No. 4/5 Softball preview: Kentucky

AUSTIN, Texas – For the first time since February 2014, The University of Texas softball program will welcome the Kentucky Wildcat softball program to the Forty Acres as the two will tangle at Red & Charline McCombs Field for a three-game SEC series beginning on Thursday, May 1.

GAME SCHEDULE: Due to next week's SEC Tournament in Athens, Ga., beginning on Tuesday, May 6, every SEC series this week will begin on Thursday, May 1 and conclude on Saturday, May 3.

Thursday, May 1 – 6 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
Friday, May 2 – 6 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
Saturday, May 3 – 1 p.m. CT (SEC Network)

TELEVISION: A rotation of five different announcers will be in the television booth for the series:

Thursday – David Saltzman, Megan Willis (SECN+)
Friday – Davis Saltzman, Cat Osterman (SECN+)
Saturday – Eric Frede, Madison Shipman (SECN)

RADIO: Andrew Haynes can be heard with the radio call of all three games of the series at https://texas.leanplayer.com/.

SERIES HISTORY:

Thursday's game will mark the first time Texas and Kentucky have played on a softball diamond since Feb. 12, 2023, when the two teams played to a 4-4 tie, in Clearwater, Fla.
Texas will be looking for its first-ever win over Kentucky in Austin after the Wildcats took two 2014 matchups, 4-6 and 5-6.
- The two teams have never played each other in Lexington, Kentucky.
This week's series will mark just the third time Kentucky has faced off against Texas in the Lone Star State:
- Feb. 17, 2002 in San Antonio (Kentucky 2, Texas 1 in eight innings)
- Feb. 14, 2014 in Austin (Kentucky 6, Texas 4)
- Feb. 16, 2024 in Austin (Kentucky 6, Texas 5)
  - The Longhorns have never beaten the Wildcats in a softball game within the state of Texas.
Of the five previous meetings between Texas and Kentucky, three games have been decided by one run with another ending in a tie and the fifth being a two-run contest.
Since taking over at the helm of the Longhorn softball program prior to the 2019 campaign, seventh-year Texas head coach Mike White is unbeaten against Kentucky with a 1-0-1 record.

LEADING OFF:

Prior to Saturday's regular season finale, The University of Texas softball program will honor six student-athletes who are in their final season of eligibility: Vanessa Quiroga, Joley Mitchell, Mia Scott, Katie Cimusz, Mac Morgan and Sophia Simpson.
- The quintet of four-year Longhorns – Quiroga, Scott, Cimusz and Simpson – have amassed a 189-56-2 (.769) record while wearing the Texas Burnt Orange and White.
  - Additionally, if Texas sweeps the three-game series against Kentucky the quintet will help the program earn its 100th win at Red & Charline McCombs Field since the beginning of the 2022 season.
    - The Longhorns enter Thursday's game with a 97-16-1 (.860) record at home over the last four seasons.
      - 2022: 47-22-1
        
        20-5-1
      - 2023: 45-15-1
        
        30-5
      - 2024: 55-10
        
        28-3
      - 2025: 42-9
        
        19-3
One win throughout the three-game series will mark the 20th win for Texas at home this season and extend a streak of consecutive completed seasons with 20-or-more home runs to seven in a row.
- The Longhorns won 16 of 18 home games before the 2020 season was halted in March.
With two RBI throughout the series, third-year Longhorn Reese Atwood will become the first student-athlete in program history to drive in 200-or-more career runs.
If Texas scores at least one run in the first two games of the series, the Longhorns will set a new program record by scoring at least one run in 84 consecutive games, surpassing the previous mark (83) set from April 24, 2022 to May 27, 2023.
Ashton Maloney will enter the three-game series just five hits shy of tying Brejae Washington (2014), Lexy Bennett (2012) and Loryn Johnson (2009) for 10th on the program's single-season hit list.
- Maloney's addition would mark the fifth completed season a softball student-athlete has joined the program's single-season hit list.
- Overall, at least one Longhorn has joined the program's single-season hit list in the last seven consecutive completed season.

FOLLOW US

For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasSoftball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TexasLonghorns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Reese Atwood

Katie Cimusz

Ashton Maloney

Joley Mitchell

Mac Morgan

Vanessa Quiroga

Mia Scott

Sophia Simpson

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics