You might not think of Alabama as a softball state, but Kentucky junior pitcher Stephanie Schoonover says it is for many.
     “The high school I graduated from, for us the main sport was softball. Our softball and baseball were the best sports there,” said Schoonover. “Softball was a main priority for a lot of people in southern Alabama. Birmingham has a lot of travel teams and hosts a lot of games. I played for two AAU teams that were very well known. Softball was really big for female athletes in Alabama.”
     Her teams finished in the top four of the Alabama state high school championships each year with state runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2019.
     That didn’t stoop Schoonover from trying other sports. She tried gymnastics, volleyball, basketball and soccer. She even rode horses.
     “I played basketball until my freshman year and volleyball until my junior year,” the UK pitcher said. “I still have a horse but do not ride as much. If not for softball, I probably would have been a competitive rider. But once I signed to play softball, that’s all I wanted to focus on.”
     That focus has paid off in a big way this season for Schoonover. She was named D1 Softball National Pitcher of the Week earlier this season when she pitched 16 2/3 innings in three games with two complete game shutouts that included a no-hitter with a school record 18 strikeouts and a save.
     “That award was so awesome. I didn’t see it. My parents and teammates brought it up to me. It didn’t even register at first what I had done and what an amazing award that was. It was just crazy,” Schoonover, who threw two no-hitters in 2022, said.
     Coach Rachel Lawson was counting on Schoonover to take a lead role this season and she has certainly done that. In 16 appearances, she had a 1.31 ERA and 10-1 record with the only loss coming at No. 1 Oklahoma. She had 10 complete games in 12 starts and one save. In 80 1/3 innings, she allowed 47 hits and struck out 124.
     Her freshman year she appeared in only nine games. Last season she had 17 starts in her 23 appearances and went 7-5 with a 5.15 ERA and 68 strikeouts and 51 walks in 69 innings. This season she has allowed only 22 walks in 71 innings.
     “I am a very competitive person and my freshman year it was very difficult not being out there more. But I had Autumn Humes and Grace Baalman ahead of me. I had to pay my dues and understood that. I wanted to play but understood I needed to mature as an athlete and student,” Schoonover said.
     “Last year I did a lot more and improved,” Schoonover said. “This past summer I had more time to work on all the details. During Christmas break I did even more. I didn’t expect some of the numbers I’ve had but I did expect to be better.”
     She was the 2019 5A Pitcher of the Year in Alabama but also hit .370 with 15 home runs and drove in 56 runs her senior season. Lawson considered using her as an outfielder her freshman year because of her speed but Schoonover is fine with pitching and not hitting.
     “I love playing outfield and diving for balls. Now my love for hitting is not what it should be to hit at a school like Kentucky. I just wanted to be the best pitcher I

Junior Stephanie Schoonover has been a dominant strikeout pitcher this season and already has 10 wins. (Vicky Graff Photo)

could be,” she said. “I got recruited to pitch. It doesn’t bother me not to hit. I have always wanted to be a pitcher. That has been my goal since I was a toddler waddling around holding a ball, so not hitting in college does not bother me at all.”
     Lawson is fine with her “just” pitching, too, since she has become UK’s ace. She opened Southeastern Conference play with a 5-0 shutout victory at Missouri when she struck out 15. She had seven strikeouts in a 6-0 complete game victory in the third game of the series and had three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings to finish the game two shutout for UK.
     Lawson had her focus more on her “breaking point” with pitches going into the season and it has paid off in a big way.
     “Last year I danced around batters trying to get them to chase my pitch. This year I just throw strikes,” Schoonover, who eventually hopes to be a physical therapist, said. “I understand my body better and how just one little move can change the result of the whole pitch.
     “My velocity is up this year. Last year it was around the mid-60’s (miles per hour) and now it is the mid to upper 60’s. I have gotten stronger, gained good weight. I focus on my eating and recovery more. I ran a lot over summer and winter break. I ride a bike for recovery and all that has helped my speed.”
     Schoonover’s impressive start and presence on the national stage has caused her to put more pressure on herself because she wants to be that No. 1 pitcher for the Cats.
     “I am a softball player. I know you are not going to have a shutout game every time. Batters at this level are amazing. They are national hitters of the week,” the Kentucky junior pitcher said.
     “Confidence trumps the pressure. Just knowing I can do it helps. I want to push to be that pitcher for the rest of the season for my team to help us reach the goals we have set for ourselves.”

