Kentucky’s Abbey Cheek Named SEC Freshman of the Week

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman slugger Abbey Cheek was named the Southeastern Conference’s Freshman of the Week on Monday afternoon, the conference office announced. The weekly award is the first in the young career for Cheek, who returned to her home state of South Carolina and tore up the Winthrop Invitational.

Cheek went 7-of-13 on the weekend with a team-high eight RBIs and five runs scored to help lead UK to the 2016 Winthrop Invitational Championship. Cheek had five two-out hits, with four RBIs on those hits, and drove in the eventual game-winning runs against Lehigh and Winthrop. The freshman is hitting .362 on the year while clubbing four homers and two triples through the first four weeks of the season.

After a 21-game road trip to start the season, the No. 16 Kentucky softball team opens up its fourth season at John Cropp Stadium on Wednesday night as the Wildcats face the Indiana Hoosiers at 6 p.m. ET live on the SEC Network+ and the WatchESPN app.

The Wildcats are coming off a 4-1 weekend at the Winthrop Invitational, as they have rocketed out to an 18-3 start to the season, the best through 21 games in program history. Kentucky won the tournament this past weekend in Rock Hill, S.C., to add to its already heavy 2016 load of the Campbell/Cartier Classic (San Diego, Calif.) and Chattanooga Frost Classic championships the two weekends prior.

Kentucky has played more true road games than any team in the SEC this season (5) and is undefeated in those games, including a 5-3 win over No. 22 Arizona State. UK has also played five top-25 teams, going 4-1 in those games, tying Alabama and Texas A&M for most games played (5) and top-25 wins (4) than any other team in the SEC.

For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.