By LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky softball signee Emory Donaldson doesn’t worry about where coach Rachel Lawson will play her next season.
“We really have not discussed where I will play on defense. I trust my ability to play anywhere. She (Lawson) will see where I fit best,” said Donaldson. “I play center field for Ballard. I am mainly an infielder on my travel ball team. I can play pretty much anywhere.”
Donaldson certainly understands winning, too. Ballard went 39-0 in 2022 when it won the state high school championship and won its first 22 games this season before losing 6-4 at Great Crossing May 4. Still, the 61-game win streak shattered the previous state record (46) for the longest win streak and the Bruins remain the favorite to repeat as state champion.
The Bruins have won six straight games since the loss, including a 2-1, nine-inning win over Roncalli (Indianapolis), the nation’s third-ranked team by MaxPreps (Ballard was fifth going into the game).
Donaldson admits setting the state consecutive game win record was “fun” but that Ballard has been focused on postseason play more than regular-season wins.
“Our goal is to go into each game and get better. There is sort of an intimidation factor where some teams think, ‘This stacked team is playing us that can shut you down and pound you on offense,” Donaldson said. “We have never thought we were unbeatable but we do always go into any game thinking we can and will win.”
Donaldson had a difficult start to the season coming back from a foot problem that started bothering her in June during travel ball. She got it checked in October and spent about four months with her foot in a boot. Once she got it off, she developed another “minor” injury on the same spot of the same foot.
“It’s not been too bad and I’m just glad to be playing again,” Donaldson, who has not missed a game this season, said.
As a junior she hit .504 last season with 15 home runs and drove in 47 runs in 39 games. She also had 22 stolen bases in the state championship season. That was a big jump from her sophomore season when she hit .364 with just two home runs and 20 RBI. This year she’s hitting .482 with 10 home runs, 38 RBI’s and 17 stolen bases in 26 games.
“I am just maturing with my play. I tried to build more strength in the weight room and have worked on getting on base more,” Donaldson said. “I have a great lineup behind me so there is not any pressure on me to perform. I can just have fun and enjoy my teammates. I have been playing with some of these girls since we were 7 or 8 years old.”
Donaldson is the versatile athlete that Lawson loves having at Kentucky. Donaldson played basketball through her freshman year before deciding to focus on softball and avoiding injuries.
“I wasn’t too bad (in basketball). I could shoot the ball and play defense,” Donaldson, who also played soccer, said.
Her athleticism includes being able to juggle, something she started after attending a UK softball camp where one of the drills was juggling.
“When I was injured I was always juggling and having fun. Once you get the hang of the movement it is just practicing the same motion and continuing to do it. You have to have decent eye-hand coordination,” Donaldson said. “A lot of players on the team do it now.
“I still would not call myself a juggler but it is a very nice hobby and something I enjoy.”
Veteran offensive lineman Kenneth Horsey doesn’t know to read or hear how the Kentucky offensive line had issues last season because he knows the Big Blue Wall was not up to the standards set by former UK offensive line coach John Schlarman before his passing.
“Coach Schlarman established a standard with everything he did not just on field but off the field as well. He set a standard of how it needed to be done and we did not reach that standard last year,” Horsey said. “But just because we did not reach that standard does not mean that standard changes.
“It’s still my job on the offensive line as a leader to make sure that standard is kept and met. The people here last year did not do our job, including me. This is a new offensive line this year and a new opportunity to show that the standard has not changed. We want to do everything we can not just to meet the standard but uplift that standard.
“This is bigger than football. That is coach Schlarman’s legacy. We hold that in high regard and know what we have to do.”
Horsey moved from left guard to left tackle in 2022 and admits it was a major adjustment. He’s back at left guard this year with transfer Marques Cox taking over at left tackle.
“I was a tackle in high school (in Florida) and it was another full circle moment when I started my first game at tackle at Florida last year,” Horsey said. “It was an adjustment but it is about what the team needs. Whatever the coaches feel puts the best five men on the field and what is necessary for me to do, that’s what I will do.
“I am very comfortable at guard. It feels good to be back at that position. I am just ready to go and see what this team is capable of.”
Kentucky has brought in five players – Marques Cox (Northern Illinois), Courtland Ford (USC), Ben Christman (Ohio State), Tanner Bowles (Alabama) and Dylan Ray (West Virginia) – via the transfer portal to help rejuvenate the offensive line.
It would have been easy for North Laurel standout Reed Sheppard to have felt overwhelmed at times last season. He not only was trying to get his team back to the state tournament, but all eyes were on him after he signed with Kentucky in November. He was also the season-long frontrunner for Mr. Basketball honors.
Sheppard averaged 22.1 points, 8.5 assists, 8.5 rebounds, and 4.0 steals per game last season and finished his career 3,727 points, third best in state history by Travis Perry and King Kelly Coleman. He also had the second most assists in state history with 1,214 and set a new state record with 653 steals. Sheppard also grabbed 1,050 rebounds.