     Before Kentucky lost to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament, All-American center Oscar Tshiebwe insisted he was going to make sure his teammates understood there were no “gimme” games in postseason play after UK lost to 15 seed St. Peter’s in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
     “I did not like one-seed, two-seed, three-seed … you get to compete against some teams that come in with a different mindset: Kentucky is not beating us,” Tshiebwe said. “For us, we’re saying we’re playing St. Peter’s, we're playing this team, it’s gonna be easy for us. No. Remember, they’re in March Madness for a very good reason.
     “If any team makes it to March Madness, that means they’ve got good players, they can play. I like where we are, whatever seed they put us, so we know that every team we’re about to go against, it’s gonna be a fight.”
     Tshiebwe insisted he would have a different mindset in his second NCAA Tournament than he did last year. Kentucky opens NCAA play Friday against Providence.
     “Go and play. I don’t care how much I score, how much I do. I’m just gonna do my best to help my team to win,” Tshiebwe said. “I am gonna do everything I can just to help. If somebody’s on fire, let’s keep giving him the ball. We don’t care if he got 100 (points), we got to win the game.”
     Did losing to Vanderbilt for a second time in nine days at the SEC tourney impact how Tshiebwe will approach NCAA play or what he will tell teammates?
     “We just got to stay focused. We got to trust in each other, trust our team. We got a pretty good team. We struggled a little bit today with free throws, missed a couple,” Tshiebwe said after the SEC tourney loss. “I have faith in my teammates in everything. This will give us more chance to be well and be prepared.”
     Tshiebwe understands UK’s inconsistency has many people questioning how UK will do in NCAA play. He sees it as a blessing.
     “An up and down year teaches us how to win and how to come together. I really thank God for the up and down year,” Tshiebwe said. “We would never learn without that. Last year we did not have a lot of ups and downs and then we go out (of the NCAA) so quickly and we never got to think about it. This up and down year will help us come together.”

     Mark Stoops had to wait until the Los Angeles Rams’ season ended before he could officially hire Liam Coen to bring him back to Kentucky as offensive coordinator about a month after he fired Rich Scangarello. But Stoops is even more convinced now that it was the right move than he was when he hired Coen.
     “Even though I have to wait through the pro season, it is still sooner than it was a year ago. That helped and he is familiar with it. The players, many of the players have been through it with him and know him personally,” Coen said.
     “Even the recruits, even if they didn’t play under him, knew him through that year of recruiting prior to that. So, I think the familiarity definitely helps.”
     Stoops said when spring practice started last week that there was a “definite comfort level” with Coen back at UK like he was for the 10-win season in 2021.
     “It’s almost like he never left. He has that type of personality where he is always in the staff room, it’s always an open door. I mean, he’s never in his office,” Stoops said. “He sits in the staff room, those guys are always in there collaborating, talking, and watching film. Players are in and out of there, and that’s a good environment, it’s fun.”
     The Rams won the Super Bowl after Coen left to become UK’s offensive coordinator in 2021. When Coen went back to LA as offensive coordinator, the Rams did not make the playoffs. Stoops said “scars” from that experience could make Coen an even better coach.
     “I mean, equate it for myself as a defensive-back coach, getting burned in certain coverages and things that you learn from all those years of getting burned. You coach the secondary long enough, or any position, you learn from mistakes, and you better learn from mistakes, and try not let them happen again,” Stoops said.
     “For him, I think just dealing with that type of pressure and stress, trying to find solutions, trying to find answers. In that league and with the injuries they have, it does nothing but help you and help you grow.”

