Stephanie Schoonover talks UK Softball

UK Softball ace Stephanie Schoonover joins us on the road to chat her outstanding season and how the team is peaking at just the right time. We also discuss Baseball's record-breaking weekend at Kentucky Proud Park, and Men's Tennis capturing the SEC Tournament crown!

Episode Transcript

(00:12):
What's up, Big Blue Nation.Welcome inside the UK Sports Network Today.
I'm your host Andrew CAPPIs and excitedto have Stephanie schoonover the ace of Kentucky
Softball as today's guest. Really reallyfun conversation with Steph and some palm trees
in the background. I'm not anarborist. I think those were palm trees
in the background. As Steph onthe road joining us right now from Auburn

(00:35):
here today. The Cats by nowback in Lexington after taking two of three
from the Auburn Tigers, but aseventeen game winner. Schoonover the Friday night
starter often the Sunday afternoon starter aswell, reflects on her season, her
career at Kentucky and a little lookahead as well to Senior Weekend this weekend

(00:56):
coming up at John Crops Stadium.We'll also talk UK Baseball historic twenty one
thousand plus at Kentucky Proud Park intheir series against Tennessee and the new SEC
Tournament champion UK Men's tennis. First, want to remind you that the UK
Sports Network Today podcast is presented bythe Big Blue Brew. You can sign

(01:18):
up today at Ukathletics dot com.Slash Big Blue Brew. It's completely free
and it hits inboxes every weekday morning, the official newsletter of UK Athletics.
That's ukathletics dot com slash Big BlueBrew. Schoonover mentioned in the interviews she
doesn't necessarily pay attention to those individualstats. She wasn't totally aware that she

(01:40):
was approaching twenty wins on this twentytwenty four campaign, but she enters the
week with seventeen with still some runwayleft to get twenty and was a really,
really fun conversation. So, withoutfurther ado, here's Stephanie Schoonover.
Really excited about this week's guest withStephanie Schoonover hopping by to join us on

(02:00):
getaway Day. Steph, I seethe trees in the background, the beauty
of getaway Day. You got kickedout of the room already, huh,
we did, we did. Wehad to be out by twelve, got
back from our hit around at elevenfifty, so it was a quick turnaround.
We got kicked out, but we'reall hanging out in the meeting room,
just hanging out till we got toleave. The unhralded part of traveling.

(02:21):
Everybody says it's fun until you getkicked out of your hotel room about
eight hours before the game. Butcurrently it's a successful road trip so far.
I know, you survived the lightningdelays on Friday that was kind of
chaotic, and then a nice wenton Saturday, just like Friday, so
a chance to sweep tonight. Soyou got to be pretty pleased with that.
As a team, Oh yeah,for sure. I mean our pitching
staff and our hitters. I mean, we're doing well. We're playing as

(02:43):
a team. Everybody's contributing. It'sawesome. I mean the lightning obviously,
that sucks. I mean I thinkour game ended up as a total being
about six seven hours. I meanthat's a lot, especially as a pitcher.
I'm very thankful that Jane was ableto come in and close the game
out and finish with a win.So yeah, I had to check with
Chris just to make sure everything wasokay. But that was just all it
was. Was just kind of agetting up, getting down, getting up,

(03:05):
getting down for you and not ableto finish. Yeah, exactly,
it was just a lot. CoachAlston kind of said, well, it's
kind of annoying having to sit downand then keep rewarming up. I think
I'm just gonna put Jaden in andlet her finish it out. So I
was good with it. I mean, and speaking of the two wins against
Auburn, this is really a greattime to be playing your best softball.
And that's exactly what this team seemsto be doing. You take two out

(03:28):
of three from a very good,top fifteen Alabama team, you turn around
to take two out of three froma top ten, very good Georgia team.
It seems like you guys are peakingright at the right moment. Oh
yeah, for sure. I mean, we started out a little slow,
everybody knows that, but we arepeaking at the right time. It's always
better to peak towards the end ofthe season when everything's getting into postseason.
We're going through healthy as a team, and I feel like that's what's really

