TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Kentucky softball team's 2013 season came to a close on Sunday as the Wildcats fell to Arizona State. UK, who dropped game one on Saturday, was ousted in the best-of-three series.

The Wildcats battled until the end vs. ASU but just couldn't find the timely hits with runners on base to mount a third comeback in the game. Kentucky answered with a run each time ASU went ahead, but couldn't muster one final rally as fifth-seeded Arizona State won the super regional title in front of their home fans.

"I think we put up a good fight and that's all you can do," senior Kara Dill said. "ASU is a very good team and I think looking back, it just wasn't in the cards for us. We didn't get the big hits when we had runners on. That's all you can do: You put up the best fight you can and coming from behind is difficult but until that scoreboard says no outs you still have a chance."

That's exactly what the Cats did all season. They fought until the very last out of the game and showed the toughness that head coach Rachel Lawson praised since day one.

Kentucky's 2013 season was one for the ages and the Cats broke several school records along the way. Lawson became the program's all-time winningest coach, the team set the wins record for a single season, freshman pitcher Kelsey Nunley surpassed the single-season wins mark and the Wildcats hosted their first NCAA Regional in their brand-new venue, just to name a few.

"Overall we had a very good season," Lawson said. "We have been very good, this is our fifth straight postseason and we have been to two super regionals. With that said, in order to get to the World Series your team usually has to figure out how to host and we did that from the beginning of the year on. I think that was a big step for our program and hopefully it will pay off in the future."

Dill will leave a mark on UK softball as she exits the program. She was an all-league performer in 2012 and led the Wildcats in hitting twice.  She ends her career fifth all-time with a .330 average, sixth in stolen bases with 57, seventh with 119 runs, eighth with 201 hits and tied for eighth with nine triples.

It was a difficult season for Dill, who broke her hand back in March in a series against LSU. Her recovery timetable would allow her to return to the field only if UK were to make the postseason. She asked one thing of her team and they came through for her by punching a ticket into the NCAA Regional.

"Obviously it's not the way anyone wants their year to go but the team did a really good job and I told them, 'I need you to get me to postseason, I need to have a chance to play again.' They did that and I couldn't ask anymore of them. It is special we are one of the top-16 teams right now. You would like to be the top eight but to get to this point I think it was a great ending."

The Wildcats will also say farewell to senior Alice O'Brien, who set the single season sacrifice fly record with five in 2013.

It was a memorable year for UK softball and sets the stage a bright future. Just to put in perspective, Kentucky had five freshmen in the starting lineup against ASU this weekend, including sophomore catcher Griffin Joiner.

The Wildcats have a lot of youth to go with a core group of upperclassmen for next season. The experience UK will gain from hosting its first-ever regional and traveling to Tempe, Ariz., and taking the high-powered Sun Devils to the limit says a lot for a young team.

"If you would have said at the beginning of the year that we would have made it all the way to supers against ASU with five freshmen starting I would have said that's a tall order, but they responded," Lawson said. "I do feel like we have a solid foundation but we are going to have to figure out how to replace Kara Dill and we are going to have to figure out how to do better offensively."

As for the freshmen, third baseman Nikki Sagermann likes where the program is headed and is ready to get back to work and hopefully play late in the postseason again this time next year.

"This experience has been amazing," Sagermann said. "It was pretty special for us freshmen because it's just going to prepare us even more for the future because we plan on being back here."

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Game one of the Tempe Super Regional didn't go in Kentucky's favor, but the Wildcats showed plenty of signs of life.

The Sun Devils topped the Cats 5-4 on Saturday evening to take a 1-0 lead in the super regional final. The winner of the three-game set will earn a trip to the 2013 Women's College World Series.

ASU looked dominant early as junior pitcher Dallas Escobedo was dealing and the Sun Devils got on the board with a three-run shot be Cheyenne Coyle. The Wildcats couldn't help but be reminded of their 8-1 loss to ASU back on February 9 when Arizona State extended their lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth.

However, the Wildcats never backed down.

Freshman Christian Stokes got the Cats on the board in the top of the fifth with a solo shot to dead center to cut ASU's lead to 3-1. After the Sun Devils extended their lead to four, junior Lauren Cumbess began UK's sixth with a solo shot to left field. Two batters later, O'Brien connected for her eighth home run on the year and Stokes would follow later in the inning with her second home run off Escobedo. The Wildcats hit four solo shots off ASU's junior ace and even made head coach Clint Meyers make a pitching change going into the top of the seventh.

UK seemed to have made some adjustments since the last time they had faced her and even tinkered with their approach during the game.

"My first at-bat wasn't too good so I knew I had to make and adjustment and I knew she was coming with a rise ball," Stokes said. "She had a really good jump on her rise ball and I just tried to look for something low that I could drive."

