COLUMBIA, S.C. -- With No. 15 Kentucky leading 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs and the bases loaded, sophomore pitcher Kelsey Nunley earned arguably the biggest strikeout of her young career, sealing a victory against No. 7 Tennessee to send the Wildcats to the semifinals of the 2014 Southeastern Conference tournament for the first time in program history.
Nunley dominant again as UK gets history-making upset win in SEC tournament semifinals
Kentucky (43-14) will play top-25 ranked and No. 6 seeded LSU (35-21) in the first semifinal game Friday at 3 p.m. ET at the Carolina Softball Stadium in Columbia, S.C. LSU advanced to the semifinals after a 6-0 victory over No. 3 seed Missouri on Thursday morning.
"I love softball so it's not hard to enjoy this," UK head coach Rachel Lawson said. "I love our team, I love being here. I think the SEC is a great conference. I love watching excellent athletes on both sides, so enjoying our success is an easy thing to do. But with that said, being in the SEC, you are only as good as your last games. We have a really tough opponent tomorrow and [LSU head coach] Beth [Torina] is one of the best pitching coaches in the league. So while this is fun, we have to stay focused on the end goal, which is winning the next game."
For the second day in a row, Nunley was brilliant in the circle for Kentucky, tossing seven scoreless innings, allowing only five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk allowed. The shutout for Nunley was her sixth of the season, sitting third most in a single season in program history in that category. It marked only the second time this season that the high-powered Tennessee offense was held scoreless and the 13th time the Lady Vols have been limited to five hits or less.
