Softball Releases 2004-05 Schedule
September 28, 2004 | Softball
Sept. 28, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - University of Louisville softball coach Sandy Pearsall has announced that the 2005 spring schedule has been set. The Cardinals will face four opponents which finished last season ranked in the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association's top 25 including: sixth-ranked and 2004 Women's College World Series participant Oklahoma, No. 3 LSU; No. 7 Washington and No. 9 Michigan. The Cards will also encounter a tough Conference USA slate which sent five teams to the NCAA tournament including sixteenth-ranked South Florida, Southern Miss and Houston.
"We're excited about our schedule for the upcoming season," said Pearsall. "We've really stepped it up a notch from even our normally competitive schedule. We'll be facing several teams which finished last year in the top 20. We have a tough opening weekend against NCAA tournament participant Florida and College World Series team Oklahoma. It doesn't get any easier the next weekend when we go up against top 10 programs LSU and Washington as well as potential top 20 teams UNLV and BYU. Our home tournaments will include historically strong programs such as Michigan, Iowa as well as a rematch of our first NCAA regional appearance with Missouri. These non-conference games should help prepare us for a typically strong C-USA schedule."
The 2003-04 U of L softball team finished with a program-best 41-19 record and earned its first trip to the NCAA Regionals. The Cards fourth-seeded Cardinals went 1-2 in the regionals, falling 2-0 to eventual national champion UCLA. Louisville returns 13 letterwinners from last season, including All-C-USA team members seniors Aja Sherman and Sara Bausher, junior Lacy Wood and 2004 C-USA Freshman of the Year Audrey Rendon.
The Cardinals will participate in the Michigan Fall Tournament Oct. 2-3 and will play host to Eastern Kentucky in a doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Oct. 9 at Ulmer Stadium. U of L will open the 2005 spring season Feb. 4-6 at Florida's Clearwater Invitational.