Escobedo hadn't given up a single run in 31 innings coming into Saturday and the Wildcats roughed her up to the tune of four runs and seven hits in six innings of work. The fact that Kentucky chased Escobedo and made ASU make a pitching change is a feat on its own.

"I thought our team did a nice job off of (Escobedo)," head coach Rachel Lawson said. "That's the best hitting performance we have had in a little while so I thought we did a nice job squaring up on some of her pitches. She has a couple different heights that she uses and luckily we didn't fish too often at the super-high ones. I thought we did a nice job putting the barrel on it and being on time for it."

The game could have very easily gotten out of hand. The sold out stadium with 2,001 fans in attendance was rocking when ASU took a commanding 5-1 advantage. Instead of putting their heads down and playing scared, the Wildcats stuck together and gave Arizona State all they could handle.

In the top of the seventh, the Sun Devils brought in junior Mackenzie Popescue for the save. After recording the first two outs in the frame, sophomore Griffin Joiner drew a walk to bring Cumbess to the plate as the potential go-ahead run

"I don't think it's over until it's over," Stokes said. "We just kind of ran out of time in the end but we were on (Escobedo) pretty good."

Maybe the Cats ran out of time tonight but they sure showed the Sun Devils they are in it to win it. Kentucky will come back Sunday at 5 p.m. ET with a mindset of winning two ballgames and there is no doubt in the Cats' minds that they can take games two and three.

"Our confidence level is always the same; that's one of the products of being in the SEC or Pac-12," Lawson said. "Every game is a new game and you know you can go out and get beat one day but you are a good enough team to come back the next day. That's the one thing that these power conferences prepare you for because every time you wake up you know you have to play an outstanding team. While ASU is certainly incredible, we have been through this before. I think more than anything we are steady and our confidence usually remains the same."

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Kentucky softball team got its first look at Arizona State three months ago.

The Wildcats traveled to Tempe, Ariz., on Feb. 9, falling 8-1 in just their fourth game of the season. Sun Devil ace Dallas Escobedo was dominant and Arizona State pounded out 11 hits against a UK team heavily reliant on freshmen.

The second time around, Arizona State will see a very different Kentucky team, particularly the five first-year players who will start.

"Arizona State was one of the first teams that we played, so they didn't really understand the speed of the game when they first played it against Arizona State, who plays it very fast," head coach Rachel Lawson said. "Their expectation level now is completely different and how fast we play is completely different. I think we won't be as star-struck as we were in the beginning of February."

However, the stakes this time are much higher.

The 12th-seeded Wildcats (41-19) will face off against the No. 5 seed Sun Devils (48-10) in a best-of-three series at the Tempe Super Regional, beginning with the first game on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. But after playing 26 teams who are currently ranked or receiving votes in the top 25, not to mention they compete in the country's toughest league, Lawson doesn't expect the stage to be too much.

With such a young team, UK is gaining more and more confidence with every win. The Wildcats were bounced in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at John Cropp Stadium, which left a sour taste in their mouths heading into regionals. Kentucky got a chance for redemption in front of its home fans as they were selected to host their first regional in school history last weekend. This time, the Cats took care of business and advanced to their second super regional in the last three seasons.

After an unsatisfactory showing at the conference tournament, the regional victory gave UK a little bit of their swagger back going into this weekend.

"I still think we were a little bit tight in regionals and I think every step that we're taking is really helping," Lawson said. "The experience that we're gaining is really helping them understand what they need to do to go to the World Series."

En route to the regional title, Kentucky outlasted a pesky fourth-seeded Marshall squad, 2-1 in eight innings in the opening round. The Wildcats then prevailed over Virginia Tech to advance to Sunday's final. The Hokies would get their rematch with UK and won game one before the Cats ended their season with a 1-0 triumph in the nightcap.

Yes, UK accomplished a huge feat by taking care of business and winning the regional over some quality opponents, but Arizona State is a different animal. Lawson is well aware.

"I think they're going to be dramatically better (than the teams UK faced in the regional)," Lawson said. "I think that they do everything so well. I think Dallas Escobedo's one of the best pitchers in the country. Offensively, they hit a ton of home runs and I don't think very many home runs were hit this past weekend. I think it's going to be completely different. You're taking that next step up, but that's what you expect when you go to Supers."

Escobedo is expected to shoulder the load for the Sun Devils and she hasn't allowed an earned run in 28 innings of work. The senior is 28-4 on the year with a 2.10 ERA and is coming off a regional performance where she was 3-0 with a no-hitter.

