After a four-game, five-day road trip that saw the No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats win four in a row and sweep a road Southeastern Conference series for the first time in 2017, UK will jump right back into action playing five games in six days beginning Tuesday in the first of two road midweek games.
The Wildcats play at Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday night beginning at 6 p.m. ET in a rescheduled game from March before turning around to play at UT Martin in Meagan Prince’s hometown at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday afternoon.
Kentucky went 4-0 last week, but dropped a spot in the RPI to No. 17 nationally. UK has played 30 games this season against teams inside the RPI top 100, and have nine wins against the RPI top 50 that was released by the NCAA on Monday afternoon.
Led by 25th year coach Jane Worthington, the EKU Colonels are 20-25 overall on the season, and sit at an even .500 in Ohio Valley Conference play at 7-7. EKU is in the first year of its newly-renovated Gertrude Hood Stadium – the new home of EKU softball. The Colonels are led offensively by Rachel Minogue, who is hitting .431 on the season with four home runs and 41 RBI. The Colonels power offense has five players currently batting over .300 on the season, with two players, Minogue and Johnkyria Alston, knocking in over 40 runs.
In the circle, Mollie Paulick and Alex Sallberg have split a majority of the innings, each tossing over 111 frames on the season. Paulick is the team’s ERA leader with a 2.51 and a 10-9 record and Sallberg has a 3.34 ERA with a 7-12 record in the circle.
Kentucky leads the all-time series, 20-7 over the Colonels. Last season, UK knocked off EKU 2-0 thanks to a home run by Abbey Cheek in the bottom of the sixth inning in a scoreless game.
The UT-Martin Skyhawks are having a fantastic season, entering the week with a 32-14 overall record and 9-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference. UTM is led on offense by Carly Gonzales, who is hitting .381 on the season with 51 hits and 15 RBI. The power in the UTM lineup comes from Jodie Duncan, a .355 hitter who has four home runs and 34 RBI. There are four players on the UTM roster that have hit four or more homers this season, led by Alli Fulcher’s five. In the circle, Sara Hooten leads the Skyhawks with a 2.55 ERA, but a majority of the team’s wins have come from Brooke Kennedy, who is 17-4 this season in 131 innings thrown.
Wednesday will be the first-ever meeting between UK and UT Martin in softball.
Tuesday, April 25 – Kentucky at EKU – 6 p.m. ET, Richmond, KY
Wednesday, April 26 – Kentucky at UT – Martin – 5 p.m. ET, Martin, TN
For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
‑ GO CATS –
For more information contact:
Chris Shoals