Cheek’s home runs advance UK softball to SEC Tournament quarterfinals

Abbey Cheek hit two home runs to lead the Kentucky softball team to a 7-3 victory over South Carolina on Wednesday night and a spot in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

No. 7 seed UK (36-16) will face No. 2 seed Auburn (45-9) on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. The game in Knoxville will be shown live on the SEC Network, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Kentucky and Auburn did not play during the regular season.

Meagan Prince (19-7) allowed two runs in seven innings to get the win.

Cheek’s first homer — a two-run shot — followed Brooklin Hinz’s RBI double and gave the Cats a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Cheek drove in Hinz again with another drive in the fourth. Both home runs — her 11th and 12th of the season — cleared the left-field wall and came against different pitchers.

South Carolina (32-23), the No. 10 seed, got home runs from Tiara Duffy and Alyssa VanDerveer.

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 9:35 PM with the headline "Cheek’s home runs advance UK softball to SEC Tournament quarterfinals."