(03:51):
important. Nobody's on a little islandby themselves. We're all together, working
together, getting one win out oftime. And it seemed kind of unfortunate
at the time, but it wasa gauntlet to open up the conference schedule.
You always play a tough non conferenceschedule. That's something coach Lawson really
likes to do. Given how challengingthe SEC is going to be, but
you had number three LSU right outof the gates, so and it's I

(04:13):
think this is the first weekend inconference play you're not playing a top fifteen
team, which is just absurd.I know, it's crazy, it's crazy.
I think to start off with LSU, they're an amazing game. They're
a really good team, and theystarted out undefeated, and I think we
put a little pressure on ourselves togive them that first loss, and then
therefore we got in our heads andwe got out of being together as a
team, and I think we puta lot of pressure on ourselves instead of

(04:35):
just relaxing and realizing they're going tobe good. They are good and we're
good too, that we just gotto compete at our level, at our
pace together as a team. Yourseason as a whole has just been phenomenal.
I mean, you're the ace Alot of times. You're starting on
Friday and then again on Sunday,or at least coming in one of those
two days. You're seventeen wins.Is the twenty figure in the back of

(04:56):
your mind or is it something thatdoesn't that you don't pay a lot of
attention to. I did not realizeI had seventeen wins. Honestly, I
don't really. I try not topay attention to stats. It's hard when
everybody's talking about it and everybody mentionsit. But I try to not rely
on me, not think about me, not think about what I'm doing,
but realize, like I'm pitching forthis team, I'm pitching for coach loss,

(05:16):
and I'm pitching for Kentucky, soit's more of a family as as
a whole, not about me gettingthat win. So but if i'm three
away, I'm looking forward to andI'm here for it. So yeah,
for sure, twenty twenty five,I mean, let's try for thirty.
Hey, a deep run, itwould certainly get you there in the postseason,

(05:38):
which is hard to believe. Rightaround the corner, it seems like
just yesterday we were dusting everything offin the month of February, heading down
south for warm softball weather. Butsuch as life in the SEC kind of
flies by. I wanted to askyou one hundred and eighty one pitches.
I mean, it's just absurd.Against Alabama, I did that game on

(05:58):
radio, and I didn't notice untilthe end of the game when I saw
the total. How did you feelafter one hundred and eighty one pitches?
Well, I had no idea.I thought I was pushing one forty maybe
one fifty, Like, I hadno idea. But I felt good.
I was excited. I mean,for me to throw that many pitches and
not even realize it, that's prettygreat kind of shows that's kind of in

(06:21):
shape, which made me feel good. But it was also just the fact
of, like my energy was therethe whole time physically, mentally, I
was there the whole time. Itwas great. It was so much fun.
I mean in some of my otherinterviews, I was ready to go
the next day. I mean,I was just pumped that we got that
win under our belt. So Iwas gonna say. One of the photogs

(06:43):
that was sitting next to me,he came up and said that you asked
if you could start the next day. And I wasn't sure if that was
serious or if you were just joking, but it sounds like you're pretty serious.
I was a little serious, Iwas, but no, I have
a lot of confidence and our otherpitchers and our other staff, but me
in that moment, I was veryhyped up, very ready to go.
I mean, we had just beAlabama, and for me, I graduated

(07:04):
high school from Alabama, so itwas kind of like very exciting for me.
That's a good segue, because Iwas going to ask you you had
certainly a pick of where you wantedto go to school. We chatted with
Aaron a couple weeks ago. Shesaid she committed before she ever played a
high school softball game. Was itas that open and shut with you or
was it a little bit more ofa process to get to Lexington. It

(07:27):
was a little bit of a process. I didn't commit as early as Aaron
did. Obviously, I committed aftermy freshman year, so I did get
to play high school a little bit. But it was honestly, Kentucky was
never in my mind. Never.I mean, I'm Southern girl born and
raised like it's cold in Kentucky.Like I didn't even think about it.

