She has such a busy summer travel softball schedule that finding time to attend any college softball camps is not easy for Lexington Catholic sophomore Abby Hammond. However, she did make time to attend coach Rachel Lawson’s camp at Kentucky.
     “I have been there plenty. I have had a great camp experience every time. I learn a ton from coach Lawson, her staff and her players,” said Hammond. “I would keep going back no matter what but I am glad they throw in new things each time to improve my game.”
     Former Lexington Catholic player Ella Emmert — Hammond’s catcher her eighth-grade year — now plays for UK and that has enabled Hammond to get to know a lot of UK players. But Lawson already knows plenty about Hammond.
     She was the 2021-2022 Gatorade Kentucky Softball Player of the Year when she hit .514, drove in 41 runs and blasted 12 homers in 36 games. She struck out just eight times all season. On the mound, she was even better. She went 30-6 with a 0.75 earned run average to help Catholic reach the state title game. She had 333 strikeouts in 233 innings and gave up 145 hits.
     Perhaps her most amazing number is that she pitched all but three innings her team played in 2021.
     “I don’t really get sore pitching that much. If I did, the coaches would take me out. They are always asking me how I am feeling and I am always honest,” the 5-8 Hammond said.
     Her father is her personal pitching coach. He’s the coach of her Southern Force National summer team and an assistant coach at Lexington Catholic. The team played in Kansas City, Denver and Louisiana over the summer and included players from Alabama and Kentucky.
     “In Kansas City we got top eight in our division. In Colorado, we won the elite division,” Hammond said. “We got second place in Louisiana. It was a very fun summer and we tried to play the best competition we could where college coaches would be watching.”
     Her father started catching her when she was 7 years old. He calls her pitches at Lexington Catholic now.
     “I am very used to the dynamic of him being my coach. He has an extensive knowledge of pitching. He’s just another brain to help me out,” Hammond said. “He does a lot of research and I am very thankful for his help. In the summer you play your game. You don’t really practice. You work on what you are good at and then get a chance to show off your skills.”
     Hammond played baseball when she was 5 years old when she was “shopping around to find something she was good at.” She was about 7 when the team needed a pitcher and she thought she could do it and found out she was good at it. She sometimes goes to former UK pitcher Rachel Riley for pitching tips now.
     What about her hitting? She credits the Lexington Catholic coaches for helping her learn to make more consistent contact and hit with more power.
     “I don’t practice it as much as I do my pitching, but I really enjoy hitting, too,” Hammond said. “My parents once showed me a video of my swing at 8 years old. It looked awful. I didn’t hit a home run in a game until later than some other friends. My swing progressed a little later than others but is a lot better now.”
     Hammond also plays point guard on the Lexington Catholic basketball team and averaged 4.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game last season. She doesn’t practice basketball in the summer but enjoys her time playing during the season because it is not as pressurized as pitching.
     “In basketball you have five girls on the court helping you out. If you make a minor mistake, others are there to help. It’s a nice change of pace from pitching,” she said. “Our coach is amazing, especially with me being a multi-sport athlete. I

Abby Hammond struck out 333 batters in 233 innings for Lexington Catholic during her sensational 2022 freshman season. (Scott Vish Photo)

am very thankful for basketball. I don’t want to pursue basketball at the collegiate level but it keeps me in shape and is fun.”
     Hammond won’t worry about trying to top her Gatorade Player of the Year statistics in 2023. Instead, she wants to win a state championship. Catholic lost to Ballard in last year’s state title game.
     “I would like to win a state championship before I graduate,” Hammond said. “You can’t do it on your own in a team sport and we preach at Catholic about playing for each other. Winning state has been my dream since I was 10 years old.”
     College coaches still cannot contact Hammond directly this year but she knows opportunities will be there for her.
     “I know college coaches will eventually be reaching out but that’s in the future. Right now I just want to enjoy our season and hopefully win a state championship,” Hammond said.

     Former Kentucky quarterback Dusty Bonner knows quarterback Will Levis will miss 2021 leading receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, especially in SEC games like the one Saturday night at Florida.
     “Will has the arm strength so that if you just have one receiver that is a deep threat, you have to respect him,” Bonner said. “As long as you have got a guy who can stretch the field and the defense has to commit two men to cover that because Will can throw the ball 80 yards. Wan’Dale was electric and awesome but if you get two or three guys who can stretch the field, that’s even better.”
     Kentucky showed it had two players – Tayvion Robinson and Barion Brown – who can stretch the field in the win over Miami of Ohio as Robinson had six catches for 136 yards and Brown four for 45 along with a 100-yard kickoff return.
     Bonner mentioned how former UK quarterback Andre Woodson had Jacob Tamme, Keenan Burton, Dicky Lyons and Stevie Johnson all as big-time receiving threats and defenses had trouble stopping Kentucky’s offense.
     “That’s kind of what we did in the Air Raid. Throw a bunch of great receivers out there. If you have a speed guy on the left and a speed guy on the right, it opens up a lot of things. Then use the tight ends we have and the defenses have to make some tough choices about how to cover.”
     Burton thinks a diversified passing attack is key to beating Florida. He says Levis has a strong enough arm to throw deep off play-action, something not every quarterback has the arm strength to do.
     “Part of it still is Will has got to make the right reads and throw to who is not covered,” Bonner said. “I do think having tight ends heavily involved makes everything so much easier for a quarterback because there is so much room in the middle of the field and I think to beat a team like Florida, Kentucky needs to take advantage of mismatches it can create with the tight ends.”
     Kentucky tight ends had three catches – two by Jordan Dingle and a TD catch by Brenden Bates – against Miami.
     Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello admitted after the game he didn't show everything the Cats can do offensively.
     “We are going to be a physical running football team. I think we held back tonight. I am not going to lie. I want to be smart with what we put on tape (for Florida to see) as well,” Scangarello said.

