Kentucky walks off Michigan in Stillwater Regional
The Wildcats advance to face the winner of Oklahoma State and Northern Colorado on Saturday.
With the bases loaded and two outs, freshman Ally Hutchins stepped into the box with a 2-2 count and delivered a walk-off single into shallow right field to score Erin Coffel from third as the Kentucky Softball team beat Michigan 4-3 in the opening game of the 2024 NCAA Stillwater Regional. The win is Kentucky’s 11th-straight NCAA Regional Opening Round win.
In a see-saw game that saw three lead changes and three ties, the Wildcats came through in the clutch, scoring once in the final frame to walk things off and book its ticket into the winner’s bracket of the regional. With the score knotted at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Rylea Smith and Erin Coffel singled with one out to put two on with an out. After a tremendous play to get the lead out at third, Grace Lorsung was then intentionally walked to load the bases for Ally Hutchins with two outs. Hutchins then delivered a 2-2 pitch just over the head of the second baseman and in front of the right fielder to score Coffel from third to walk it off.
With the win, Kentucky advances into the winner’s bracket of the regional and will play the winner of Oklahoma State and Northern Colorado at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. The television assignments will be announced later Friday night with the game being streamed live on ESPN+ at a minimum.
Stephanie Schoonover went the distance in the circle to pick up her career-high 19th win of the season to move to 19-8. Schoonover went 7.0 innings, allowing just three runs on six hits with five walks and four strikeouts. The Vicksburg, Mississippi native threw 162 pitches with 94 for strikes. Michigan’s Lauren Derkowski also pitched a complete game, allowing four earned runs on seven hits with four walks and eight strikeouts.
Kentucky’s offense came from all parts of the order, with Grace Lorsung hitting a home run, and RBI hits from the middle with Vanessa Nesby and Peyton Plotts, as well.