(07:50):
But then all of a sudden theywere an option, and Coach Lawson was
talking to me, and I cameto campus and I looked aground and I'm
at Coach Lawston. I got toknow Coach Lawson and coach to coach Molly
and everybody, and I was likewow, like I want to go to
Kentucky, And I told my dadand he's sure enough. He was like,
you do what you think is bestfor you. And then literally two

(08:11):
days after I said that, Icommitted. So it was a little bit
more of a process for me,being a Southern girl. I was looking
at other schools. But I mean, you talk to Kentucky and you're like,
that's Kentucky. I want to gothere. So it's got to be
pretty fun too, being in theSEC. Not that you get to go
every year to Alabama or Auburn,but this year, in fact, right

(08:33):
now, you happen to be sittingin Auburn, or at least somewhere near
Auburn. So that has to befun that even though you're playing away from
home, you still at least geta chance to play somewhat close by.
Correct. Yes, I Dothan actuallyisn't that far from here, So a
lot of my friends and family thatI was close with in high school they're
up there here they're supporting me.And where I live now in Mississippi,

(08:54):
it's not that far either, aboutfour hours, so this is a little
closer to hometown for me than Lexington. But you gotta love playing in front
of you the end, so Imissed that for sure. I will say
that that crowd against Georgia at JohnCrop Stadium all weekend was phenomenal. I'm

(09:15):
not sure how much you saw becauseyou were in the circle, but I
think one of the more bizarre thingsI've ever seen was the umpire stopped the
game thought that maybe some artificial noisewas coming from from the stands and that
was how loud it was, andthen coach Lawson kind of cheekily turned around
and said, hey, keep thenoise doing. After she talked to the
umpire. That had to be alot of fun and a little bit funny,

(09:35):
at least in the moment for you. Oh, it was so much
fun. I personally, I don'tlike to look in the stands, so
I wasn't completely I didn't understand whatwas going on. I thought I had
done something. I thought he wascalling time about me, and I was
so confused. But then once thatinning finished up in the game finished up,
and I found out what happened,I mean, it just made that
moment so much more exciting, somuch more thrilling. I love it when

(09:58):
our fans make noise and it's allsomething that they were so loud that he
thought that it was fake. Soit was awesome. It was a lot
of fun to play in front ofone of the things that things that amazes
me, and I think so manypeople admire about people and pitchers such as
you. It's not just one hundredand eighty one pitches on Friday and then
coming back Sunday. You're basically doingthat every week. What kind of maintenance
does that require for you to beready to do that on basically just thirty

(10:22):
six hours or so rest. Ohyeah, I say this a lot.
My trainer is my best friend.Three is amazing. She takes care of
me. I mean every time Ipitch, you need eyes, you need
three bags, you need this,you need this. I mean she's got
a list for me every time Ipitch of what I need to do to
recover. She takes care of me. She keeps me together. So it
is a lot. It is alot of stress on my body. But

(10:46):
I mean, when you do itright, you recover fairly quickly. So
here we are. We're almost throughthe month of April and postseasons on the
horizon. Last year was a littlebumpy for you. You missed. I
think basically the whole month of Aprilmissed a lot of time. This year,
you've been knock on wood, beenvery healthy and very good. As
we said, seventeen wins. Howrewarding has it been for you to kind

(11:07):
of turn around that narrative from lastyear and then put together a year that
you've had the previous two years thatyou were at Kentucky. Last year was
a little heart ranging. It hurta little bit. I started out with
bang and then all of a sudden, I just was out and that that
hurt a lot. So coming inthis year, my senior year, with
my teammates, with my family andeverybody, and being able to make it

(11:28):
through this entire season, pitch everygame to the best of my ability,
it's really amazing. It's really rewardingto go through all of this, I
mean, from when I was younger, to high school to four years here
at Kentucky. To finally get toplay a full season healthy my senior year,
it's surreal. Sometimes, Well,you're going for the sweep tonight against
Auburn in part because Sidney Langdon yesterdaywas phenomenal, probably her best performance in

(11:54):
a Kentucky uniform and are very young. Obviously Kentucky career seven innings to get
the win, only one earned runa lot. What did you see last
night from her? She was confident. I mean she was out there,
she was like, this is mygame. I'm pitching what I want to
pitch. I am dominating. Shewas confident the whole game. I mean
she looked relaxed. I mean shewas excited. I was excited. I

