I said they needed these two. The Cats came through. It looks as if the Preseason #13 team is starting to click on all cylinders and I am very optimistic for the future to come. In a quick double header at Oxford, Miss. yesterday, the Lady Bat Cats defeated Ole Miss by scores of 3-1 and 8-0. After these two victories the Cats have won 7 of their last 9 and have proven that they thoroughly dominate Ole Miss in Softball as they have claimed five consecutive series over the Black Bears/Rebels/IDK.

The Cats trailed by one off an inside the park home run in the first game until a fifth inning outburst saw the Cats claim the lead for good, going up 2-1. Brittany Cervantes sparked the Cats in the fifth with a double, Kara Dill followed with an RBI single, and Rachel Riley kept up with the pace as she brought Dill home on an RBI single as well. Kentucky scored an extra assurance run in the top of the seventh and Chanda Bell retired the Ole Miss side to vault the Cats to a 3-1 victory.

The second game wasn’t quite as dramatic as Rachel Riley led the Cats to a shutout in 5 innings. The Cats scored 3 in the first inning as Cervantes, Dill, Cumbess, Riley, and O’Brien led the charge for the Cat’s Bats. The Cats scored two more in the top of the second to stretch their lead to 5-0 after two. Cervantes led off the second with a solo homer, marking her 7th blast in the last 10 games! After a few more innings of shutout play, the Cats scored 3 more runs in the fourth off Riley and Cumbess’ drawn walks, and Joiner’s bat. Riley continued to blank the Rebels until the game was called after 5 innings, giving the Cats their first feeling of being over .500 in conference play. The Cats also reached .500 in overall record after this 8-0 W.

  Alice O’Brien was more than solid at the plate today, recording 3 combined hits. Go Cats!

Game 1:

 (22-23, 9-9 SEC)   3              (16-25, 3-15 SEC)  1

Pitching: Chanda Bell struck out 6 in a complete game win that moves her to 12-8 on the year.

Batting: The Cats amassed 5 hits compared to Ole Miss’ 4. Cervantes, Dill, Riley, O’Brien, and Joiner each recorded a hit and Cervantes hit her 11th homer of the season.

Errors: Kentucky: 1 ………. Ole Miss: 2

Game Notes: It was sunny and 73 degrees at the time of starting pitch. The game lasted 1:53 while a measly 231 fans watched the Cats escape the lowly Rebels.

Game 2:   5 innings played

  (23-23, 10-9 SEC)  8         (16-26, 3-16 SEC)  0      

Pitching: Rachel Riley pitched a complete game shutout as she struck out 4 en route to  moving to 6-6 on the year.

Batting: Kentucky lit up the diamond with 9 hits including a homer from Cervantes, and 2 doubles from Griffin Joiner. Ole Miss was held to 3 hits.

Errors: Kentucky: 0………. Ole Miss: 2

Game Notes: The weather was 68 degrees at the 7:27 start time. Game lasted 1:32 and Attendance was N/A.

The Cats move next to Starkville to face the (25-19, 8-14 SEC) Mississippi State Bulldogs. The series will begin Friday Evening at 6 pm ET. Second game is slated for 1 pm ET Saturday and will be aired on ESPNU. The final game will take place at 2 pm ET on Sunday. The Bulldogs are fresh off a 3 game series sweep over Ole Miss and this game will take place during “Super Bulldog Weekend.” Whatever that means…