By Bill Nigut

Most of Lexington has spent the past week trying to forget about Louisiana State.

The UK softball team, however, is thinking about nothing other than the Bayou Bengals.

This weekend, the Cats (9-4, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on the No. 19 Tigers in three games. They hope to use momentum from their current five-game winning streak to their advantage this weekend in their first Southeastern Conference games.

Despite playing four consecutive weekends on the road and not having stepped foot inside the lines at the UK Softball Complex yet this season, UK is off to its best start since opening the season 10-4-1 in 2004.

The Cats are ready to show they can compete with the best in the SEC.

“In the past couple years, our record hasn’t been as good as it is now going into conference play so I think that’s kind of a confidence boost,” junior shortstop Molly Johnson said.  “We’re excited about the possibilities.”

Freshman pitcher Chanda Bell — this week’s SEC Freshman of the Week — already has six wins this season, and she’s looking to play a key role in the weekend series with LSU. The Cats have lost just one game behind Bell’s pitching this season, a 5-2 loss to No. 20 Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 20.

While Bell and the Cats feel good about their chances, UK head coach Rachel Lawson emphasized that the games are sure to be close and hard fought by both teams.

“They’ll be brutal,” Lawson said.  “LSU is a great team — great program, great coaching, great players. So, from that perspective, we’re going to have to play well to win.”

LSU is one of six SEC teams ranked in the top 25 by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, so this weekend should be a glimpse of what the rest of the season will look like for the Cats.

Other ranked in-league teams include No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Florida, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 11 Georgia and No. 25 Mississippi State. South Carolina and Auburn are both receiving votes, but have yet to crack into the poll.

“Conference play is always tough, especially this year,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of teams receiving votes.”

The Cats are eager to head south and begin showing the SEC the improvements they have made since last season. They believe they can compete with the top teams in the conference. This weekend is their chance.

“Our team has grown a lot since last year and I think we’re going to go out there and do well,” junior pitcher Amber Matousek said. “I’m excited to get started with it and show people how we’ve grown at Kentucky.”