Kentucky Softball will face Miami (OH) in NCAA Blacksburg Regional

The Softball ‘Cats are headed to Virginia.

During Sunday’s NCAA Softball Championship Selection Show, Kentucky drew the Miami (OH) Redhawks for next weekend’s tournament opener. The two teams are part of the Blacksburg Regional, which will be hosted by three-seeded Virginia Tech. The regional round is double-elimination and will take place at Tech Softball Park from May 20-22.

Kentucky and Miami (OH) will face off on Friday, May 20 at 4:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+. The Redhawks finished 2022 with a 39-15-1 record, including a 24-5 mark in the MAC that saw them win the conference tournament.

Kentucky has made the 2022 NCAA Blacksburg Regional and will open play vs. Miami (OH) on Friday at 4:30pm ET on ESPN+.#WeAreUK x #BeTheStandard pic.twitter.com/tfApA3InSG

— Kentucky Softball (@UKsoftball) May 15, 2022

Virginia Tech will face Saint Francis (PA) in their tournament opener and would also host the Super Regionals should they advance that far.

Kentucky has actually played both Miami (OH) and Virginia Tech already this season, although both came in losing efforts. UK fell on the road to the Redhawks 7-5 on March 16 as part of a single-game midweek series. The ‘Cats lost to the Hokies 6-1 in six innings on Feb. 13 in the 2022 Northern Lights Southern Nights event.

Now in her 15th season as the woman in charge at Kentucky, head coach Rachel Lawson guided the ‘Cats to a 35-17 record in 2022, including a 13-11 mark in the Southeastern Conference. UK has been nationally ranked throughout most of the season and entered the SEC Tournament as the four-seed, but fell in their first game against five-seeded Florida by a score of 9-3.

Since Lawson took over ahead of the 2008 season, Kentucky has advanced to the Super Regionals seven times, including four in a row (not counting the 2020 tournament, which was canceled due to COVID-19). UK has just one Women’s College World Series appearance in program history, which came in 2014.

The NCAA Super Regionals are scheduled for May 26-29 with the WCWS set for June 2-8. Below is the entire 2022 bracket.