UK Softball falls behind early, drops Game 2 to #18 Auburn

The Auburn Tigers softball program hasn’t done much losing this year. With 27 wins in 30 games on the season, Friday’s loss in Lexington was just their third defeat all season. They made up for it on Saturday, jumping all over the Wildcat pitching in the first two innings and riding their lead to the finish line. Let’s talk about how it happened…

Penta’s pitching gem lifts Auburn past Kentucky, 6-3

UK got all the offense they needed and then some on Friday, putting up 11 runs on #18 Auburn’s normally stout pitching staff. As it turns out, they should’ve saved a few for the next day. The ‘Cats went a brutal 2-16 with runners on base Saturday, thanks in large part to Tiger right-hander Maddie Penta‘s dominant complete-game effort. UK made a valiant comeback effort in the later innings, but ultimately fell short.

The game turned sour quickly on Kentucky starter Stephanie Schoonover, as she surrendered a three-run bomb to the game’s fourth batter, Auburn’s Lindsey Garcia. She was replaced in the second inning by freshman Izzy Harrison, who allowed an unearned run in the second then settled things down with a perfect frame in the third. But the Tiger bats got to her too in the fourth, as a leadoff walk and a single would come around to score. Just like that, Auburn led the game 6-0 at John Cropp Stadium.

The ‘Cats began to show some life in the bottom half of the fourth as Erin Coffel led off with a single. Then yesterday’s hero Renee Abernathy picked up right where she left off with a two-run homer to left field — her seventh of the season, bringing UK back within four runs.

After a scoreless fifth inning in relief by Sloan Gayan, the ‘Cats looked to build on that momentum at the plate. Kentucky capitalized on a pair of hits and an error to load the bases with no outs, their first real rally of the day against Penta. But the sophomore hurler managed to limit the damage, escaping in the end with just one run allowed on a fielder’s choice grounder by Lauren Johnson.

That would prove to be the last real scoring threat the Wildcats could produce, as they stranded one runner in each of the following innings. Penta wrapped up her seven-inning, complete-game gem with a line of 109 pitches in 7.0 innings, three runs, four strikeouts and a 6-3 victory — her league-leading 16th of the year.

Rubber match tomorrow. #WeAreUK x #BeTheStandard pic.twitter.com/uAFUfyXa3G

— Kentucky Softball (@UKsoftball) March 26, 2022

Kentucky recorded seven hits as a team, with just two going for extra bases. Abernathy raised her RBI counter to 29 on the year and eight on the weekend. Schoonover collected her first loss on the mound, her record now sitting at 3-1.

Sunday’s rubber match will decide the series, as the ‘Cats and Tigers face off once more at 1:00 p.m. at John Cropp Stadium. For those watching from home, it’ll be streaming as usual on the SEC Network+.