Freshman Abby Hammond played in 45 games, hit two homers, drove in 13 runs and went 3-7 on the mound. (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky lost 24 straight Southeastern Conference games to end the season and miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the last 16 years.
So does coach Rachel Lawson and her returning players flush this season and forget it or use the 26-29 overall finish and SEC record as motivation for next year?
“To me, you got to get the full benefit of it. When you get your teeth kicked in like we did all year, you have to learn from that,” said Lawson. “It would be a mistake not to learn from that.
“If we want to be a big dog, we have to make sure we’re playing them. When you’re up against them, it’s very different playing against them in a three-game series than playing them one time in the postseason. You get to see how things are run day in and day out.”
Lawson said powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma joining the Southeastern Conference a few years ago along with the overall elevation of SEC softball makes the league unforgiving when a team is down.
“We got to learn from it,” Lawson said. “The players have to learn from it and they have got to get more results oriented. I’ll be totally honest with you. You can’t go into a gunfight with a knife, right? So you have to make sure you are results oriented. You have to be bigger, stronger, faster.”
She said decisions players make during the summer will impact what happens next season.
“We have to make sure we’re making good decisions over the summer, learn from it, and then move on,” Lawson said.
