In front of UK sellout crowd, college softball’s best displays dominance in Lexington
In a marquee college softball non-conference matchup in Lexington on Tuesday night, the nation’s best team was on full display.
No. 1 Oklahoma (26-0), the defending NCAA champions and now winners of 28 straight games, came to Lexington and overpowered No. 8 Kentucky (20-6), as the Sooners won 9-1 in six innings.
The Sooners hit home runs in five of the game’s six innings on their way to another impressive victory. OU totaled six long balls for the game.
The result was Oklahoma’s 22nd win by run rule this season.
“That is by far the best team that we have played this year,” UK head coach Rachel Lawson said postgame. “I don’t think we played our best game, but I also think that they had a lot to do with it. They’re very physical, very dominating.”
OU’s latest triumph came in front of one of the best crowds in recent Kentucky program history.
A sellout crowd at John Cropp Stadium featured 2,117 fans, and was the first sellout crowd at the venue since 2013. It was the first-ever regular-season sellout crowd at John Cropp Stadium, which opened in April 2013.
The crowd was the second-largest in UK program history, only behind the 2013 Southeastern Conference Championship game.
“When I was little, women and girls, we were trying to get access just to play on a softball field or a baseball field or get time in the gym that wasn’t at midnight,” Lawson said. “To see now, fast forward, we’re playing on Tuesday night, a school chartered to get here, you’re playing in a stadium, you’ve got media here. It’s just awesome. . . . It continues to get better and better every single year.”
“This is amazing,” Kentucky senior outfielder Renee Abernathy added. “This was so special for us. We’re so thankful for this field, for the BBN, for our athletic department, Oklahoma for making the long travel here. . . . It’s so awesome to see softball continue to grow.”
Junior pitcher Miranda Stoddard — who entered play Tuesday tied for the UK team lead with five wins and with the team lead in innings pitched (44) and WHIP (1.07) — started for the Wildcats against the nation’s best team.
Stoddard was taken deep for home runs in each of the game’s first three innings.
Oklahoma redshirt senior Jocelyn Alo — the all-time NCAA softball home run leader — launched her 101st career blast in the first inning directly at the new videoboard at John Cropp Stadium beyond the left-field fence to make it 1-0.
Another OU redshirt senior, catcher Lynnsie Elam, followed suit with another massive solo shot to left field in the second inning that made it 2-0.
The Sooners then created separation from the Cats in the third inning, chasing Stoddard from the game with an RBI single to center field and a three-run home run to straight-away center, again by Elam.
Alo went on to hit a nearly identical home run in the top of the sixth inning, sending her second solo shot of the night into the netting in front of the videoboard.
“We don’t have one pitcher in our arsenal that has seen anything like that,” Lawson said. “I think they got punched in the mouth . . . and then it just kept happening.”
Kentucky had an early run-scoring chance go by the wayside in the bottom of the first, as UK was unable to score from a bases-loaded, no-out situation.
A fielder’s choice at home plate, and two consecutive strikeouts by Oklahoma star freshman pitcher Jordyn Bahl got the Sooners out of the jam.
“I think it changes everything,” Lawson said of the game had UK been able to score in the first inning. “You never know when the game-winning play is going to happen. Them holding us, us not scoring, had a lot to do with the outcome of the game.”
The Wildcats did avoid the shutout though, which is no small feat against the Sooners.
Oklahoma has 15 wins this season by shutout, but a solo home run that just sliced above the left-field fence by Abernathy in the bottom of the fourth inning got the Cats on the board.
Scoring against OU star freshman pitcher Jordyn Bahl is also no small task: Bahl has now allowed only seven earned runs in 64 2/3 innings this season.
Bahl did a good job of quieting UK’s best bats. Three UK hitters entered Tuesday’s game batting above .400: Senior catcher Kayla Kowalik, sophomore infielder Erin Coffel and fifth-year outfielder Lauren Johnson.
Kowalik managed two hits, but Coffel and Johnson each recorded no hits.
“She was incredibly dominating,” Lawson said, complementing the effectiveness of Bahl’s fastball, off-speed pitches and rise and curve pitches.
“We’re always working for postseason and they showed us what May is going to be like,” Abernathy added. “Every game in May is going to be like that.”
Lawson identified defensive fielding, timely situational scoring and competing during at-bats as three things she wants to see improvement in as the Cats return to conference play.
Kentucky began SEC play last weekend at No. 3 Alabama, losing the first two games of the series before winning the Sunday afternoon contest.
Tuesday night’s home game against the Sooners began a five-game home stand for the Wildcats.
UK returns to SEC play this weekend with a three-game home set against No. 18 Auburn (26-2 overall, 5-1 in SEC play) starting at 6 p.m. Friday.
Auburn is currently atop the SEC standings.
Kentucky baseball snaps losing streak
At the same time as UK softball’s home game against Oklahoma, the Kentucky baseball team hosted Morehead State across the parking lot at Kentucky Proud Park.
The Cats snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-5 win.
Now 15-7 overall and with an 0-3 mark in SEC play after being swept at Arkansas last weekend, Kentucky baseball will also host an SEC opponent for a three-game series this weekend.
UK and Georgia will play three games in Lexington, starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Tuesday night’s win over Morehead State started a nine-game home stand for UK that includes two weekend series against Georgia and Ole Miss, and midweek games against Eastern Kentucky and Louisville.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 7:47 AM.
