially in Marshall’s case. The Thundering Herd boasts the second most efficient batter in the nation, outfielder Morgan Zerkle, who bats an astonishing .484 on the season.

The team also leads the NCAA in stolen bases per game, with a gaudy average of 3.08 a game, led by infielder Elicia D’Orazio, who steals 1.1 bases a game.

The Cats were scheduled to play Marshall earlier in the season, but the game was cancelled due to rain.

Marshall’s first game matchup, Illinois, is also an extremely adept team in the batter’s box. The Fighting Illini are among the NCAA’s best in scoring, averaging 5.65 runs over their 55-game season.

They’re led by senior outfielder Nicole Evans, who is responsible for 76 of the team’s runs over the course of the season, meaning roughly one out of every five runs scored by the Fighting Illini have a contribution from Evans.

DePaul, the first matchup for the Cats, is the team most like UK in this Lexington regional. They have a team batting average of .279, with only three players above the .300 mark, but are strong defensively.

DePaul is led by senior infielder Nicole Pihl, who carries the Blue Demons on both sides of the ball. Pihl leads DePaul with 39 RBI and 14 homeruns, as well as having a fielding percentage of 98, the highest among the regular starters for the Blue Demons.

The Cats will face DePaul Friday at 2:30 p.m., and Saturday’s matchups will be decided based on Friday’s games.