First Pitch Countdown Spotlight: Kentucky Softball Pitching
First pitch for Kentucky Softball is just over two weeks away, and one of the big question marks for the upcoming 2024 season is the pitching game.
The season kicks off on Friday, February 9 in San Diego, California. The Wildcats will face off against UC Santa Barbara first on that Friday and will go against Stanford, San Diego State, and Minnesota before the end of that weekend. Stanford ranks as the No. 3 team in the USA Softball preseason polls. Although they did not make the top 25, San Diego State and Minnesota tallied some votes to be considered for the rankings.
Looking back at last season’s struggles, pitching became a large part of the problem for UK. What’s in store for 2024?
Stephanie Schoonover, the Wildcats’ ace on the mound last season, is back for her senior year. Injuries interrupted Schoonover’s successes last season as she missed 15 games with a forearm injury. Schoonover was voted to the Preseason All-SEC Team, along with fellow senior Erin Coffel, and was also named to the USA Softball top-50 player watch list.
Prior to her injury, Schoonover was voted the NFCA National Pitcher of the Week and SEC Pitcher of the Week in mid-March. She was awarded the weekly honor after she pitched a 3-0 week to save wins against Dayton and No. 23 Missouri. By the end of the season, the Alabama native pitched an 18-strikeout game against North Texas to set a new school record. She had 10+ strikeouts in eight of her 18 games started.
Next up as far as pitching is concerned for the ‘Cats is junior Alexia Lacatena. Coming out of high school, Lacatena was the No. 37 ranked player in the class of 2021. She also pitched for Team Italy in the 2020 Olympic Games. Lacatena stepped onto the mound for Kentucky after Schoonover went out with injury.
The junior pitcher had her first start of the 2023 season against in-state rival Louisville and pitched out to get her first victory of the year in the circle. Lacatena’s biggest win of the season came against the No. 16 ranked Florida Gators where she pitched her first-ever complete-shutout game in the SEC to take down the Gators, 1-0.
New Pitching Additions
During the off-season, the ‘Cats picked up a big addition in Rutgers grad transfer Jaden Vickers. The left-handed pitcher comes to Kentucky with one year of eligibility remaining.
In her final season at Rutgers, Vickers struck out 93 batters and had an ERA of 3.23 from the circle. Throughout her entire career thus far, the Florida native has struck out more opponents than she has walked. Vickers has also found 27 victories in her 107 career appearances and also tallied four complete shutout games.
Lastly, Sydney Langdon is another new addition to the 2024 Kentucky pitching squad. The freshman right-handed pitcher was ranked No. 11 in the 2023 Extra Elite 100 rankings. Langdon was named to the All-Region and Georgia All-State Teams from her freshman to senior years in high school. In 2021 and 2022, the Georgia native was also voted as the All-State Pitcher of the Year.
These new additions should be a huge help to Kentucky Softball. After being an older team last season, it could be nice to have some fresh faces in the program to change things up. Who knows, maybe they could be the spark that is needed to get the team over the hump that it seems they have been struggling with the last few seasons.
Mound Predictions
After returning some important veterans in Schoonover and Lacatena, the Wildcats pitching problem is looking up. The new additions of Vickers and Langdon also show promise in the circle for the upcoming UK softball season.
As mentioned previously, you can expect to see Schoonover in the circle on February 9 in San Diego as the team goes up against UC Santa Barbara. Looking ahead, you can see these pitchers in action during Kentucky’s home opener against Bellarmine on Wednesday, March 6 at John Cropp Stadium.
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