“My teammates made it very easy for me to go out and get those numbers,” Sheppard said. “I was in the right spot to knock down shots. The steals were something most people probably didn’t see. Being able to shoot the passing lanes and see what happens before it happens is a big part of it.
“I actually think I got a good bit of that from my mom. I thank her for my IQ on the defensive end to make those plays because I’ve always been told she was really good at that.”
Sheppard appreciated being part of an “unbelievable” season with teammates he’s known most of his life.
“They are my best friends and it made for an awesome year. I couldn’t have asked for anything else. It did not end like we wanted (with a first-round loss at the state) but to end my high school career playing at Rupp Arena with my best friends, that is just special. Not a lot of high school players get to do that.”
Sheppard said his teammates sometimes would give him a hard time about so many fans wanting to see him after games or coming out to watch him play.
“My teammates and coaches would always help me if there were a lot of people waiting after a game,” he said. “It was super fun and I had to love those student sections that got on me because if I was not playing I would be right there with my friends doing the same thing.
“It was really cool to take pictures with fans knowing they looked up to you, especially after some of them had yelled mean stuff to you during the game. It was cool but also kind of funny.”
It was also “cool” when he got to know Kentucky coach John Calipari better during his recruiting process.
“Cal is a great dude. He’s really funny and easy to talk to,” Sheppard said. “It’s kind of crazy because he is the coach at Kentucky. Sitting in front of him and just talking was crazy. But once you get to talking to him, it’s easy. He’s really a nice dude.”
Former Kentucky All-American Jack Givens, the 1978 Final Four Most Outstanding Player when UK won the national championship, became an integral part of the Kentucky basketball program last season when he took over as analyst for the UK Radio Network after the passing of Mike Pratt, another former UK All-American.
Many younger UK fans may not know a lot about Givens but they will have a chance to learn more soon because a new book — “They Call Me Goose: My Life in Kentucky Basketball and Beyond — is now in the works. It is described as an “intimate and all-encompassing look at the life and career of the basketball legend.”
It will share his start on the basketball court at Lexington’s Douglass Park in the legendary Dirt Bowl league to being named Kentucky’s 1974 Mr. Basketball to signing with UK. Obviously it will take a look at his 41-point performance against Duke in the 1978 national title game.
“Givens shares personal and endearing stories from his childhood—how he was initially interested in baseball instead of basketball, the summers spent with his grandmother in Danville, Kentucky, and the teachers and coaches who guided and supported him along his journey,” the book release noted.
“He also speaks candidly about his experiences with poverty, ruinous financial debt, the blowback from sexual assault allegations, and how his faith and his family helped sustain him through hardships and challenges.”
Givens is writing the book in collaboration with Doug Brunk who has written two other UK sports books — “Wildcat Memories: Inside Stories from Kentucky Basketball Greats” and “Forty Minutes to Glory: Inside the Kentucky Wildcats’ 1978 Championship Season.” Both were terrific reads and “Wildcat Memories” had stories with Wah Wah Jones, Dan Issel, Joe B. Hall, Kyle Macy, Tubby Smith, Patrick Patterson, Darius Miller and John Wall.
Scheduled sales date is March 5, 2024.
Barion Brown had a record-setting freshman season with 50 catches for 628 yards along with a 100-yard kickoff return for a score. He was fourth in the SEC in kick return average with 27.5 yards per return. His four touchdown catches were second most by a freshman behind the six that freshman teammate Dane Key had in 2022.
He really put his name on the national scene with 10 catches for 145 yards and one score against eventual national champion Georgia.
Brown thinks 2023 could be an even better season for him.
“I am getting bigger, faster, adjusting to the game, reading the defenses better,” Brown said. “Being a young guy, stuff was coming at me faster last year. Now I can focus on plays and route details.”
Brown also is confident returning offensive coordinator Liam Coen will help elevate his game.
“It feels great seeing what he did with Wan’Dale (Robinson) and them (other receivers),” Brown said. “Knowing he is somebody who will spread the ball and throw it deep but at the same time give the running backs a lot of carries, I like that. It will put more pressure on (opposing) defensive coordinator and will make us a lot harder to defend.”
Quote of the Week: “He was my daughter Megan’s favorite coach. She loved his name and the red jacket,” John Calipari after the passing of Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum of Louisville.
Quote of the Week 2: “He has to do all of it. He has to play pick-and-roll coverages, defend a great scorer. He has to block out and then rebound. And then if he’s out on the perimeter, he has to go back and rebound. He’s our best rebounder, so there’s no classic rebound that he has to get. He has to do all of the above,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on former UK star Bam Adebayo.
Quote of the Week 3: “You talk about name, imagine and likeness. I don’t like to get into that with players because you don’t come to Kentucky … I call that tripping over nickels to try to get to an NBA max contract. We probably have 12-13 guys right now that have max deals,” John Calipari on the Dan Patrick Show.