Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson liked what she saw from pitcher Kennedy Sullivan Sunday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson said she was looking for a “leader” after her team dropped a one-sided doubleheader to Arkansas Saturday.’
It was Kentucky’s sixth straight Southeastern Conference loss since an injury to ace pitcher Stephanie Schoonover and dropped UK into the bottom five of the league standings.
Lawson got just what her and her team needed Sunday from Kennedy Sullivan. The senior threw a complete game to beat No. 11 Arkansas 3-1 behind a two-run homer by Taylor Ebbs and an RBI single by Kayla Kowalik.
It was a win No. 20 Kentucky desperately needed to stop its slide. The Cats are still ninth in the league but have three games coming up at Mississippi State (3-14 SEC) and three at home with Florida (8-8 SEC). Four wins would assure UK of a .500 SEC season and a 5-1 finish would lift UK to 13-11 in league play.
Then if UK could get Schoonover back for the SEC Tournament and perhaps win two games, it could really enhance its NCAA Tournament seeding position.
Arkansas has one of the nation’s best offenses and knocked Sullivan out of the game Saturday. On Sunday, she gave up just one run on a solo homer in the sixth inning and only six hits. While she struck out only two, she threw 52 of her 82 pitches for strikes and did not walk a batter or hit a batter — two things that have hurt UK’s pitchers since Schoonover went out.
Kentucky’s defense also did not commit the mental or physical mistakes it had been doing in recent games.
