Cats take two from Notre Dame, advance to super regionals
Pushed to the elimination bracket of the Lexington Regional by a humbling 12-3 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, Kentucky responded with a pair of dominant performances Sunday in taking two games from the Fighting Irish.
The Wildcats won the opening game 7-0 and clinched their eighth trip to the super regionals in program history with a 4-0 victory in the championship game. UK pitchers Autumn Humes and Grace Baalman combined to hold Notre Dame to just three hits in each of the wins.
"We just tried to forget every single thing that happened in that game yesterday and start fresh," said Humes, who allowed only five hits and did not walk a batter over 7.2 innings spanning the two games. "That wasn't us. That wasn't Kentucky softball. That wasn't me on the mound. I don't know who that was."
"We were just so bad on Saturday," UK head coach Rachel Lawson said. "We didn't even really acknowledge it. It was one of those things that you just had to throw out because, if you didn't, it would take weeks to analyze. That's how terrible it was.
"But we just came out and played our game and dominated (Sunday)."
No. 14 Kentucky (43-14) will advance to play third-seeded Alabama next week in Tuscaloosa. The Cats and Crimson Tide split four games this season.
Humes improved to 22-8 in the circle this season. Baalman (11-3) was equally impressive, allowing just one hit and one walk over 6.1 innings in the championship game.
Pitching wasn't the only clutch performance by Humes, who also hit a solo home run to get the Cats off to a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the championship game.
Tatum Spangler and Renee Abernathy each hit home runs in the opening game to power UK. Spangler had four hits and three RBI between the two games on Sunday. UK had 19 hits on the day.
"I think the thing that I was so impressed by is we had production from the entire order and great plays from outfielders and infielders," Lawson said. "... Just to be able to do all those things really spoke to being in the moment and playing their game and being in the moment."
"We never felt like we were going to lose this regional," Spangler said, "but (after Saturday's loss) we had to prove ourselves."
Notre Dame closed its season at 33-15.