Sarah Haendiges is UK’s top returning pitcher but will turn into a tour guide for teammates at the San Diego Zoo. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Senior infielder Madyson Clark is thrilled Kentucky is opening the softball season with five games in San Diego this weekend.
She started 78 games in two seasons at Oregon State before transferring to UK for the 2025 season but she’s a California native.
“I’m super excited to go back there (California) and see a lot of my family and just have that support as a team,” said Clark at UK’s Media Day. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun just being able to finally get on the field together.
“January is always the month where it’s like, ‘Okay, another scrimmage, another scrimmage.’ So I think we’ve just really built up that excitement, especially through this past weekend. All the talk in the locker room right now is just being able to get on the field together and start working.”
Is she more excited to play or just get out of the snow and cold weather in Kentucky?
“I would say it’s a 50/50,” Clark, who started 30 games and hit .253 last season, said. “We are really lucky we have the football indoor facility, so we’ve been able to keep everything pretty much to plan except for this past week when we were obviously snowed in and pushing cars out of the ice. I called two of my teammates at my apartment complex to come help me roll the car out. But that’s really been the only setback.”
Senior pitcher Sarah Haendiges also transferred to UK from Oregon State last season. She pitched in the College World Series as a freshman in 2022. She won 10 games last season with 91 strikeouts in 95 innings. She had a 2.71 ERA, the lowest of her career.
Heandiges, like Clark, is also a California native.
“I grew up in Southern California, so I’m really excited to go see the sun again and the beach and just the warm weather. So, we’re really pumped. I know all of us are looking forward to it,” the fifth-year pitcher said at Media Day.
She has talked with teammates about the time difference and long travel but knew the plan to arrive two days before opening play Friday would help those adjustments.
“I know we’re going to the (San Diego) zoo, which will be fun. So some team bonding stuff before we hit the field. I love it (the zoo) . It’s ginormous, though. So we were all like, ‘Get your walking shoes on. It’s gonna be some steps, but it’s worth it.’”
Which exhibit will she make sure her teammates see?
“I’m not sure. I know the monkey exhibit there is crazy huge,” Heandiges said. “So probably taking a few of the girls that wanted to see that.”
Kentucky opens play Friday taking on Miami (Oho) and Loyola-Chicago. Saturday it will play Loyola again along with host San Diego State before facing Minnesota on Sunday.
