Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another won the Preakness today. If the horse manages to win the Belmont Stakes on Friday, June 8th, it will be the first triple crown winner since 1978. Here’s to hoping he gets yet another.

It got a little too close for comfort but the University of Kentucky Softball Cats pulled out a close one against Valporaiso tonight in an elimination match. The Cats found themselves up 5-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth but Valpo used a double down the wire to spark a rally that got the Crusaders to within 1 at 5-4. Kentucky left a runner stranded in the sixth but Chanda Bell, who had come in to relieve Rachel Riley in the fifth, showed her senior poise as she calmy sat Valpo down while allowing just one hit in two innings pitched.

UK scored their runs in the second inning. Alice O’Brien got things started with a single that advanced the walked Ginny Carroll to third base. Carroll scored on an errant pitch then things started snowballing for Valporaiso as UK took advantage of some sloppy pitching to plate five runs aided by Kara Dill’s RBI single. After the second inning the game stalled as both teams were unable to capitalize with runners aboard. Obviously the game got a bit closer as Valpo took advantage of 3 hits and 2 Wildcat errors in the fifth to plate 4 runs, but in the end UK prevailed 5-4. 

The Cats will now turn around and face Louisville, who lost to Michigan earlier today, in an elimination game. It’s as simple as this: if the Cats win they move on, if they lose, they’re going home. The game started at 8:24 and is on ESPN. Watch it!! Louisville lost 2-1 in 8 innings to Michigan earlier today.

 (30-29)     5       (42-19)   4

Pitching: Rachel Riley is credited with the win as she moves to 9-7 on the year after striking out 3 and allowing 3 hits and 1 earned run in 4.2 innings pitched. Chanda Bell picked up her 4th save of the year as she pitched a masterful 2.1 innings in which she allowed 1 hit and struck out 3.

Batting: Kentucky had 7 hits in a balanced effort. Kara Dill, Rachel Riley, Griffin Joiner, Ginny Carroll, Alice O’Brien, Kara Howard, and Emily Jolly all had 1 hit a piece to amass UK’s 7 hits. Emily Jolly and Kara Dill each had an RBI. Valpo had 4 hits.

Errors: Kentucky: 2… Valpo: 1

The Start time was at 5:50 and the game lasted 2 hours and 4 minutes. The weather was hot but pleasant in the mid 80′s.

Happy Saturday evening, dear reader. One of the other KSRc writers asked yesterday how I think the Cats will look this season. I honestly think that we will see an improved program on the field this year. Spring practices went better than I expected and I was impressed with a lot of what I saw in the Blue/White game, but of course not everything.

I  already see that the offense will be tons better than last year. Max Smith, Patrick Towels and La’Rod King all have the potential to be the hero’s of fall. Max Smith has become a lot more comfortable in the QB position. He has a good connection with his receivers, a great arm, and good foot work. With Patrick coming in I think  the starting QB position will be his if he can handle this next level, and I’m sure he can. La’Rod led the team in every receiving category last season. He made 40 catches for 589 yards. I see him having the season of his career this year. It’s his senior year, so we can expect to see him step up and lead the team both on and off the field. Another reason why I believe the offense will be a great deal better is because of the newest addition to the coaching staff, Pat Washington. He has changed the way the offense practices from their morning routine to the way they sleep at night. He has tremendous energy during practice he doesn’t stand back and call plays, he gets in the action he’s teaching. Needless to say he’s really hands on when he coaches.

On the defensive end, I think we’re going to see a strong improvement. Last year was Rick Minter’s first year as the defensive coordinator and they looked pretty good. We also have almost all of the defensive line returning. Seniors, Collins Ukwu and Taylor Wyndam have been consistently good throughout their years at UK. This year I think we can expect them to “rise” to the occasion. Like La’Rod, these guys aren’t going to let their senior year be bad.

