LEXINGTON – Northern Kentucky softball wraps up a seven-game road swing with a single game at No. 11 Kentucky, Tuesday at 6 p.m.
 
The Norse have won their last two series, at Youngstown State (2-1) and at IUPUI (2-1). They enter the intrastate clash at UK with a 20-25 (9-12 Horizon League) record and sixth-place perch in the league standings. 
 
QUICK HITTERS
• The outing at Kentucky marks NKU's sixth game this season against a ranked opponent. The last ranked foe the Norse faced was No. 17 Northwestern in the Coach B Classic, March 6 in Carbondale, Ill.
 
• Northern Kentucky is 0-3 all-time against the Wildcats. The teams last played in 2019, a 13-0 five-inning Wildcats win at Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field.
 
• The Norse have reached the 20-win threshold for the first time since 2019. NKU has won as many as 24 games in a season (2018) in coach Kathryn Gleason's seven-year tenure.
 
• The Norse's final regular-season home stand is May 6-7 against Purdue Fort Wayne. NKU ended its last home stand April 12 with a 5-4 win over Marshall at Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field.
 
• NKU won in extra innings in the first game of an April 5 doubleheader at Cleveland State. The Norse prevailed 4-3 in nine innings. It was the program's first extra-innings victory since Feb. 15, 2020 against Western Michigan, a game NKU won 7-6 in eight innings.
 
• Kendyl McKeough leads the Horizon League in home runs (10), doubles (13) and RBI (29). She's third in hits (44) and fourth in runs scored (25), at-bats (139) and slugging percentage (.626). The senior is fifth in OPS (1.018).
 
• Olivia Pastin hit her first collegiate home run April 12 against Marshall and made a dazzling catch at Youngstown State April 16. She saved a two-run home run by catching a deep fly ball over the left field fence. The defensive play made SportsCenter's Top 10, checking in at No. 6.
 
• Lauryn Hicks was honored by the Horizon League with the 2022 Bobby Fong Award for representing the conference's core values of integrity, respect and leadership. The junior ranks fifth in the Horizon League in strikeouts (111), including 11 in a 10-1 defeat of IUPUI April 22.
 
• Alicia Flores pitched her first collegiate shutout in NKU's 1-0 walk-off triumph over Robert Morris on April 10. The freshman tossed a two-hitter and struck out 11 while walking just one. Arrington Walker hit the game-winning RBI, singling up the right side to plate Maddie Lacer.
 
• Tatum Biddle leads the Horizon League in triples (3). She hit two in the five-inning, 21-1 rout of South Carolina State in the Blue Hose Invitational Feb. 12.
 
• Ella LeMonier ranks fourth in the Horizon League in stolen bases (13).
 
SCOUTING KENTUCKY: The Wildcats (30-14, 9-9 Southeastern Conference) lost to Missouri late Monday, ending a three game sweep. Senior Kayla Kowalik leads Kentucky in hits (57), runs (41) and on base percentage (.488). Freshman Erin Coffel has a team-first batting average (.412) and 52 RBI. Coffel also has a team-best 15 home runs. After defeating Louisville 9-0 in a five-inning road game April 12, the Wildcats have dropped five of their last seven outings.