LEESBURG, Florida – The Wisconsin softball team battled tough in its season-opening game against No. 19 Kentucky, but ultimately fell, 5-2, on Thursday night at the Northern Lights Southern Nights Tournament at the Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex. 

UW took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on the ranked Wildcats. After a Megan Donahue double, Ally Miklesh put down a perfect bunt to score Morgan Kummer from thrid, who pinch-ran for Donahue, to give the UW a 1-0 advantage over UK. 

UW held the lead through three innings thanks to dominate pitchcing from sophomore Ava Justman, who struck-out five out of the first nine outs of the game. The Wildcasts rebuttled in the bottom of the fourth inning when Kentucky scored three to take a 3-1 lead into the fifth inning. 

The Badgers reduced the deficit to one in the fifth as freshman Ellie Hubbard's double scored Eden Dempsey, marking the first RBI and run scored for the two freshman. 

However, Kentucky answered back in the bottom of the sixth, scoring a pair of runs to take a 5-2 lead it would not relinquish.

Batting Cleanup
- Ava Justman earned the start in the circle, going 3 ⅓ innings with six strikeouts before giving way to Maddie Schwartz.
- In her first game in almost two years, 2019 Big Ten Player of the Year Kayla Konwent went 1-for-3. 
- This marked the second-straight year UW opened its season in Leesburg, Florida as UW split a doubleheader against Penn State at the Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex to open the 2021 season. 
- Thursday's contest marked the first of three games against ranked teams this weekend as UW will take on No. 13 Virginia Tech on Friday and No. 11 Missouri on Saturday.

Up Next:
UW continues play in Florida with two games on Friday. UW faces Eastern Kentucky in a noon contest before taking on No. 13 Virginia Tech at 2:30 p.m. Both games can be seen live via FloSoftball.