Here’s what you need to know as Kentucky softball starts postseason play
Postseason play has arrived for the Kentucky softball team.
Head coach Rachel Lawson’s team finished regular-season play last weekend with a series win at South Carolina, which left the Wildcats with a 35-16 overall record and a 13-11 mark in Southeastern Conference games.
Ranked No. 14 in the country in the latest D1Softball team rankings, Kentucky will be the No. 4 seed for this week’s SEC Tournament, held at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
As the No. 4 seed, UK has a double-bye in the SEC Tournament and won’t begin play in the 13-team, single-elimination tournament until Thursday evening.
Here’s what you need to know about the season so far, and the postseason still to come, for Kentucky softball.
How did the Cats do in the regular season?
Kentucky finished the regular season with a 35-16 overall record and a 13-11 record in SEC games.
It marked the sixth straight season (not including the 2020 season that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic) that Kentucky softball has recorded at least 35 wins.
It was also the third straight season that UK has finished above .500 in SEC play. Kentucky also posted a 13-11 mark in league play last season.
Kentucky recorded series wins this season over Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and South Carolina.
UK lost series this season against Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri.
In games against ranked teams this season, Kentucky went 10-8.
In the latest D1Softball team rankings following the conclusion of the regular season, Kentucky checked in at No. 14 in the country, the fifth-highest ranked SEC team.
Who were the statistical leaders for UK during the regular season?
Kentucky’s team leaders in key statistical categories for the 2022 regular were as follows.
Hits? Senior catcher Kayla Kowalik (67).
Home runs? Sophomore infielder Erin Coffel (17).
Batting average? Coffel (.418).
Earned-run average? Senior pitcher Tatum Spangler (1.42).
Wins? Spangler (9-1 record).
Innings pitched? Junior pitcher Miranda Stoddard (69).
Strikeouts? Sophomore pitcher Stephanie Schoonover (55).
Who will Kentucky play in the SEC Tournament?
Kentucky will play Florida, the tournament’s No. 5 seed, to begin the single-elimination SEC Tournament.
The Cats and Gators will play in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Thursday.
UK did not play Florida this season.
Florida is ranked No. 13 in the latest D1Softball team rankings.
Kentucky is one of five teams to have never won the conference tournament, along with Arkansas (the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament), Mississippi State, Missouri and Texas A&M.
Will Kentucky host games in the NCAA Tournament?
The NCAA Softball Tournament features a 64-team field, with 32 teams receiving automatic qualification via conference tournament wins and 32 other schools selected on an at-large basis.
The NCAA Division I Softball Committee will seed 16 teams for the tournament, and those seeded teams will host games at one of 16 regional campus sites.
Each site will feature a four-team, double-elimination tournament, with the 16 winning teams advancing to the super regionals, which will be held at eight campus sites.
At each super-regional site, two teams will play a best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to the NCAA Women’s College World Series.
In five of the last six seasons and in the last four NCAA Tournaments, Kentucky has been eliminated in a super regional.
The Wildcats have been to the Women’s College World Series once in program history (2014).
UK was given a top-16 seed and hosted a regional in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021), and appears to be squarely on the bubble for hosting another regional in 2022.
On Wednesday morning, prior to the start of the SEC Tournament, Lawson said hosting “would be a stretch” for Kentucky right now.
“I would love to host, but I’m certainly preparing to also travel,” Lawson said.
Lawson added that Kentucky could be able to make its case for hosting a regional by making a deep SEC Tournament run, which would entail multiple wins over highly ranked teams.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Freshman Taylor Ebbs said hosting an NCAA Tournament regional at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington is something talked about frequently within the team.
“That’s talked about probably every day,” Ebbs said. “I’d say it’s a good kind of pressure. Nothing we worry about, but something we work for day-in and day-out in the cages and on the field.”
Next game
No. 14 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Florida
What: SEC Tournament quarterfinal game
Where: Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.
When: 5 p.m. Thursday
TV: SEC Network
SEC Tournament schedule
At Gainesville, Fla.
Thursday
Noon: No. 3 Tennessee (40-8) vs. No. 11 Mississippi State
2:30 p.m.: No. 2 Alabama (37-14) vs. No. 7 Missouri
5 p.m.: No. 4 Kentucky (40-8) vs. No. 5 Florida
7:30 p.m.: No. 1 Arkansas (42-7) vs. No. 8 Ole Miss
Friday
3 and 5:30 p.m.: Semifinal games
Saturday
5 p.m.: Championship game
TV
Championship and semifinals on ESPN2. All other games on SEC Network.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
