Sophomore Erin Coffel leads Kentucky with 17 home runs and a .418 batting average. (Photo by Vicky Graff)
Kentucky is the No. 4 seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, is ranked 14th in the D1 Softball poll, won 13 SEC games and has 35 overall victories (the sixth straight year for UK to have at least 35 wins). Kentucky was also 10-8 against ranked teams this season.
Yet Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson says she is “always on the side of practicality” and admits Kentucky getting to host a NCAA Regional is a “stretch” after recently being swept by Missouri that dropped UK’s overall RPI to 22nd nationally (Kentucky has hosted a regional the last five seasons).
Lawson said Wednesday there likely will be a lot of surprises when the 16 NCAA regional sites are announced.
“I would love to host but certainly am preparing to travel (to another site),” Lawson said. “We are definitely a bubble team (for hosting). If we go out and get in the championship game we might turn some heads but to do so we will have to go through some of the best teams in the country. But anything is possible.”
Kentucky will play Florida, a 4-1 winner over Texas A&M Wednesday, at about 5 p.m. EST tonight in Gainesville in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. The two teams did not play during the regular season.
Senior lefty Tatum Spangler has been UK’s best pitcher with a 1.42 earned run average — the best mark in the SEC — and 9-1 record.
Lawson said it is “incredibly special” to lead the SEC in ERA and credits Spangler’s toughness —she broke her left thumb early in the season — and resiliency for her success.
“She is not throwing gas (speed). She has to stand in the line of fire,” Lawson said.
However, Lawson said Florida “takes a ton of pitches” and that is hard for an off-speed pitcher like Spangler because her pitches are harder to control.
“But she is our main pitcher and I am not going to leave (the SEC Tournament) without using her,” the UK coach said. “So do I start her or bring her in key situations. A lot of that is based not just on Tatum but our other pitchers.”
Lawson says home-field advantage in NCAA Tournament play is huge. She noted that “umpires are human too” and can be impacted by loud, boisterous home fans to where a strike zone can change during a game. She also says being the home team alters strategy because the home team gets the last at-bat.
“We are used to playing in big environments and big games,” the Kentucky coach said.
Lawson said finishing in the top four in the SEC is not easy and the difference between the third- and fourth-place teams and those in eighth or ninth is not that great.
“That shows the parity in the league and how many awesome athletes are playing softball now,” Lawson said. “I think of it more like the NFL where the parity of the league is all over the place.”
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The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
