Huskies Split to Open the Weekend

Friday, February 28

Conway, SC

11:00 AM

University of Connecticut

8-6

Wisconsin

10-6

UCONN

Wisconsin

Photo by: Erin Martin

2/28/2025 5:52:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CONWAY, S.C. – The UConn softball team opened the Chanticleer Showdown on Friday afternoon with a split to open the weekend. After UConn fell to Wisconsin, 5-1 in game one, the Huskies fought back in game two against Bowling Green, rallying to score two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving the Huskies their first win of the weekend, 8-7.

Game One

Graduate student Payton Kinney (Bradenton, Fla.) made her sixth start of the season in the circle for the Huskies in game one. Kinney was dominant through the first five innings, keeping Wisconsin scoreless. She went 5.2 innings, giving up one earned run on four hits, adding a pair of strikeouts.

Junior Hope Jenkins (Folsom, Calif.) opened the scoring for the Huskies in the top of the fourth inning, hitting her third home run of the season, a solo shot to left field, making it 1-0.

Wisconsin's offense surged in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring five runs on two hits, giving the Badgers a 5-1 lead.

Hope Jenkins came on in relief for Kinney midway through the sixth inning, making her eighth appearance of the season. Jenkins went 0.1 inning giving up two unearned runs on two hits.

News and Notes

Payton Kinney gave up her first earned run of the season. Kinney had not allowed a run through her first 21.1 innings this season.
Rosie Garcia extends her hitting streak to six straight games.
Lexi Hastings extends her hitting streak to five straight games.
Hope Jenkins hit her third home run of the season.
Grace Jenkins had her 13 games on base streak snapped.

Game Two

Redshirt-sophomore Sydnee Koosh (Canton, Ohio) made her fifth start of the season in game two for the Huskies. Koosh went 3.0 innings giving up four runs on seven hits, adding two strikeouts.

UConn jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, as the Huskies sent all nine batters to the plate in the inning. UConn loaded the bases for the middle of the order. Junior catcher Grace Jenkins (Folsom, Calif.) was hit by a pitch, forcing in Lexi Hastings (Lynchburg, Va.) from third base. A batter later, sophomore outfielder Kaitlyn Breslin (Hopkinton, Mass.) worked a walk, scoring Kaiea Higa (Maple Valley, Wash.). Junior infielder Savannah Ring (Wyckoff, N.J.) followed Breslin with another walk, scoring Rosie Garcia (San Fernando, Calif.). Grace Jenkins later came around to score on a wild pitch, capping off the Huskies four run inning.

Bowling Green began to chip away at the deficit, scoring two runs in the second inning, making it 4-2.

UConn tacked on a run in the third inning as Breslin hit a sac fly to right field, scoring Grace Jenkins from third base, extending the lead to 5-2.

Bowling Green pulled to within one in the top of the fourth inning as the Falcons scored two runs to make it 5-4.

Freshman Stella Kiemele (St. Anthony, Minn.) came in on relief for Koosh in the fourth inning, making her fifth appearance of the season. Kiemele went 1.0 inning giving up two runs on four hits with one strikeout.

UConn responded with a run in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Huskies some breathing room at 6-4. Higa knocked in her seventh RBI of the season with a single to right field, scoring Hastings from second base.

Bowling Green tied the game in the fifth inning and took their first lead of the game in the sixth, giving the Falcons a 7-6 lead.

Freshman Amber Bretton (Gorham, Maine) came on in relief for Kiemele midway through the fifth inning, making her fifth appearance of the season. Bretton went 1.2 innings surrendering one run on zero hits.

Hope Jenkins relieved Bretton in the sixth inning, making consecutive appearances for the Huskies. Jenkins finished out the game in the circle, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings allowing zero hits, with a pair of strikeouts.

UConn found some late game heroics in the bottom of the seventh inning, as the Huskies fought back to score two runs to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Higa delivered a huge solo home run to lead off the inning, the first in her UConn career, tying the game 6-6. Later in the inning freshman infielder Cat Petteys (Vestal, N.Y.) hit her second career walk-off, a single to right field, scoring the winning run in Garcia from third base.

News and Notes

Cat Petteys had her second career walk-off hit in just her 14^th collegiate game.
Kaiea Higa hit her first home run in a UConn uniform. She also had her fifth multi-hit and second multi-RBI games this season.
Kaitlyn Breslin drove in two RBI, recording her second multi-RBI game this season.
Lexi Hastings extends her hitting streak to six straight games.
Rosie Garcia had her six game hitting streak snapped.

Up Next

UConn returns to action on Saturday, March 1 at the Chanticleer Showdown. The Huskies will have a pair of matchups, the first coming in a rematch at 12:30pm against Bowling Green. The second game will be at 6:00pm against the host school Coastal Carolina on ESPN+.

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