Sale Creek softball coach Clifford Kirk stands in the third base coach’s box during his team’s game against Whitwell in this file picture.Like most other folks with past or current ties to Soddy-Daisy High School softball, former Lady Trojans coach Clifford Kirk knows exactly where he’ll be at 7 o’clock tonight.
“I’ll be in front of my television, watching Kelsey,” said Kirk, the Hall of Fame coach who now coaches Sale Creek. “I’ll be pulling for Kentucky, and I’ve always been a Tennessee fan.”
Thanks in large part to Kelsey Nunley’s right arm, Kentucky’s Wildcats face Louisiana-Lafayette this evening on ESPN2 in the opening round of the double-elimination Women’s College (Softball) World Series at Oklahoma City. It’s the first time the UK program has gotten this far and Wildcats coach Rachel Lawson believes her sophomore ace is the chief reason.
“Kelsey is the difference right now,” Lawson wrote in an email on Wednesday. “Not only is she a great pitcher and she keeps the runs down, but I also believe that her team has a lot of confidence in her. Because of that they are better at the plate. Even if they have a bad at-bat one time, they know she is going to keep us in the game and they will get another chance.”
The numbers would certainly support that. Now 29-9 on the season, Nunley has thrown every pitch for Kentucky in the NCAA tournament, posting a 5-2 record and 0.87 ERA in 48.1 innings of work.