UK batters rake in another perfect doubleheader

No. 22 Kentucky scored 22 total runs and got 26 combined hits in another perfect doubleheader in the John Cropp Classic Sunday verses Southeast Missouri and Ohio.

The Wildcats (14-3), and winners of nine straight, put on a tremendous display of what head coach Rachel Lawson called “team at bats.”

“When you go into the (batter's) box you can’t try to be a hero. It is really important that you do your job and do it well; you execute and do what you are supposed to”, Lawson said after the games.

She believes that often her young squad tries to end the game “with one swing”, but seemed pleased with their performance at the plate compared to Saturday.

Kentucky will look to end their six-game home stand perfect on Tuesday against SIU-Edwardsville with the first pitch scheduled for 4:00 P.M.

Kentucky 11, Southeast Missouri 2.

The Wildcats used a five-hit, five-run rally in the top of the fifth inning to blow open a one-run game into an eventual nine-run victory over the Redhawks.

Kentucky got 11 hits as a team and had three players (Abbey Cheek, Brooklin Hinz, and Jenny Schaper) finish with two hits each.

The back-breaking fifth started with UK leading 3-2. Singles by senior Erin Rethlake and junior Katie Reed put runners on the bags. Schaper, a junior, brought Rethlake home with a single. Then Hinz, also a senior, smacked an RBI double to right center field to score Rethlake. So with two runners on and no outs, junior slugger Cheek strode to the plate and launched the third pitch of her at-bat over the scoreboard in left field for a three-run homer, her sixth of the season.

Hinz got the Cats on the board in the top of the first inning when she roped a single into right-center field and scored Bailey Vick, who lead off the inning with a blooper to left field.

With Alex Martens aboard via a beanball in the top of the second inning with no outs, senior catcher Rachel Metzger strode into the box 0-for-15 on the season. Down 1-2 on the count, Metzger swung through and smashed her first hit, and home run, of the campaign over the left field fence to put the Cats up 3-0.

SEMO answered the Cats in the bottom of the third. Junior Sarah Essex swatted a two-out, two run triple to trim the deficit to one-run 3-2. Kentucky shortstop Katie Reed prevented a tie-game with a spectacular throwdown of a Redhawk runner heading home earlier in the frame.

Kentucky added three runs in the top of the seventh inning courtesy of three-run homer by freshman Mallory Peyton, her second of the season.

Sophomore pitcher Autumn Humes worked through four innings to get the victory, her fourth of the season against zero defeats. She allowed zero earned runs, gave up four hits and struck out three batters.

Rethlake threw three innings in relief, allowing three hits and zero runs. She also struck out six batters and walked two.

Kentucky 11, Ohio 1

Kentucky smacked 14 hits and used a four-run first and five-run fifth inning to put Ohio away early due to the college softball mercy rule.

Four Wildcats had two-hit games: Erin Rethlake, Katie Reed, Abbey Cheek, and Rachel Metzger.

Schaper and Metzger each also had two RBI.

The Cats started the bottom of the first inning with consecutive singles from Bailey Vick and Rethlake, and then the third, a tight bunt, by Katie Reed brought Vick home with no outs. Jenny Schaper battled to a full count and then threaded a single to score Rethlake and Reed. Later in the inning, with two outs and two runners on base, Metzger knocked a two-RBI double. The Cats loaded the bases a few batters later, but Metzger collided with a Bobcat fielder to nullify a potential fifth run.

Kentucky got their fifth run in the bottom of the second when Brooklin Hinz hit a two-out, RBI single.

Mallory Peyton added another run for UK in the bottom of the third with a leadoff home run, her second of the afternoon and third of the season.

The ladies in blue and white put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fourth inning with five runs coming off a fielder's choice, a Metzger double, and an Alex Martens' three-run bomb to center field, her second of the season.

The Bobcats got their lone run in the top of the fifth on a fielder's choice by Grace Baalman.

Baalman (7-1) threw five complete innings. She gave up three hits and one run to go along with four strikeouts and four walks.