Coming off a strong weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with a five game sweep in the Chattanooga Classic, UK softball headed to Rock Hill, South Carolina, to compete in the Winthrop Invitational.

Led by dominant hitting and an outstanding pitching effort from junior Shannon Smith, UK won 8-0 in just five innings of play in their first matchup against Albany.

The Cats got off to a hot start in the game, where UK jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning with the help of sophomore Brooklin Hinz’s grand slam, scoring Nikki Sagermann, Abbey Cheek, and Katie Reed. Senior infielder Christian Stokes followed with a homer of her own to jump out to the six run lead.

Freshman hitting sensation Katie Reed doubled into left field, and later scored in the second inning off of a Jenny Schaper single, giving the Wildcats a 7-0 lead after two innings.

Things would slow down for the UK offense for two innings until the fifth, when freshman Hannah Huffman scored on a Rachael Metzger fly out to center field, ending the game at 8-0 after five innings.

It was another day, another no-hitter for UK softball, as Smith stole the show for the Cats in game one. Smith allowed zero hits, zero runs, only two walks and 12 strikeouts on the day, giving the Cats their third no-hitter on the year.

In the second game of the day against Lehigh, things stayed competitive for several innings until the Cats pulled away late and won 7-1.

Cheek started things off in the first inning, scoring senior Maisie Steed on a single to center field to take a 1-0 lead.

Lehigh countered the run in the third with a run of their own, as Alexis Watanabe scored off of a Morgan Decker single, tying the game 1-1.

With a single in the top of the fourth, Reed extended her hitting streak to 18 games, adding on to her record of most consecutive games with a hit in UK softball history. Reed’s hit was just the beginning of the start of a blowout to finish the game.

UK responded with a Sarah Rainwater run off of a Sagermann single to left field and never looked back. The team would go on to score five runs in the following inning with the help of a three run RBI double from Cheek, her fourth of the game.

After the five run scoring barrage, UK took a 7-1 lead, which would end up being the final score of the game.

UK now moves to 16-2 on the year with the victories, and will participate in yet another double header tomorrow against Charlotte at 1 p.m. and Winthrop at 5 p.m.