With that being said, our team has greatly improved from last year. Our schedule however is tough. I think the Cats can get in five “W’s” in this season. The SEC is going to be tough, like always but I think we could potentially beat Georgia, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. As for non-conference games I think we’ll beat Samford and Kent State. The schedule for the season will be…

09/02/12      at     Louisville                    Louisville, Ky. 3:30 p.m. ET 

09/08/12      vs.    Kent State                   Lexington, Ky. TBA 

09/15/12      vs.    Western Kentucky    Lexington, Ky. TBA 

09/22/12      at      Florida                        Gainesville, Fla. TBA 

09/29/12      vs.    South Carolina          Lexington, Ky. TBA 

10/06/12     vs.     Mississippi State      Lexington, Ky. TBA 

10/13/12     at      Arkansas                     Fayetteville, Ark. TBA 

10/20/12     vs.    Georgia                        Lexington, Ky. TBA 

10/27/12     at      Missouri                      Columbia, Mo. TBA 

11/03/12     vs.    Vanderbilt                   Lexington, Ky. TBA 

11/17/12     vs.    Samford                        Lexington, Ky. TBA 

11/24/12     at     Tennessee                   Knoxville, Tenn. TBA 

I don’t think this season will be a disappointing. Win or loose, BBN, remember we’re there to booze. Let’s make sure our tailgates are the best ever this year . Alright, I’m off to work. Come see me at Trust if you know how to have a good time. Tweet me, @CarolineHallKSR.

UK Starting Pitcher Corey Littrell came up short in his attempt to finish the regular season undefeated. Photo Credit: Regina Rickert, ACR Photo

While many UK baseball fans were still scoreboard watching for the result of the USC-LSU game and the Florida game in the early innings of today’s season finale against Mississippi State (myself included), the Cats took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 3rd in Starkville. With an LSU win and a Florida loss, everything happened in the other games that needed to happen for the Cats to earn a share of the SEC regular season title and a #1 seed in the conference tournament next week in Hoover, Al. The stars seemed to be aligning for Kentucky to win their second SEC title in school history. Everything outside of their control in other SEC games went their way, and even Mississippi State was helping with basically giving them the first run of the afternoon.

Matt Reida led off the 3rd inning with a walk, Austin Cousino reached base on an error which moved Reida all the way to 3rd, and then Reida scored off a wild pitch to put the Cats ahead 1-0. With 2 outs in the inning, Luke Maile walked, advanced off of another MSU wild pitch, and was driven in on a Mike Williams single to give the Cats a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 4th, Mississippi State stormed back with 3 runs on 3 hits to take a 3-2 lead over Kentucky.

All season long, UK has thrived in coming back from behind, but in the 5th inning today the wheels completely fell off after falling behind by a run the inning before. In the top half of the inning, UK went three-up, three-down at the plate before a very ugly bottom of the 5th in the field. MSU added a 4th run off of a UK error and a fifth run off of a single up the middle, which marked the end of the day for Corey Littrell, who would earn his first and only loss of the regular season. Walter Wijas came in to relieve Littrell and was unable to record an out. Wijas’ first batter reached off of the second Kentucky error of the inning and brought in another run. Still not finished, MSU capped off the inning with 2 more runs for a total of 5, handing UK an 8-2 deficit heading into the 6th.

MSU tacked on 3 more runs in the 7th to pull away with an 11-2 lead. In the top of the 9th, Thomas Bernal singled to leftfield to score Lucas Witt, but it was too little and too late for the Cats. The Bulldogs held on to win comfortably by a final score of 11-3 and improved their SEC and NCAA Tournament seeding. The Cats, who entered the game with a good chance of earning a #1 seed in the SEC tournament, now fall all the way down to a #4 seed.

The 0-4 roadtrip was extremely dissapointing and shocking for Kentucky, who was coming off of a sweep over Alabama last weekend. Prior to the win-less roadtrip, the SEC Tournament would have been a mere tune-up heading into the NCAA Tournament. Now, the Cats need to win some games in Hoover and put together a good showing to not only secure home field advantage in the Regionals and Super Regionals, but also to get back the confidence and swagger they’ve had all season long heading into the NCAA’s. UK will return to the field in the SEC Tournament on Tuesday morning at 10:30. We’ll let you know when an opponent is known.

