UK softball wins first CWS game, to play Bama on Friday
OKLAHOMA CITY For a softball team making its first appearance in the College World Series, the Kentucky Wildcats appeared as poised as a Big Blue men's basketball team on its way to a Final Four.
Kelsey Nunley pitched a one-hitter as the 14th-seeded Wildcats (50-17) 49-14) advanced in the winners' bracket of the double-elimination championship with a 4-1 victory over sixth-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (49-9-1) on Thursday evening. Tonight they'll play Friday night (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) against the winner of Thursday's late Oklahoma-Alabama game.
"I didn't know what to expect because in the middle of the third inning (Christian) Stokes goes, 'Wow! Look at all the people,'" Wildcats coach Rachel Lawson said.
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"I think that the nerves we had were good nerves, and they just kept us calm and ready to play," Nunley said.
Taking advantage of a two-out fielding error by shortstop Corin Voinche in the first inning, the Wildcats opened the scoring on a double to right-center by senior Lauren Cumbess. The Ragin' Cajuns, making their first CWS appearance since 2008 and sixth overall, committed three errors in the game. Two of them led to two unearned runs.
"I think we play better when we're under pressure and when the inning's about to be over," Cumbess said.
In the bottom of the first, however, the Ragin' Cajuns answered on one swing with two out. Lexie Elkins homered to left on a 3-2 pitch from Nunley, her 23rd this season. Heading into the game, ULL ranked second in Division
"I know that home runs happen all the time, so I just tried to stay calm, relaxed and kept throwing," Nunley said.
UK regained the lead at 2-1 in the second when Krystal Smith led off with a double and scored on Ginny Carroll's sacrifice fly. Cumbess made it 3-10 in the third on a line-drive homer to left after falling behind in the count 0-2.
Nunley (30-9), a sophomore from Soddy Daisy, Tenn., who has worn a protective face mask on the mound since she was 10, settled down after the first. The one hit was a season low for the Ragin' Cajuns, who took a .307 team batting average into the game.
Their hardest-hit ball after the first was a line drive snared by shortstop Stokes to end the fifth.
Control again was a bit of an issue for Nunley, who walked five. She walked seven against UCLA in the first-game loss during last week's super regional but bounced back to win the next two games to help the Wildcats reach the College World Series in the best year for the UK program.
"I can live with five walks, and we gave up only one home run," Lawson said. "They're pretty good."
Kentucky
Louisiana-Lafayette