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Kentucky Softball Wins on Saturday to Go Up 2-0 in Ole Miss Series

IMG_4616by:Katelyn Perkins•04/08/23
kentucky-softball-wins-saturday-series
Photo By UK Athletics

The Cats look to keep rolling into the weekend.

Kentucky Softball (23-9-1; 6-4 SEC) took on Ole Miss (22-17; 2-8 SEC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Wildcats barely pulled out a win on Friday night as they beat the Rebels 4-3 after they had held a 4-1 lead the entire game until the bottom of the seventh.

Sophomore and New Jersey native Alexia Lacatena started as pitcher on Saturday for Kentucky. Even though Lacatena has struggled some to find her rhythm from the mound she looks to be very promising for the future of the program.

Keep cool Kowalik

The Cats started on offense and graduate student Kayla Kowalik got things going right off the bat with a single. After proving to be a force from the plate, junior ball bomber Erin Coffel was intentionally walked, which placed two on base with no outs for UK.

Junior Grace Lorsung was up to bat with two on and drilled a double out to the field, sending Kowalik and Coffel to make it home giving Kentucky an early 2-0 lead.

Lacatena and the defense performed exceptionally at the bottom of the first which kept the score at 2-0 in favor of the Cats. The offense, however was not as exceptional at the top of the second as they had been in the first and tallied no more runs onto their already 2-0 lead. Lacatena gave up a run at the bottom of the second which switched the momentum in the direction of the Rebels heading into the third.

Offense on fire for Cats

At the top of the third Coffel was intentionally walked again to land on first, which was followed by a double from graduate student and Kentucky native Kennedy Sullivan. With Coffel on third and Sullivan on second, a wild pitch brought in a run for UK to give the Cats a 3-1 lead with two outs. Another Rebel error added a run for the Cats to make it a 4-1 game heading into the fourth.

The Kentucky defense stepped it up again at the bottom of the third and fourth innings. Unfortunately for the Cats, so did the Ole Miss defense. The momentum for both teams had deflated as they went into the bottom of the fifth.

Ole Miss gains momentum

Although Lacatena picked up her pitching in the previous innings, things went south fast at the bottom of the fifth. Ole Miss was able to read her pitches and get the upper hand with a homer sent to center field. The Rebels cut their deficit in half 4-2 going into the sixth inning riding a hitting high.

That high would be cut short by hits from Kentucky’s offense at the top of the sixth. With only one out against them the Cats had two on base and Kowalik’s steady batting hand up next. That steady hand remained strong as she laid down a bunt which led to an Ole Miss error that allowed Kowalik to get to second and score two runs to for Kentucky, putting them up 6-2 still with only one out.

Pitching woes

Gayan immediately gave up a single RBI that gave the Rebels another run which made the score 6-3 with two outs and two on for Ole Miss. Coffel was able to stop the bleeding with a ground out that she sent to first to give the Cats the third out that they had been looking for.

At the top of the seventh Lorsung was up to bat and hit a ball way outside the park to add one to the score to give the Cats a 7-3 lead. Even though the rest of the offense flopped at the top of the inning, Lorsung’s homer was enough to maintain a defining lead as they went into the final chance for the Rebels.

Pitching woes continue

With only three outs between them and another win at Ole Miss, Kentucky’s defense tried to hold the Rebels scoreless for one more inning. The first Ole Miss batter was hit by Gayan. A walk put two on for Ole Miss with no outs against them.

Gayan went head to head and tallied over 15 pitches with an Ole Miss batter, until Kentucky’s defense won the battle with a fly out. After getting their second out, Gayan gave up another hit, leading to two runs for Ole Miss making it 7-5. Lorsung made the last play to get the final out for the Cats.

The final inning was a doozy, but the Cats were finally able to get their last out and get the 7-5 victory over the Rebels.

Kentucky will look to have a more relaxing final day of play in Ole Miss on Sunday at 4 p.m.

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2025-03-10