WATCH: Kentucky softball upsets Virginia Tech with clutch three-run homer
The 2022 NCAA Tournament is underway for women’s softball across the country and the Kentucky women’s softball team dipped into their bag of heroics on Saturday night to defeat the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Wildcats were down by two runs in the top of the seventh inning when Renee Abernathy blasted a three-run shot to lift her team to a stunning comeback victory.
Check out the epic moment below.
With the blast, Kentucky stunned No. 3 overall seed Virginia Tech 5-4 in the winner’s bracket game of the Blacksburg Regional in Blacksburg, Va. The Wildcats are now one win away from the Super Regionals in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Virginia Tech swatted a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning to give the Hokies a 4-0 lead in Saturday’s game. Taylor Ebbs also had two hits in the game and one RBI in Saturday’s game for the Wildcats. Renee Abernathy’s three RBIs led her team on the afternoon, as well.
Kentucky’s win over Virginia Tech avenged a 6-1 loss in the regular season to the Hokies. That one was played at the Northern Lights/Southern Lights Invitational in Florida.
This season, Kentucky had a number of power hitters on their squad. The Wildcats had three players with 10 home runs or more on the year–Erin Coffel, Renee Abernathy, and Taylor Ebbs. Abernathy was also second on the Kentucky roster with RBIs this year–51. Erin Coffel led the team in that stat category with 66 RBIs.
An important stat to remember for Kentucky
Since Kentucky is only one win from the Super Regional, here’s an important stat to remember. If the Wildcats can punch their tickets to the Super Regional, it would make it 9 of 11 NCAA Tournaments that they’ve made a Super Regional appearance under head coach Rachel Lawson.