Last time the two teams met, Escobedo tamed the Wildcats, allowing one earned run, scattering just five hits and striking out eight. Kentucky has seen high-caliber pitching in the SEC and are approaching the rematch with confidence.

"She has a lot of spin on the ball and she also has a really good rise ball," freshman centerfielder Sylver Samuel said. "We have learned from it and I think that's what's going to make us tough to get out this week."

Arizona State will be playing on its home turf at Farrington Stadium, where the Sun Devils are 38-3 on the year. The Sun Devils are hitting .334 on the year with 92 home runs and 403 runs scored, compared to the Cats who are posting .269, 57 and 277, respectively, in those categories. Along those lines, ASU has five batters with 10 or more home runs and four with 40 or more RBI, while junior Lauren Cumbess (12 HR, 42 RBI) and sophomore Griffin Joiner (10 HR, 40 RBI) are the only two Wildcats to reach those numbers.

Kentucky will once again turn to freshman sensation Kelsey Nunley to lead them to Oklahoma City, Okla. The right-hander faced ASU in the first meeting, surrendering five runs on seven hits in three innings of relief. The Sun Devils roughed up Nunley, but the freshman was making just her third-career appearance at the collegiate level.

The Soddy Daisy, Tenn., native has made tremendous strides in her first season, breaking UK's all-time single season wins mark with 27 on the year and being named to the SEC's All-Freshman Team.

On paper, Arizona State looks like the heavy favorite in this series, but the Wildcats will give the Sun Devils a different look from what they saw back in February. If one thing is for certain, UK has complete trust in Nunley and will give it their all this weekend to back her up.

"Kelsey is really strong," Samuel said. "When she is out there we know that she is competing and giving everything to win so we give everything we have behind her. She is a strong freshman and we are proud of her."

It might be happening for the second time in three years, but Rachel Lawson isn't taking Kentucky's Super Regional berth for granted. She knows that even the best programs in the country are fortunate to be among the last 16 teams standing.

Be that as it may, this weekend is just another rung on UK's ladder to a place college softball's elite.

"To be in supers is special in the sport of softball and our ultimate goal is to go to the World Series," Lawson said.

As No. 12 UK (41-19) prepares for a three-game series with fifth-seeded Arizona State (48-10) that will begin Saturday at 10 p.m. ET, the experience of losing to California in a super regional in 2011 is fresh in Lawson's mind. In fact, she's been thinking about it all season as she tried to lead UK to its first-ever Women's College World Series.

Lawson, however, has a young team with five freshman starters. Among this year's regular contributors, only Kara Dill, Alice O'Brien and Emily Jolly saw significant time in the NCAA Tournament two years ago.

"Me personally, yes, as a coach (she is approaching super regionals differently). We have prepared completely different than we did two years ago in terms of pitch selection and stuff like that, but that started in the fall," Lawson said. "But for our team, only a couple of these players were on that team and only a couple of starters."

Dill was one of them. She had five hits as UK upset Michigan to win that regional in 2011, but the Cats were a national seed and favored to reach this point this year.

"I think our team this year is better and there are more people that can do a more variety of things," Dill said. "We have more depth and are stronger as a team."

She has clear proof of that depth too.

On March 15, Dill sustained a hand injury against LSU. For the remainder of the regular season, the Cats would have to get the job done without their leading hitter from each of the past two years. Freshman Christian Stokes filled in at shortstop and UK finished 19-12 without Dill in the starting lineup.

She healed in time to return for the postseason, but if the Cats hadn't been able to hold it together in the senior's absence, she would never have gotten the chance.

"I couldn't ask for any more from them. If they wouldn't have made it this far I wouldn't have finished out the year," Dill said. "This is everything to us right now. They are incredible."

Stokes is still playing shortstop, but Dill - now at designated player - took over her customary role as UK's lead-off batter for the NCAA Tournament opener vs. Marshall. She promptly turned in two hits and a run batted in in four at-bats, providing stability at a lineup spot that had been in a state of flux since Dill's injury.

"She's an exceptional player," Lawson said after that game, a 2-1 win over Marshall. "She's also a captain, she's very steady, she's smart, she's everything you want in a student-athlete. So to get her back is cool. ... It makes me happy to know that she's going to be able to finish on a high note."

After the Cats won a regional the first time they ever hosted one, it's now just a matter of how high the finishing note will be for Dill and UK.

"This is the best time of the year and if I could pick anytime to get back out there and play it would be this time," Dill said. "The team got us here and that is all I could have asked of them."

Head coach Rachel Lawson


Centerfielder Sylver Samuel


Designated player/shortstop Kara Dill

After Kentucky defeated Virginia Tech on Sunday, Rachel Lawson showed a side or herself rarely seen, particularly by her team. Fielding questions, Lawson was overcome by emotion.