(12:16):
mean it's good to be so youngand get a win like that. It
helps confidence a lot, especially movingforward into the postseason. Like you said,
peaking now is very important. SoI meant to ask you this when
we talked about the twenty wins oryour pursuit, I should say, of
twenty wins, not that you're payingattention to it. You have a number
to choose from on this question,But do you have a favorite no hitter

(12:37):
that you've thrown with Kentucky or arethey all kind of the same just because
of the achievement. I no,it's okay, it's okay. I enjoyed
all of them, but I thinkmy favorite was my one when we were
in Texas against North Texas. Ithink that was my favorite, just because

(13:01):
dealing with the weather, dealing withthem. We were the underdog for that
game, actually, like we werenot projected to win at all, and
I felt good. I felt loosethat entire game, and I feel like
all my stuff was working and myteam had my bag that whole game.
So I feel like that was probablymy favorite by far. I mean,
Louisville beating a rival is always amazing, but just the fact that we were

(13:28):
the underdog in that game and tocome out and me kind of do my
thing, I think that was reallyrewarding for me. Last question for you,
Stephan. I know you got alot to do and probably pitching tonight,
so I don't want to take uptoo much of your pregame time,
but you know, as you kindof look ahead to senior weekend and we
will be covering a senior weekend,what are some of your reflections on your

(13:50):
Kentucky career. It's hard to believethat, probably for you, that your
senior weekend's already here. It is. It is. It's kind of sad.
I'm not gonna lie. It hurtsmy heart a little bit to realize
that it's my last time, potentiallyother than postseason, playing in front of
me Ben playing at Kentucky, butreflecting over all my years, I'm proud

(14:15):
of myself. I'm proud of everythingthat I've done, everything I've been through,
everything I've persevered. And then I'mso grateful for all the amazing people,
teammates, friendships, family that I'vemade over the years. It's a
lot. It's a lot that I'vetried not to think about it at all,
but since it's coming up literally infour days, it's hard not to

(14:37):
think about and realize that I ama senior and after this I will be
moving on and I won't have softballanymore in my life. So it's I'm
proud of myself, but I'm alsoa little heartbroken that is over with.
Well. The good news is you'reone of the greatest to ever do it
at the University of Kentucky. Thegreat news is you can come out to

(14:58):
John Craft Stadium see step this week, and then there's postseason softball to look
forward to after that as well.Stephanie Schoonover, thank you so much for
stopping by. We look forward towatching it tonight and then obviously next weekend
as well for Senior Weekend. Yes, thank you so much go Katz,
great interview with Stephanie Schoonover. Wereally appreciate her taking time out of her

(15:18):
day before a game as well.No, it's a bit of a challenge,
especially on the road, but wecertainly appreciate her time and really enjoyed
her insight into the team and theseason as well. Ended up being two
out of three for the Cats atAuburn. They would win on Friday night,
as we mentioned, battling the lightning, Schoonover went three and two thirds,
but the Cats rightfully so elected notto have her warm up for a

(15:41):
third time. Between all those lightningdelays, she went three and two thirds,
did not allow an earned run.Jaden Vickers came in though, and
got the win. Pitched really wellthree and a third with just one hit
allowed the offense. Peyton Plots athree run homer for her for Plots,
her seventh of the year, andalso getting a home run Taylor Ebbs as
she stayed hot, already up toeight home runs thanks to this surge the

(16:04):
last three weeks or so for Ebbs, she went one for four with those
two runs knocked in two runs scoredAaron Koffel two four to three as the
win on Friday night, make thatSaturday Night put the Cats at twenty eight
and fifteen overall. On Sunday,a bit of a pitcher's dual. Sydney
Langdon, as we talked about withSteph, went the distance. She went
seven innings, allowing just one run, two walks in five strikeouts, probably