To finish on a positive note, let’s not forget that this team was predicted to finish 10th in the league and they will be making their first SEC Tournament appearance since 2008. Posting an overall 41-15 record, the 2012 Cats won the second-most regular season games in school history.

Maybe the loyal readers of KSR somehow found this, but yesterday I was introduced to this awesome UK Athletics video!  Check it out, I’ve watched it about 54 times… Not Sorry.

Who wants to make a Lip Dub with me?? @KSR_allHAYL

Game 4: Philadelphia 92 – Boston 83

Jodie Meeks followed up his best performance of the playoffs with another solid outing. Meeks scored 9 points in 11 minutes and was 3-5 from the field. The story of the game for the Sixers was the big play of Andre Iguodala, the point guard helped rally the team from an 18 point deficit and scored the go ahead basket late in the fourth quarter.

For the Celtics Rondo was his usual brilliant self scoring 15 points and dishing out 15 assists. Rondo was one of the few bright spots for the Cs last night. The big three, aside from Paul Pierce, were mostly non-factors in this game. Garnett and Allen combined to score just 14 points. The series is now tied at 2 game a piece. Game 5 is going to be Monday night in Boston and this series looks like it’s heading to seven games.

Game 3: LA Lakers 99 – OKC Thunder 96

Nazr Mohammed was held scoreless for the second game in a row as he continues to provide some relief to Perkins and Aldrich. Nazr did find a way to make a slight impact as he committed 5 fouls in only 13 minutes. The entire game was close throughout as the teams switched leads during the entirety of the second half but the Lakers refused to fall into an 0-3 hole and hit 8 free throws in the final minute to stay ahead. Durant missed the game tying three as the clock wound down. Game 4 is tonight at 10:30.

The other Cat still left in the playoffs Eric Bledsoe and his Clippers teammates tip off at 3:30 today as they try to avoid the sweep from the Spurs.

Gimme a follow on twitter @ACassady_KSR

While doing my usual Thursday night homework/Internet browsing/30 Rock multitasking, I stumbled upon this graph…

(h/t Mher Alaverdyan- great blog post)

My first reaction? Obviously, outrage that Kentucky is in the middle of the pack. Second reaction? “Oh… well, it kind of makes sense.” You see, while Kentucky has a very high number of players in the NBA (15, I believe, not counting Enes- feel free to correct me), they’re not on the most successful teams. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight, and Tayshaun Prince play a high number of minutes but their teams didn’t make the playoffs. That leaves Rajon Rondo, Eric Bledsoe, Jodie Meeks, and Nazr Mohammed to carry the brunt.

Alaverdyan also broke down minutes played by conference…

…and minutes played by year out of college:

Again, this data may seem strange considering Calipari’s success with one and dones and our current mindset that senior college basketball players are “over the hill” when it comes to entering the league, but this only looks at the first round of the playoffs, not the entire regular season. I’d be interested to revisit this information in the next couple of years after Anthony Davis and Company have a chance to make a serious impact and after John Wall (hopefully) gets a better supporting cast. Check out Alaverdyan’s post for a full explanation of his methods.

What do you guys think? Tweet @KristenGeilKSR

John Calipari and Bob Huggins posed for a picture together at the Dick Vitale Gala last night. Vitale, one of the most caring human beings on the planet, hosts the event to raise money for pediatric cancer research. This year’s event honored Lou Holtz, Jay Wright and Gary Williams. The Gala has raised over 1 million dollars every year. John Calipari, among other notable sports figures come in support of Vitale’s cause.

Dick Vitale put his charity work into words heading into last year’s Gala. “At this stage in my life I want to give back. Life has been good to me. People have been good to me. And now, it’s my little way of saying thank you, thank you.”

