Why UK softball players wanted coach Rachel Lawson to be meaner for 2026 season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Players asked Lawson to be tougher during fall practice.
- Lawson reset approach; six freshmen and three transfers expected to contribute.
- Team buy-in helped Kentucky rally late and reach a regional final last season.
Sarah Haendiges’ fall semester class schedule meant the Kentucky softball pitcher had more one-on-one time than normal with coach Rachel Lawson.
Since she was tied up with school work when the bulk of the team practiced, Haendiges was often working out by herself under the instruction of Lawson and assistant coach Grace Stonewall. That time helped the second-year Wildcat feel more comfortable when it came time to offer a constructive critique to her head coach.
“There was one day I was like, ‘I think people need to be whipped into shape a little more,’” Haendiges said. “‘You’re kind of letting up. Like, where’s the Coach Lawson I’ve heard about, because I haven’t seen it yet?’ I’ve just heard that in the past, she was, like, relentless. ... Like, assertive. She knows what she wants, and she’s gonna tell you. And I had seen her kind of lay off the gas a little bit.
“I was like, ‘I think we need a little bit of a kick in the butt, because we just had a lot of new people.’”
Haendiges, who transferred to UK from Oregon State before the 2025 season, was not the only player who asked for the tougher version of Lawson to return to practice.
The requests came a year after Lawson acknowledged in her annual preseason media day news conference she felt she needed to tweak her coaching style due to sagging results in the post-pandemic stretch that included the advent of free transfers and players being able to profit off their name, image and likeness.
“In my attempt to stay loyal to the people I recruited, the team took a step back,” Lawson said last year. “I’m no longer gonna be that girl.”
Lawson said that during a 2024 season that felt like a disappointment despite continuing the program’s NCAA tournament streak, she allowed players to be “too selfish” and not perform to the standard she had previously set for the program. In hindsight, she felt there were younger, more talented players who should have been given opportunities over veterans who had spent years in the program.
The program reset did not lead to noticeably better results in 2025, though.
The Wildcats reached the NCAA Tournament for the 16th consecutive season one was held (the tournament was canceled in 2020) but failed for the fourth straight year to host a regional. Kentucky entered the tournament on a five-game losing streak. After dropping the regional opener, the Wildcats did rally to win two elimination games before falling to No. 1 seed Clemson in the regional final.
“There’s not a single person, except for some people in the BBN and us, that believe in ourselves, but they don’t see what I see every day,” Lawson said this week at UK’s 2026 media day. “Sure, it’s going to be rocky at the beginning, but all of these changes that we’ve made over the last two years, it was necessary because we were going (down).
“And then at the very end of last year, you saw us turn it around, and we ended up in the regional final, which was pretty cool. We were not headed that direction, and we quickly turned it around. It was because of the people who’ve returned that we’ve turned it around.”
When two players asked her to be meaner during fall practice, Lawson knew the changes had taken hold.
With six freshmen and three transfers added to a 20-player roster for 2026, Lawson has what she calls a “blank slate” to work with. For the second straight year, the Wildcats are not ranked in the preseason top 25, but Lawson is confident the team will surprise.
“I knew it got better because they wanted more,” Lawson said. “They weren’t dancing around the issues. I wasn’t dancing around them. One of the things that I love about this team is I know that they have each other’s back, and I know that they have our coaches’ backs. Practice has flown by.
“…I’m getting nervous because I’m kind of relaxed about it, and then I really had to stop and think about it this weekend, and it’s because the team is so bought in and they want such great things for themselves. They’re acting like mature adults. It’s kind of like we’re thrown back to 10 years ago. It’s like they’ve captured that fire of what it meant to be an old-school athlete, and they brought it into the future, which is so absolutely cool. So when you leave practice, you leave practice uplifted for the next day.”
Kentucky is one of just 12 programs that have reached the last 16 NCAA Tournaments, but Lawson set the bar higher with the program’s first trip to the College World Series in 2014 and eight super regional appearances.
But if the Wildcats are going to host a regional for the first time since 2021 or advance to the tournament’s second weekend this year, significant contributions from the freshmen and transfers will be needed.
Haendiges returns to lead the pitching staff after going 10-5 with a 2.71 ERA and 91 walks in 952/3 innings last season. Leading hitters Peyton Plotts (.359, 16 home runs, 54 RBI) and Allie Blum (.341, eight home runs, 38 RBI) are back, too.
But Lawson expects at least four of the six freshmen and other newcomers to play featured roles. Former Troy outfielder Reaghan Oney, who won the 2024 Miss Kentucky Softball award as a senior for Montgomery County High School, and former Central Michigan catcher Carly Sleeman will compete for starting spots. Former Eastern Illinois pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi is working her way back from an injury but is already poised to contribute “quality innings,” Lawson said.
“They have no problem telling me what they want me to do, and not in a disrespectful way,” Lawson said. “They’re all very respectful, but they’re like, ‘We need this. Let’s do this.’ And they will tell me in a mature way. And I love that about them.
“That’s when I know that we’ve arrived. Because they’re not scared of me. They want what’s best for them. They want what’s best for their team. They want what’s best for softball.”
What’s best for this team was apparently a harsher version of Lawson in preseason practices.
In an era of free transfers and demands for more compensation, even in non-revenue sports, there is always a risk that tough love will not be received well. But not for this team, which opens play Friday against Miami (Ohio) in a tournament in San Diego.
“I wanted everyone to see there’s a higher expectation than what we’re doing day in and day out,” Haendiges said. “...I had told (Lawson) I had her back. I was like, ‘I know you’re gonna have mine and what I’m telling you, and I know you respect me enough to put this into action.’
“And she did, and I think it really did turn around our team a lot. Because the fall was rough. If anyone watched our fall games, it was rough trying to come together with so many new people, but once she kicked it into gear, we were rolling.”