     South Laurel plans to honor former Laurel County/University of Kentucky basketball player Lisa Collins Dec. 10th. She passed away recently at age 59.
     Valerie Still, Kentucky’s all-time leading basketball scorer and Collins’ former UK teammate, is working with South Laurel coach Chris Souder to organize the event that hopefully will turn into an annual Lisa Collins Classic.
     “Valerie says a lot of the 1982 UK team will be here,” Souder said. “Former Laurel County coach Roy Bowling will also be in attendance. Unfortunately, Lisa’s mom passed away not long ago but some other family members will also be here.”
     Souder plans on having three games with South Laurel playing the final game at 5 p.m. Pulaski County is a potential opponent for South Laurel.
     “We wanted to play a little earlier than normal so the ceremony before the game and reception after the game would not be so late,” Souder said.
     Patty Jo Hedges Ward was on the 1982 UK team that won the SEC championship along with Still and Collins. She plans to be in London. Stacey Reed Sheppard, another former UK player from Laurel County, will attend if her son, UK commit Reed Sheppard of North Laurel, does not have a game.

     “Valerie is really spearheading getting players there. Sharon Garland, another former Laurel County player, is also helping spread the word,” Souder said.
     Garland and Collins are both in the Kentucky Basketball Hall of Fame. Collins was also Kentucky’s Miss Basketball in 1980 — the only Laurel County player ever to earn that honor.
     Collins helped Laurel County win three straight state championships from 1977 to 1979. She hit two free throws in the final seconds as a freshman in 1977 to clinch the title.
     Her teams went 124-9 at Laurel and Collins, who was named a Parade Magazine All-American in 1980, finished her prep career with 1,840 points, 401 rebounds and 385 assists.
     “We think this is a very special way to honor a special player and have already had teams reach out to me about playing in the event next year,” Souder said. “We hope a lot of people come. I don’t know if the UK coaches or players can come because of their schedule or maybe even compliance issues, but it would be great if they could, too.”

     Kentucky gave up four sacks in its win over Miami of Ohio and the Cats rushed for only 50 yards on 26 carries — not the kind of numbers UK’s Big Blue Wall has been used to in recent years.
     “Yeah, it's all fixable. We have a young group that doesn't have as much experience as we're used to seeing in the past. I mean, we had to replace three guys lost to the NFL so you can't rebuild the wall overnight. It's going to take some time,” center Eli Cox, last year’s starting right guard, said.
     “We had a lot of guys that never even started a game here before that are very talented players who I’m very confident in, but now, having that experience under their belts, I think it's only going to be smoother sailing from here for them.”
     Cox said Miami was not doing anything special or unexpected and probably not nearly as much as what Florida’s defensive front will try to do Saturday night.
     “That was one thing we knew going in, that they're not trying to do anything crazy, but what they do, their fundamentals, they're very gap sound,” Cox said. “The Miami defensive line wasn't going to beat themselves.
     “A win is a win. We are not going to apologize for that. A lot of guys got to play in some new spots, but, I mean, obviously that is not the standard with our big blue wall. We’ve got to earn that title back and we have to have good preparation and have more snaps under our belts so the group can gel and start to be a cohesive unit.”

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     Kenny Payne certainly has plenty of experience as a college basketball recruiter. His success doing that at Oregon is what led Kentucky coach John Calipari to add him to his staff when he came to UK from Memphis.
     Now Payne is in his first year as the head coach at Louisville, his alma mater, and he recently said he was surprised by the negative recruiting during a talk at the St. Stephen Baptist Men’s Ministry Prayer Breakfast.
     “One of the things that I’ve been surprised about is how many people across the country have interest in us. With that comes something that I wasn’t prepared for and that was the hatred. I wasn’t prepared for universities to say, ‘Louisville’s going on probation, why would you ever go there? to deter these kids from listening and especially from people that I’ve helped in the past,” Payne said in a story shown on WHAS-TV in Louisville. “It’s a lesson for me.”
     That was followed by a really interesting quote.
     “I hate to say this, my relationships with certain people that have been in my life for 30, 40 years have changed. That hurts me,” Payne said.
     He admitted dealing with that daily has not been easy but he did not indicate which coaches or schools he was talking about.
     Kentucky and Louisville play in Rupp Arena Dec. 31 at noon.

  Quotes of the Week

Quote of the Week 1:

     “He is the most-talented quarterback Florida has had since Tim Tebow. I absolutely think he’s the most intriguing prospect at that position in all of college football this year,” ESPN college football analyst Dan Orlovsky on Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson.

Quote of the Week 2:

     “He is smart. He is strong. He does a lot of things to make him a natural center. Being mentored by Drake (Jackson) and Luke (Fortner), guys who have done a great job at the position, really helps. Now he wants to carry that tradition on to the next guy. That’s what makes our (offensive line) room special,” UK offensive line coach Zach Yenser on center Eli Cox.

Quote of the Week 3:

     “There’s no issue at all. I don’t think either of us has really spent much more time worrying about that or thinking about that. I want nothing but the best for him and all of our programs. I know he feels the same way. We moved on in about two minutes,” UK football coach Mark Stoops on his weekly radio show after his relationship with John Calipari after Calipari’s “basketball school” remark.