The video below was shot during last year’s Gala and includes a few moments with John Calipari. (Calipari’s portion of the video starts around the 1:51 mark)

Photo By Regina Rickert

Often times in baseball, a game can come down to one pitch out of hundreds.  With the Cats nursing a one run lead with two on and two out in the bottom of fifth, Jerad Grundy hung a 2-1 breaking ball over the center of the plate that Bulldog third-baseman Daryl Norris deposited into the Gulf of Mexico to give Mississippi State a 4-2 lead.  It was Norris’ first homerun of the season and one the Cats desperately wish they could get back in a game in which the Cats needed a victory to bring them one step closer to an SEC title.

The Cats struck first with a run in the opening frame.  Austin Cousino led off the game with a double into the right center-field gap and was advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brian Adams.  Michael Williams would drive in Cousino on a two out double to center-field.  The Bulldogs would answer in the bottom of the second with a leadoff triple followed up with an infield single to even the score at one.

UK would take a brief lead in the top of the fourth on a ground-out by Matt Reida which scored Cameron Flynn who led off with inning with a single.  The lead would be short lived however as Norris’s three run homerun would follow in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 4-2.  UK would get one run back in the next inning as Luke Maile scored on a J.T. Riddle sacrifice fly to make the score 4-3 but it would not be enough.

Grundy would end up being tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 4(2/3) innings of work.  Three of those runs came on one pitch.  Alex Phillips and Tim Peterson combined for 3(1/3) scoreless innings but the Bulldog bullpen would top that by throwing five innings of shutout baseball to preserve the win.

UK can still win a share of the SEC title tomorrow if they win and LSU beats South Carolina.  That would tie the Cats and the Tigers atop the standings.  Florida could also join the party with a win tomorrow to create a three way tie for the SEC title (if two or more teams are tied for the best record in the league they all split the title)

The Cats can also still get the first overall seed in the SEC Tournament with A LOT of help.  First, LSU must take the rubber match against South Carolina.  That would put South Carolina a half game behind UK in the standings and tie the Cats and Tigers atop the SEC leaderboard with the Cats getting the nod with the tiebreaker.  Second, Florida has to lose to keep them a game back in the standings.  The loss seems unlikely since they have beaten Auburn by a combined score of 16-1 in the first two games of their series.

UPDATE: IF UK and LSU both win, UK gets the first overall seed in the SEC Tournament.  

- A big thanks goes to Chuck Dunlap for clearing that up.

The Cats will try to salvage one game from the series tomorrow at 3pm.  Also, look for Brian Adams amazing homerun robbing catch on Sports Center 

The Cheap seats. They were worth it.

I just got home from the first game of the NCAA Regional in Louisville and I’m still nervous. I never fathomed I could get so nervous for a softball game. With tension mounting in the top of the 7th, UK came through with 2 runs to give themselves a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the 7th and final inning. Chanda Bell proceeded to sit down two Michigan hitters in the bottom of the 7th but a shot down the left field line scored two Wolverines that had previously reached base. The Michigan players stormed the field and the Cats walked off in disbelief. I walked back to my car in disbelief. The atmosphere was great at Ulmer Stadium and I had more fun at a sporting event since the UK Tennessee football game in November. It was great to see the heart that the Cats showed in rallying back in the clutch but it stung as I saw Michigan storm home plate as the winning run touched home. Chanda Bell pitched a solid game but looked a bit fatigued down the stretch. No fault to her though, she had a gutsy performance at the mound.

Emily Jolly hit the Cat’s first RBI as she batted in Alice O’Brien from third. Brittany Cervantes then came through as she rocketed a ball to the shortstop, who fumbled it, allowing Ginny Carroll to plate the go ahead run. Sara Driesenga then laced a two run double to left to give the Wolverines the advantage in the final tally. Not much more needs to be said other than the fact that this one hurts. A win would’ve gone a long way in getting the Cats out of the Louisville Regional. Now the Lady Bat Cats need to win their next two contests to avoid elimination. UK will play tomorrow at 5:00 pm ET on ESPN against the loser of the UL – Valpo matchup.

