Kentucky Softball Preview: Opening Day in San Diego
Kentucky Softball is set to begin the 2024 season this afternoon, Friday, February 9, out west in the San Diego State Season Kickoff Tournament.
The No. 25 ranked Wildcats face UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. EST later today in California to begin this year’s schedule. It will be the first of five games for UK this weekend.
At the conclusion of the 2023 season, the ‘Cats finished with a 31-22-1 (10-14 SEC) record. UC Santa Barbara ended their previous season sitting at 26-22.
Kentucky started strong last season as they went 7-1-1 within their first nine games. But by the end of the season, over their last 29 matchups, the ‘Cats went 12-17. The amount of losses could be attributed to Kentucky’s star pitcher, Stephanie Schoonover, going out with a forearm injury. Schoonover was out for nearly the whole month of April and did not return to action until April 26 against EKU.
Now with a healthy pitcher in Schoonover, and standout shortstop Erin Coffel, the No. 10 overall player in the nation, Kentucky has the potential to make some noise in the SEC and the country. However, this opening series could be a tough challenge for the ‘Cats.
Following the team’s first game against UC Santa Barbara this afternoon, the Wildcats will quickly turn around to take on No. 3 Stanford (3:30 p.m. EST). In 2023 the Cardinal went 45-17 (14-10).
Stanford had some notable wins last season against No. 13 Georgia, who they went 2-0 against. In the NCAA Regionals, they took down the No. 20 Florida Gators to head to the Super Regionals. There the Cardinals went on to sweep No. 5 Duke in a 2-0 result. The win against Duke secured them a spot in the Women’s College World Series.
Although Stanford fell 2-0 to No. 1 Oklahoma in their first game of the series, they went on to beat No. 12 Alabama 2-0 and No. 7 Washington 1-0. With only two more wins needed to advance to the championship series the Cardinal were once again defeated by eventual national champion Oklahoma 4-2.
After an impressive postseason run last season, Stanford is back in the top rankings and will pose a threat to Kentucky on this first day of play. The ‘Cats will see the Cardinal one more time on Saturday at noon EST. UK will wrap things up on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST against another ranked opponent in No. 24 San Diego State.
Although the ‘Cats beat San Diego State at the start of last season, 2-0, the Aztecs advanced further in the postseason than Kentucky. The Wildcats were eliminated in the NCAA Regionals. San Diego State made it to the Salt Lake City Super Regional after sweeping their opponent, 3-0. The Aztecs faced No. 15 Utah in Salt Lake City and won their first game 4-3 before being eliminated after game three.
On Sunday, to close out the event, the Wildcats will play Minnesota at 1:00 p.m. EST. The Gophers may not be ranked within the top-25 but they finished with an overall record of 38-19 in 2023.
Rachel Lawson’s squad will have their work cut out for them in this opening weekend series, but they have the talent to make any of their upcoming games interesting. Fans can keep up throughout the weekend with live stats located here.
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