After an up-and-down regular season that saw them fall short of their lofty goals, Rachel Lawson's Wildcats have new life.
Kentucky Softball learned Sunday that it has received a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 16th straight season under Lawson.
The Cats will represent the SEC as an at-large team in the Clemson Regional. Joining them in South Carolina will be Northwestern and USC Upstate. UK is the regional 2 seed and will face 3 seed Northwestern at 2 p.m. ET on Friday to open the tournament on ESPN+. Clemson, the top seed and No. 11 national seed, will face USC Upstate at 4:30 ET.
Kentucky (29-26) is led by Allie Blum (.331 BA) and Peyton Plotts (.329 BA, 15 HR, 51 RBI) at the plate. The Cats took a big blow when McKenzie Bump (.325 BA) suffered an ACL injury in March.
In the circle, the Cats are led by Sarah Haendiges (10-5, 2.63 ERA). She has recorded 89 strikeouts in 90.2 innings pitched this season. Alexia Lacatena is considered questionable with a back injury after going 6-2 with a 2.57 ERA in 18 appearances this season.
Only 11 other schools in the country have made the NCAA Tournament the last 16 years: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Washington.
The only time Lawson has missed the tourney during her time at UK was her first season in 2008.
The SEC had all 14 of its eligible teams selected for the field, setting a new record. Texas A&M earned the No. 1 overall national seed, and nine SEC schools were selected as regional host sites.
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2025 NCAA Clemson Regional
Friday, May 16
Game 1 – (2) Kentucky vs. (3) Northwestern [2pm ET, ESPN+]
Game 2 – (1) Clemson vs. (4) USC Upstate [4:30pm ET, ESPN+]
Saturday, May 17
Game 3 – Winner game 1 vs. Winner game 2
Game 4 – Loser game 1 vs. Loser game 2 [elimination game]
Game 5 – Loser game 3 vs. Winner game 4 [elimination game]
Sunday, May 18
Game 6 – Winner game 3 vs. Winner game 5
Game 7 (if necessary) – Loser game 6 vs. Winner game 6 [winner to super regionals]
