Softball Heads to Indiana Classic
March 20, 2008 | Softball
March 20, 2008
The University of Louisville softball team will travel to Bloomington, Ind. for the IU Classic, March 21-22. The Cardinals will take on Illinois-Chicago at 12 p.m. and Indiana at 4 p.m. Friday.
About Louisville: The Cardinals enter the weekend with a 12-11 overall record. U of L is batting .264 as a team and outscoring opponents 89-67. Sophomore catcher Melissa Roth leads the Cards offensively wiht a .417 average, 12 doubles, 19 runs and five stolen bases. Freshman Chelsea Bemis follows with a . 358 average and a team-leading 21 RBIs.
Sophomore Kristen Wadwell (6-7) has a 2.18 ERA and is holding opponents to a .205 batting average with 64 strikeouts in 86.2 innings of work. Junior Kassie Stanfill (4-3) carries a 2.27 ERA with 57 Ks in 58.2 innings of work. She is limiting opponents to a .197 batting average.
Louisville (12-11) vs. Illinois-Chicago (7-18)
Series Record: First meeting
Scouting the Flames: UIC enters the weekend with a 7-18 overall record. The Flames are coming off of a double header loss to Loyola Marymount on March 16, falling 2-0 in both games. Ashlee Ackerman leads at the plate with a .333 average and six stolen bases. Sarah Clynes steps in next with a .308 average, three home runs, 14 runs and 11 RBI.
Clynes has also compiled a 4-10 record in the circle. She carries a 5.19 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 82.1 innings. Whitney Orelanna (0-4) has a 5.16 ERA in 38.0 IP.
Louisville (12-11) vs. Indiana (5-17)
Series Record: Louisville leads 6-2
Last Meeting: April 4, 2007 - U of L won 1-0 at Ulmer Stadium Scouting the Hoosiers: Indiana enters the week with a 5-17 record prior to a game with Drake scheduled for March 20. IU is coming off of a 1-3 showing at the USF Under Armour Showcase where they beat UMass 2-1 in eight innings and fell to Florida International (5-0), Rutgers (6-4) and Radford (1-0).
Jenni Huddleston leads IU offensively with a .338 average. Brittany Devitt has delivered a team-leading three home runs.
Monica Wright (2-6) has logged in 61.0 innings and carries a 3.79 record with 36 strikeouts.
Up Last: U of L hosted the Louisville Softball Tournament March 14-16. Unfortunately, continuous rain the area force a re-haul of the scheduled game. The Cards ended up playing No. 9/9 Michigan on Saturday and Sunday. In Saturday's game, Louisville lost a 4-3 eight-inning heartbreaker and then fell 5-2 on Sunday. Following that game, the Cards lost to Miami 3-2. U of L then played a double header against tournament participant Minnesota on Monday. The Cards swept, winning the first game 5-4 in eight innings and the second 9-3.
Cardinal Quick Hits
• The Cards have has 46 extra base hits (33 doubles, four triples and nine home runs) in 23 games.
•Soophomore catcher Melissa Roth leads the team with 11 multiple hit games, while freshman third baseman Chelsea Bemis has a team-leading five multi-RBI efforts.
For the Record...
• In the 5-1 win over Southern Miss on Feb. 9, sophomore catcher Melissa Roth tied a school record with three doubles in a single game. She tied Lisa McMillan's record set in 2003.
• In the March 17 5-4 win over Minnesota, freshman Chelsea Bemis tied a school record with four walks. Courtney Moore set the record on May 7, 2006 against Villanova. She drew foru alks and scored four runs.
• Pitcher Kristen set a painful school record (at least for the opponents) with four hit batters in the March 12 6-2 win over Marshall.
Totten Named to BIG EAST Honor Roll
Senior first baseman Sarah Totten was named to the BIG EAST honor roll on March 17. The Louisville native batted .467 (7 for 15) on the week with a double, a home run and seven RBIs and three runs. She reached in every game played for a .500 on-base percentage and drove in multiple runs in the first three games, including three against Marshall and two against ninth-ranked Michigan. Totten had a double and a home run on the weekend and notched a team-best 733 slugging percentage. The senior first baseman was also impressive in the field, posting 15 putouts, one assist and did not commit an error.
Pearsall, Cards Reached 300th win at Louisville
On March 1, the Cards posted a 2-0 win over Oregon State, to mark the program's 300th win since the program started in 2000. The win happened to come against Pearsall's alma mater where she played in 1983-84.
`Red Out' Up Next for the Cards
Louisville will play host to in-state rival Kentucky on March 26 at 5 p.m. at Ulmer Stadium.All fans are encouraged to wear red as the game has been designated for a `Red Out.'
In their other matchup this season, the Cards beat the Cats 6-1 in Lexington.
Rising in the (BIG) EAST
Entering this week, sophomore catcher Melissa Roth leads the league with a .431 batting average, a .526 on-base percentage, and is tied for first with 11 doubles. She is second with a .662 slugging percentage.
Sophomore Kristen Wadwell is tied for the lead with 27 batters struck out looking.
Bemis Off to Impressive Start
Freshman 3B Chelsea Bemis has been one of Louisville's most consistent player this season. Bemis is batting .358 on the season with a team-leading 21 RBI and has reached via a hit, walk, error or was hit by a pitch in all but twoof Louisville's 23 games. Bemis was named to the Samford Bulldog Bash All-Tournament team after batting .385 (5 for 13) with two doubles and five RBI in the tournament.
Offense Coming Back Around
The Cardinals got off to a promising start, going 3-1 at the Florida State Early Bird Tournament where they batted .331 as a team and scoring 18 runs. The following two weeks, the Cards ran into a roadblock, hitting a paltry .175 and scored 15 runs in six games. Since Feb. 29, U of L has batted .280 with 19 doubles, four triples and five home runs.
Blame it on the Rain (and Snow)
The Cardinals have been hampered by inclement weather most of the season. They missed nine games because of rain or snow. The final day of the Samford Bulldog Bash and the Cardinal Classic were ( washed out. The entire Red & Black Classic was cancelled after a foot of snow hit the Louisville area. The most recent lost matchups were the Drake and Northern Iowa single game on March 18.
Stanfill Named to BIG EAST Honor Roll
Junior RHP Kassie Stanfill was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll on March 3. The Cards were coming off of a 2-3 showing at the Fullerton Worth Classic in which Stanfill posted a .600 batting average (9 for 15) with one run and four RBI. She had at least one hit in each game and went 4 for 4 against UC-Davis.
Tough Slate
The Cardinals are in the midst of a tough schedule. Four of their losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top ten. Louisville lost to No.3/ 4 Florida4-2, No. 5/5 Stanford 9-1, No. 6/6 Michigan 4-3 in eight innings and 5-2. Still ahead is No. 14/18, 2008 Women's College World Series Participant DePaul.