  (40-15)   3           (29-29)  2  

Pitching: Chanda Bell pitched a complete game in this one. She allowed 7 hits and 3 runs while striking out 2 Wolverines.

Batting: Kentucky knocked off 6 hits compared to Michigan’s 7. Ginny Carroll was masterful at the plate as she went 3-for-3 with a double included. Brittany Cervantes, Kara Dill, and Alice O’Brien teamed up for the Cat’s other 3 hits.

Errors: Kentucky: 0…. Michigan: 1

Attendance was unavailable in this one but the game duration was 2 hours and 9 minutes. Great weather as well in the mid 80′s.

This morning three rising seniors took off to embark on what I’m sure will a life changing experience to Ethiopia. The three seniors who get to enjoy this amazing time are Mikie Benton, Matt Smith and Larry Warford. They were chosen to go to Ethiopia because of their hard work and strong character they show both on and off the field. They will be working with kids. The three seniors will get to see how fortunate we are in here in the USA. The three will be joined by good ole Joker and Mitch Barnhart. This is an opportunity that is an honor. Congratulations to the three of them for being selected! Shout out to Mikie for getting to do something this cool on his birthday. Happy birthday! Alright ya’ll I hope you haven’t had to work too much today! Happy Weekend. Follow me on Twitter, @CarolineHallKSR.

Stay tuned for an in depth report but the lady bat cats just went down 3-2 as they fell victim to a walk off hit

While watching UK play in the 2012 NCAA Softball Tournament on ESPN2, I remembered something about the sport that, frankly, kept me away from most of my high school’s softball games. More so than any other teams in any other sport, softball teams really get into the game, cheering their team on throughout from the dugout. 

In high school, I remember the girls on the team discussing various chants that they would use during that night’s game, some directed at other teams, some intended for specific players on their own team. From what I heard from players, chanting is considered an art, and are discussed often during practice, to the chagrin of the coach.

Now, I will admit, that chanting certainly appears to be calmer on the college level, but one can still hear players screaming and yelling constantly while their team is up to bat. Occasionally, a few of these even sound like the organized chants that I grew accustomed to sitting in the stands at high school games.

I bring this up because, honestly, softball chanting absolutely drives me insane. Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love my team and the players, but the constant high-pitch yelling just doesn’t add anything to the sport for me. Of course, though, other people disagree, citing the players’ passion for the sport and their desire to help out their team in any way possible.

Surely, though, we can find other ways to do that a little easier on the ears. Then again, maybe I’ m just old at heart.

@AdamSchiltKSR

According to scout.com’s new rankings for the 2013 class UK commit Derek Willis has dropped to 91st in the rankings, after previously being rated at the 31 spot earlier in the year. One has to wonder why this drop occurred over a 6 month period. Has Willis failed to progress as a player, or have other high school players developed their talents at a faster pace? I had previously thought of Willis to be the Kyle Wiltjer of the 2013 class for the Cats, but maybe I was wrong. Although I do believe Willis is a good player, I am already concerned with the possibility of a limited impact on the team once he arrives on campus. This is not because he is not a great player, but rather he may be stuck behind a supreme talent, say a top 20 ranked forward. This is what I like to call Stacey Poole syndrome.

Was he overrated by scout? Let’s take a look at some highlights.

I think in these highlights he is at least 6 inches taller than everyone else on the court. Get the man some competition, and maybe his progress will accelerate.  I still have faith in Willis however, especially if he can develop an outside jumper. A more athletic Kyle Wiltjer sounds pretty good to me.

Do you think he can contribute once he arrives in Lexington? Or will he be the next Poole?

Not surprised that it takes 3 guys to take this guy down.

Top Junior Linebacker prospect Darrien Howard is getting increased interest from the Cats as of lat, among other schools. The 6’2 245 pounder is an Ohio prospect that is getting calls from big programs like Alabama, Ohio State, and Tennessee. He is a consensus 4-Star player and ranked as high as the 12th linebacker in his class. This is one of the big dawgs that Kentucky NEEDS to offer soon. This quote should say enough.

