University of Louisville
KENTUCKY
No. 18 Softball Cards Top Kentucky 2-0
April 28, 2009 | Softball
April 28, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - Melissa Roth's solo home run in the bottom of the sixth broke a scoreless tie and Kristin Austin scored on Kassie Stanfill's sacrifice fly as the 18th ranked University of Louisville softball team defeated visiting Kentucky 2-0 in front of a season-high crowd of 985 Tuesday evening at Ulmer Stadium.
"We fought hard to win this game against a great Kentucky team," said U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall. "I'm very proud that we were able to come through and get the win in front of an awesome crowd."
The game featured a pitcher's duel through five innings with U of L starter Kristen Wadwell and UK's Rachel Riley surrendering only three singles apiece- neither pitcher issued a walk in the game.
The Cards had a chance to score early in the game when Roth led off the first with a single, moved around to third on Kristin Austin and Chelsea Bemis' groundouts. Rachel Riley retired Colby Wherry to end the inning.
UK threatened to score in the third when Annie Rowlands reached on an error and Destinee Mordecai delivered an infield single to place two runners on with one out. Molly Johnson's fielder's choice saw Mordecai out at second, but put runners on the corners with two outs. Wadwell retired Meagan Aull to end the inning.
The Wildcats had one more scoring opportunity when Megan Yocke led off the fourth with a single and Natalie Smith reached on an error to put runners at first and second with one out. Riley's groundout moved them into scoring position, but Wadwell got Demartine to pop up to shortstop to keep the game scoreless.
After allowing a runner in scoring position in the first, Riley held the Cardinals at bay, giving up only two more hits until the bottom of the sixth when the left-handed Roth took the first pitch over the right field fence for her team-leading 15th home run of the season. She needs two more homers to tie the Louisville single season record of 17 set by Courtney Moore in the 2005 season.
Freshman Kristin Austin followed Roth's home run with an infield single and stole second. Chelsea Bemis' base hit sent Austin to third and she scored on Stanfill's sac fly to add an insurance run.
Wadwell (38-7) continues to lead the nation in wins and picked up her 10th shutout of the season. She allowed four hits and struck out two in seven innings. Roth, the current BIG EAST Conference Player of the Week, paced the Cardinals offensively with a 2 for 3 performance at the plate. U of L (44-7) needs one more win to tie the school record for single season victories set in the 2006 season.
Riley (4-5) took the loss, allowing two earned runs on six hits in six innings. UK drops to 29-19.
The Cardinals will play host to Eastern Kentucky in a rescheduled game Wednesday, April 29 at 5 p.m. at Ulmer Stadium.