(16:27):
her best performance with Kentucky this year, and all the offense that the Cats
would need came from Carissa Hamilton inthe fourth inning, a two run knock.
She finished one for to two onthe day, just one of two
Kentucky hits Riley Smith, the otherone for three for Riley, the reigning
SEC Offensive Player of the Week.So with the win, Kentucky moved to

(16:48):
twenty nine and fifteen seven to tenand that very difficult SEC calendar, and
Auburn dropped to twenty three and fifteenoverall, and though the Tigers on Monday
a special nationally televised game on SECNetwork, they were able to take the
finale four to one thanks to alate rally. Schoonover went five and a

(17:08):
third innings with four strikeouts, justthree hits allowed through one hundred pitches,
but Auburn was able to score fourruns, the lone Kentucky run for Aaron
Koffl her thirteenth home run of theyear that moves her into a tie with
Grace Laarsung for the team lead.The All American Koffel who has not seen
a lot of pitches to hit,but she's getting a little bit more,

(17:30):
it seems, in the last weekor so, thanks to the surgeons of
Taylor Ebbs hitting behind her and PeytonPlots and Lorsung as well. But after
this weekend, the Cat's still invery good shape. Twenty nine and sixteen
overall, seven and eleven in SECplay, and now they are headed home.
No midweek games, so it'll beon Friday night they take on South

(17:52):
Carolina to open their final three gameseries of the season at home, still
a road trip left. Friday nighta six to thirty start, and on
Saturday a game that we will becarrying on the UK Sports Network Senior Day
Festivities being celebrated against the Game Cocks. First pitch is at two o'clock.
We'll go on the air right aroundthen. We'll try to cover as much

(18:14):
as we can of the Senior Dayfestivities. Get you some audio from that
to play throughout the ballgame and forthe podcast next week as well, and
then the finale, the series finale, and the home finale, as far
as we can see anyway, wenever know what postseason might bring. But
that is on Sunday at one o'clockat John Crops Stadium, So Friday at
six thirty, Saturday at two,Sunday at one, with radio coverage on

(18:40):
Saturday beginning at two o'clock. Hopeto see you out at John Crops Stadium
for one, two, or perhapsall three of these games this weekend.
It'll be a great time. It'sthe penultimate regular season weekend. The Cats
still have a trip to Knoxville totake on a very good Tennessee team.
That'll be the first weekend in May. But this upcoming weekend, the final
one at home at John Crop Stadium. Mentioned it at the top of the

(19:04):
show, it was a record weekendfor Kentucky baseball at Kentucky Proud Park.
They set an attendance record on Fridaynight, only for it to be broken
just the very next day night gameinto a day game. And when it
was all said and done, overtwenty one thousand fans graced Kentucky Proud Park.
So a big thanks to Big BlueNation for making their way out against

(19:27):
a very good Tennessee team coming in. Depending on what poll you looked at,
Kentucky was number three, Tennessee numbertwo, and some Kentucky was three
Tennessee was four. But either wayyou slice it or dice it, it
was a top five matchup, apotential super regional matchup, and dare i
say potential Omaha matchup as well.We'll see how things shake out the rest

(19:48):
of the way, but it wasa comfort behind win for Kentucky. On
Friday night, they were trailing fourto three after Ryan Waldschmidt brought them a
run closer when a million peatree hitone near the third base bag got into
left field. Two runs came into score and the Cats led by one.
They would add one more a bitof insurance run on a homer by

(20:08):
Nolan McCarthy his sixth of the year. Walt Schmidt had homered earlier, his
seventh of the campaign, and theCats were able to close it out with
Johnny Hummel and win five to threeon Friday night, improving to thirty two
and five overall, fifteen to onein the SEC. As Tennessee was dropped
to thirty one and seven, andwhen it was all said and done,

(20:30):
Nolan McCarthy those two hits in thehomer. Same for Ryan Waltschmid, except
he drove in two. Petres' onlyhit was a big one with those two
runs knocked in as the Cats wonit by two. It was a back
and forth affair on Sunday, buton Saturday rather, but Kentucky just could
not quite silence those Tennessee bats.The five run first inning the difference in

