Kentucky Softball blitzes Louisville: Recap and Highlights

The no. 21 Kentucky softball team left this weekend's sweep at the hands of Tennessee with the bitter taste of losing to an archrival.

Fast forward to earlier this evening, and the Hittin' Kitten (25-11) rebounded with a satisfying pounding of the hated Louisville Cardinals 10-1 right in the heart of the River City.

Kentucky started the scoring with a whisper. Slugger Abbey Cheek strode to the plate with the bases juiced in the top of the 1st inning. With a 1-1 count, Cheek smacked the ball straight into a double play, but with the Cards attention elsewhere, Katie Reed jogged home for the unearned run.

The Wildcats added another run in the top of the next inning when an infield blunder by the Louisville opened the opportunity for pinch runner, Brooklin Hinz, to trot home, giving her team a 2-0 lead.

With a tight lead through the first two frames, Kentucky started Meagan Prince held her own in the pitcher's circle. Prince retired six of the first eight batters she faced, yielding only a single and a hit batter during that stretch. Overall she threw a four-hit, one run, six-inning beauty highlighted by half a dozen strikeouts to improve her record to 12-6.

Kentucky finally blew the game open with four runs in the top of the 3rd inning. Jenny Schafer hit a double and scored thanks to Cheeks' RBI single. Breanne Ray's double put runners on the corners, and after Alex Martens drew a walk to the bases were loaded. After Hinz struck out swinging, Morgan McCallum got on a base courtesy of another Louisville throwing error, which brought home pinch runner Madison Kearschner. Erin Rethlake's two-run single extended the Wildcats' lead to 6-0 as the inning drew to a close.

The Cats drove a stake through the collective heart of the Cards with another four-run inning in the top of the 6th. Kentucky scored thanks to a single from Bailey Vick and a bases clearing double from Ray.

Ray finished the game 2-of-4 with three RBI. Cheek and Katie Reed were the only other Wildcats to finish with more than one hit.