UK had just fulfilled Lawson's goal of clinching a second Super Regional trip in three seasons in its brand-new venue. Sitting in the back of the room was the stadium's namesake, the man who helped bring Lawson to Lexington and build the program to what it's become: John Cropp.

Given the circumstances, it's difficult to blame her for struggling to compose herself.

"I always yell at everybody, and they don't see me like this," Lawson said. "It's the only time."

In Lawson's sixth season, the progress of the Kentucky program is remarkable, as is the resulting list of accomplishments: the first five NCAA Tournament berths in school history, two Super Regional berths in three years, state-of-the-art venue, a school-record 41 wins in 2013.

Just a couple hours prior, the circumstances - and the audience - were quite different.

After taking the first two games of the regional on Friday and Saturday, UK found that its season was on the brink following a game one loss to the Hokies. Virginia Tech had just blanked the Cats, 2-0, forcing a winner-take-all showdown approximately 45 minutes later, and Lawson wasn't particularly happy with the way her team hit or played defense.

"It was the exact opposite of the one I gave (that was) all sentimental about John Cropp and our athletic department," Lawson said of her between-game message. "That's why I hate that this one's on camera. I'd rather the other one be on camera."

No one outside the locker room got to see Lawson's speech, but the fans in John Cropp Stadium got to see the results. Even though the Cats managed just one run, they were much more effective in attacking the outside pitches Virginia Tech consistently threw.

In the field, UK was nothing short of amazing. The Cats did not commit an error, turned a pair of double plays in the game and made three plays that could all be candidates for the SportsCenter Top 10.

First was a diving catch by left fielder Ginny Carroll in foul territory for the final out of the bottom of the first. Two innings later, Sylver Samuel robbed Betty Rose of extra bases with a jumping grab against the wall in center. But perhaps the best and most important of the afternoon was by Christian Stokes.

After Tech led off the fourth inning with a single, the freshman shortstop sprinted into shallow left field, dove and caught what appeared to be a sure single by Courtney Liddle. The Hokies would go on to load the bases with two outs in the inning even after Stokes' play.

"I thought Christian Stokes play, when she dove and got the play behind her, that was big," Lawson said. "Because in game one we didn't make that catch, and that's why they ran off two runs. So the fact that she made that catch and really stepped up today on her birthday was really cool."

UK pitchers Lauren Cumbess and Kelsey Nunley were the beneficiaries of all the defensive help.

After Nunley had pitched the first 22 innings of the weekend, Lawson turned to Cumbess to start the elimination game. The junior didn't allow a run in 3.2 innings of work.

"I was ready," Cumbess said. "I wanted to do whatever it took to help our team win. So to give Kelsey that little break, that's what we needed for the win."

In Lawson's mind, starting Cumbess was about a lot more than giving Nunley a few innings of rest.

"Actually when I was preparing for Virginia Tech prior to the weekend, I actually thought Lauren was the exact matchup for them because she has such a good drop ball," Lawson said. "I think Virginia Tech is a great hitting team, and I wanted to keep the ball in the infield."

Though Cumbess was effective, Lawson had to turn to her star freshman in the game's biggest spot. When Virginia Tech loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, Nunley emerged from the dugout and needed only a few warm-up pitches to coax a pop out for the third out, ending the threat.

"I was just thinking that we need an out," Nunley said. "That's all that matters."

Nunley finished the game, picking up the win to move to 27-9 and lowering her earned-run average to 1.97, second-lowest in single-season UK history. But without Cumbess, Nunley may not have been able to get the job done.

Not only did Cumbess deliver the game-winning hit - a fifth-inning infield single to score Sylver Samuel - but she also gave her fellow pitcher frequent advice after moving over to first base.

"I have to say that Lauren really encourages me," Nunley said. "She helps me just stay positive all the time and also gives me little triggers to get past batters."

In the sixth inning, Nunley seemed to begin to lose her rhythm. She allowed a pair of hits and a walk as her control faltered, a possible sign of fatigue. Cumbess, however, noticed another cause and ran to the dugout to request a towel. Nunley was simply having trouble gripping the ball as the temperature rose.

"This is the first time we've played in hot weather," Lawson said.

UK's equipment staff better make sure to replenish the towels, because the Cats could be playing in more hot weather next weekend. Kentucky will play the winner of No. 5 seed Arizona State and Georgia with the Sun Devils needing just one win in two games.

"I'm going to watch it," Cumbess said. "I bet everybody else will too. We were all out here last night seeing who we were going to play. Most of us stayed the entire extra-inning game between Marshall and Virginia Tech. So we're going to be excited to see who we play and I think it's anybody's game. Both teams are really good."