(20:52):
a nine to four volunteer win.Walt Schmidt stayed hot. He went three
for four to bump his batting averageup to three fifty nine on the campaign,
but Kentucky had to use a lotof arms out of that bullpen and
could not slow down the Tennessee attack, who finished with fourteen hits to level
the series. And then a verythrilling game on Sunday in which the Cats

(21:15):
unfortunately came up short in despite tworuns in the bottom of the ninth inning
to draw within a pair, butKentucky would drop the finale thirteen to eleven,
thirty three and seven overall is Tennessee. Now, Kentucky's still a very
respectable thirty two and seven themselves fifteenand three in the SEC, so still
in first place in the SEC East. Lots of offensive stars. On Sunday,

(21:38):
Mitchell Daily three hits with two runsknocked in. Nolan McCarthy he was
two for four with a couple ofruns knocked in and the ball leaving the
yard homers for Grant Smith. Hisfifth daily had a couple. He has
five now. Ryan Nicholson, theteam leader, has a dozen. Nolan
McCarthy hit his seventh. Devin Burk'sstill battling that hampste He hit his third

(22:02):
of the campaign. But again Tennesseeable to overcome those and win thirteen to
eleven. But you read any nationalpublications coverage, and there was a lot
of coverage on this weekend series atKentucky Proud Park. They said, let's
run that back again. That wasa lot of fun, three very tight
games, and Kentucky would love tosee those volunteers and try to get some

(22:22):
payback later on in the season.We'll see how things shake out as we
hit postseason play. But Kentucky nowout back on the road. We mentioned
softball welcoming in South Carolina. It'llbe baseball who heads two Columbia to take
on the game Cocks. Depending onagain what poll you look at right now,
Kentucky number four in the country,South Carolina number nineteen and the lidlifter

(22:45):
of that series is Friday night atseven o'clock. My Mandarreen Hedrick will be
on the air at six forty fiveand then Saturday Night Baseball on the SEC
Network. Why don't you mute that? TV coverage joined Darren at five forty
five after we wrap up with softand night baseball for the Cats, and
then on Sunday three o'clock start againon SEC Network for the finale, and

(23:08):
then the Cats will be home forthe first weekend in May to take on
Arkansas back at Kentucky Proud Park.Well maybe they'll try to set a new
attendance record over twenty one thousand.What a fantastic weekend. Despite the two
losses for the Cats, still ingreat, great shape not just to host
a regional, but potentially host asuper regional as well as a baseball sitting

(23:30):
at thirty two and seven overall fifteenand three in SEC play. Big congrats
are in order for Kentucky men's tennisas they are the back to back Southeastern
Conference tournament champions. They beat thenumber eleven seed South Carolina game Cocks on
Sunday afternoon at LSU four to two. It's the third SEC tournament championship in

(23:52):
program history for the Cats, andthey won the regular season this year also
the tournament title. Obviously just thesecond time they've done that. They haven't
done that since nineteen ninety two.Phenomenal week. We'll talk a little bit
more about it later on in theweek as well as a men's tennis now
will have a little bit of alayoff. They will not see any action

(24:14):
tournament wise this week. They willwait for the selection show that coming on
Monday, April twenty ninth, solittle less than a week they will see
exactly how the NCAA tournament will beshaping up. But the Cats in great,
great shape as they are the SECregular season and tournament champions and they
now sit at twenty four and twooverall. They ru an unblemished twelve to

(24:37):
zero in conference play. Simply phenomenalfrom the men's tennis program, who is
now off to postseason adventure once again. A big thanks to Stephanie Schoonover for
taking time out of her schedule tostop by and chat about her great season.
She'll go for win number eighteen onthis Friday night when the Cats take
on the game Cocks of South Carolinafor Senior Week and Senior Day festivities.

(25:00):
As we mentioned on Saturday afternoon,big thanks to Chris Schulz as well for
helping coordinate that interview and all thegreat work that he does with the volleyball
and the softball programs for Kentucky andhelping us at the network out big thanks
to Curtis and Michelle at the networkand for everyone else that contributes to UK
Sports Network. Today, I'm EdorCapus saying thanks for listening and we'll talk

(25:22):
to you next time.