UK Softball Gets Blasted by Notre Dame; Now One Loss Away from Elimination

(UK Athletics | Chris Shoals)

The Kentucky Softball team got destroyed by Notre Dame in the second game of the regional and now will have to win three straight to move on.

Despite a lopsided loss, Kentucky got off the blocks quick vs. the Fighting Irish. In the bottom of the first, Kayla Kowalik and Tatum Spangler both singled to give the ‘Cats two runners on with no outs. The next batter struck out, then Erin Coffel successfully squeezed Kowalik home and managed to get to first safely.

After a mound visit by the Notre Dame coach, Spangler stole home on a passed ball and Coffel advanced to second. Mallory Peyton was next to bat and she singled to send Coffel home and give the ‘Cats a quick 3-0 lead.

Great start for UK Softball in 2nd game of the Regional

Lead Notre Dame 3-0 after one inning

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 22, 2021

Following an Irish pitching change, UK loaded the bases but failed to add another run to further break the game open. If the game ended right now, I think we’d all be a lot happier, however that’s not the case.

Notre Dame responded in the top of the second with a five-run inning. Three batters into the inning, ND hit a three-run homer to even the game right back up. Later on, they added two more runs on an RBI double.

Kentucky went down in order in their half of the second and Notre Dame came right back out to score four more runs, three coming off back-to-back RBI doubles and a fourth coming later in the inning on a Notre Dame player stealing home.

9-3 Notre Dame, and boy was that fast. I think we should just chalk it up to the KSR curse and blame Matt Jones.

From the moment I tweeted, things went bad for @UKsoftball

They are now losing 9-3

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 22, 2021

Kentucky offered little fight the rest of the way, and just like yesterday, they only scored three runs- all coming in one inning. The difference was that Autumn Humes gave up 2 runs as opposed to 8 before being pulled today.

Notre Dame added three more runs in the top of the fifth to push the game into mercy-rule territory. In NCAA Softball, if one team is up by 8 or more runs after five innings, the game is called. Trailing 12-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth, UK needed a pair of runs to extend the game.

Instead, they went down with little fight to fall into an elimination game later tonight.

Yesterday, we discussed that UK was in the driver’s seat of their region after winning the first game. Twenty-four hours and 12-runs later, they’ve been demoted to desperation. In order to advance to the Super Regional, they’ll now need to beat the winner of Miami (OH) and Northwestern tonight, then beat this Notre Dame team twice in one day tomorrow.

Not an easy road, but still winnable. Be sure to pack the park this weekend to pull on these ‘Cats as they try to come back and advance to the next round. They’ll play at 5 p.m. ET tonight and here is the remaining regional bracket:

Notre Dame def. Kentucky 12-3 (F/5) and advances into the Lexington Regional final on Sunday.

UK will play the Miami/NU winner at appx. 5 p.m. ET tonight on ESPN3 in an elimination game. pic.twitter.com/02ljsd7MIo

— Kentucky Softball (@UKsoftball) May 22, 2021

We’ll be back this evening with more coverage from John Cropp Stadium.