Senior Kelsey Nunley capped off the sweep and regular season finale against Mississippi State with a 4-0 shutout, leading the Cats to their first No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament in program history.

Game one of the three game series against the Bulldogs ended in a thriller, where the Cats hit a walk-off score on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning.

After five scoreless innings, MSU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth on a Kayla Winkfield dart into centerfield. UK responded in the bottom of the seventh with a Nunley RBI single to tie the game at one run a piece.

In the top half of the eighth, MSU maintained the lead yet again after a single with bases loaded scored a run for the Bulldogs, extending the lead to 2-1, forcing the Cats’ hand to respond in the latter half of the inning. UK’s Nikki Sagermann did just that, blasting a shot over the fence to tie the score at 2-2, and giving the Cats another life.

After the Bulldogs failed to score in the top half of the ninth, a wild pitch past the MSU catcher plated the Cats’ game-winning run to finish the game 3-2.

Game two started off slow, but finished out just as exciting as the first game of the series in extra innings to give UK the series victory on Senior Day.

Senior outfielder Sylver Samuel saved the day for the Wildcats in the bottom of the eighth, as her superb base running ability single handedly won the game for her team. She initially reached base on an error, and immediately stole second. Samuel baited the catcher into making an attempt to throw her out, but the throw sailed past second base, sparking the senior to steal third and dart home. This run gave the Cats a 1-0 lead, promptly ending the game and giving UK the series victory.

The Cats dominated at both the plate and the mound in game three to cap off the series sweep and allow the team to capture the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.

The fourth inning was the deciding factor for Kentucky, where Abbey Cheek scored on a fielder’s choice to score the game’s first run. Nunley then scored two runs on hit to right field to extend the lead to three runs, and an error scored the fourth and final run for the Cats in the inning, giving UK the 4-0 victory.

Nunley pitched all seven innings for UK, giving up zero runs and just five hits, along with striking out eight batters. With the win, she finished the season with a remarkable 20-5 record, her third 20-win season in her time at Kentucky.

The Cats earn a bye-week with the victory, where they will play either LSU or Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament on Thursday, May 12 at 1:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.