“I would encourage them to [offer] because right now all my offers are all equal. I don’t have any favorites right now. I feel like if they were to take a chance on offering me, I would show them as much interest as all my other offers.”

Howard is a guy that would be a recruiting class headliner like Pat Towles was this year. Howard is also from the Cincinnati/Dayton recruiting pipeline that often gets utilized by Ohio State/Cincy and other Big 10 schools.  If Kentucky can start to get into the Ohio football pipeline, it can open the floodgates for talent in Lexington. 

Howard also stressed that he wants to play LB in college. While most considered him as a pass rush Defensive End, he does not want to play that position. Bud Dupree went through the same situation in his recruitment. The Alabama’s and Auburn’s wanted him as a LB but UK was the only one that would let him play Tight End (the position he wanted originally). Bud was a good TE, but his skills were needed at LB and now we have a monster at Outside Linebacker. The Cats could pull a deal on this one for Howard, who will be at UK’s camp on May 27.

Casting Call voting goes up in a couple of weeks. BELIEVE THE HYPE and vote for me @RoushKSR

I’m a little late on this, but why haven’t I ever seen these around Lexington? Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but I know a lot of Coke drinkers and have never seen these cans anywhere but on the internet. Apparently these commemorative cans were released in local stores shortly after UK’s championship run. I’m usually more of a Dr. Pepper kind of guy, but these cans would have me on the Coke bandwagon if I could find them anywhere. Also, am I the only one that thinks Coca Cola should have sold these in 8-packs instead of 6-packs? One for every championship makes more sense to me.

The season has come down to this. At 4:30 pm ET the Kentucky Wildcats will square off against the Big 10 champions. Michigan (39-15) and Kentucky (29-28) will meet for the second time this season. Michigan took the first meeting 3-0 early in the season. We know UK got a lot better as the season progressed but Michigan obviously didn’t slack as they took home their 5th consecutive Big 10 championship. This game isn’t the determining factor in Kentucky’s fate as the round of 64 consists of 16 four team regionals that advance out 2 teams each on a double elimination basis. The other two teams in the Cats regional are Louisville (53-3) and Valparaiso (42-17). As we all know, the Cats are riding some pretty good momentum into this weekend’s regional. An early loss in the SEC Tourney to UGA put the brakes on the Kentucky’s winning streak but we saw what UK is capable of as they swept LSU and took 2 out of 3 against Florida in the season’s last two series.

The game today will take place at U of L’s softball complex (Ulmer Stadium). Single session tickets cost $10. The Cat’s game will air live on ESPN2 today so tune in if you don’t live in the Louisville area. It’s a big day for sports on Louisville’s athletic grounds as the Class AA state track meet will get underway at 3:00 today. Yesterday’s high school track action saw Jacob Thomson break the State Mile record of 4:13. Thomson ran a 4:10. The Holy Cross Stallion also won the 800 and 3200 meter races. He’s only a Junior by the way.

The top seeded Cardinals will take the diamond against Valpo after UK and Michigan finish up. Louisville is 53-3 on the season, a country best, but they only received the 15th overall seed. Strength of Schedule must be lacking…That’s all I’ve got:

With Montrezl Harrell officially back on the market the 82nd ranked big man can provide some much needed depth to Kentucky’s front court next season. But his potential commitment provides an interesting predicament for the Cats. Do you take a kid for better success in one season and miss out on a loaded class in 2013?

The 2012 class is filled with a lot of good players but among them only Nerlens is a guaranteed one and done. That means that Kentucky could enter the 2013 year with seven scholarships filled. By adding Montrezl that number would be eight and only allow Cal room for 5 players to recruit in the monster 2013 class. Also adding a long term power forward could result in pushing another big man like Jabari Parker away.

So that is the problem. Do we go after Montrezl hard to have better success this one season? Or do we hold back in order to save scholarships for 2013? It will be interesting to see how much pressure Cal puts on the kid.

Follow me on twitter @ACassady_KSR