     For the past two seasons there has been a lot of speculation that coaches Jerry Stackhouse of Vanderbilt and John Calipari are not exactly buddies based on the lack of postgame handshakes. However, at the SEC Tournament last week Stackhouse noted how his perception of Calipari changed after he watched an ESPN “30 for 30” on the Kentucky coach.
     “It’s just the respect for his longevity, his tenure. He’s one of those guys,” Stackhouse said a day before his team beat UK. “I watched the ’30 for 30’ on him and I saw how he battled, how he cares about his players. Kind of changed my perspective on him a little bit just from watching that, digging a little deeper in it. You kind of see.”
     Stackhouse likely is not alone among coaches who might change their opinions on Calipari once they know more about him other than just what they see on the sideline.
     “You hear noise all the time about people, but until you kind of dig deep and kind of pull the layers back a little bit. That was fun to see,” Stackhouse said about the documentary on Calipari. “I felt like I was in his shoes a little bit when he was playing John Chaney and those guys (when he was coaching at UMAss), trying to beat them. You know what I'm saying?”
     Along the way, Vanderbilt has challenged some “kings.” Stackhouse’s teams were 0-7 against in-state rival Tennessee before beating the Volunteers 66-65 on Feb. 8. And after opening 0-8 versus Calipari and Kentucky, the Commodores took down UK 68-66 on March 1 and then did it again in the SEC Tournament.
     “Kicked our ass quite a few times and we finally got a chance to knock them off,” Stackhouse said the night before Vandy beat UK for the second time in nine days. “I saw some parallels there.”
     Stackhouse ran into Calipari last summer during a recruiting trip.
     “I just made my way over to him. I think he was getting in the car,” Stackhouse said. “I just told him I respected him, watched the ’30 for 30,’ and had another level of respect for him after really not just seeing Cal and Kentucky, the kings of the SEC, but able to see who he is, how he cares about his players. I saw some parallels there.”

     Just in case you missed it, last Friday was a night to remember for University of Kentucky alumni in the NBA as three former Wildcats scored 42 or more points in a game.
     Julius Randle, had 46 points for the New York Knicks in a 115-109 win over Washington when he was 7-for-14 from 3-point range and 16 of 29 overall from the field. At the foul line, he went 7-for-7.
     Immanuel Quickley came off the bench to score 16 points for the Knicks on 6-for-11 shooting (3-for-6 on 3’s) and also had three rebounds and one assists in 30 minutes
     Sacramento teammates De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk made history in a mind-boggling 176-175 double overtime win over the LA Clippers in Los Angeles when they became just the second pair of college teammates to score 40 or more points in the same NBA game as teammates. The only other time it happened was in the 1995 playoffs when Houston’s Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon did it.
     Fox was 17 of 27 from the field (2-for-4 on 3’s) and 6-for-11 at the foul line in his 42-point performance. He also had 12 assists and five rebounds.
     Monk was just the fifth player in the Kings’ history and second in the NBA this season to score 40 off the bench. He was 15 of 24 from the field and 6-for-12 from 3-point range in his 45-point game. He also went 9-for-10 at the foul line and had six assists and two rebounds in 41 minutes.
     Kawhi Leonard had 44 points for the Clippers to make it just the fifth time in NBA history there had been three 40-point scorers in the same game and first time it had happened since 2012.

  Quotes of the Week

Quote of the Week 1:

     "It's a dream come true. I would've never thought I'd play in the tournament two or three years ago. I’m truly beyond honored and blessed to have the opportunity,” UK senior guard Antonio Reeves on playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Quote of the Week 2:

     "Right now this sucks. We wanted to come out and perform better than this and compete for a championship this weekend,” guard CJ Fredrick after UK’s loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament.

Quote of the Week 3:

     “I feel like I want to guard the best people in the world. That’s the National Football League, not college. I feel like that pushed my efforts to do it and so I’m ready to go out there and show I’m not scared of anybody,” defensive back Carrington Valentine at the NFL Combine on why he is leaving UK a year early.