No. 15/18 Softball Travels to Pittsburgh
April 08, 2009 | Softball
April 8, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After sweeping two BIG EAST doubleheaders at Ulmer Stadium, the University of Louisville softball team will travel to Pittsburgh for a twinbill on Friday, April 10. Louisville has never played a game at Pittsburgh as the last two attempts (2005 and 2007) were rained out.
Louisville stands in at No. 15 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association and No. 18 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, marking the eighth consecutive week in the top 25. The Cards are hitting a hefty .327 as a team with eight starters above the .300 mark. Sophomore third baseman Chelsea Bemis sits atop the leaders with a .409 average and 33 RBI. Junior catcher Melissa Roth follows at .404 adn leads the with eight home runs. the leadoff hitter also has a team and conference-best 44 runs. Sophomore shortstop Colby Wherry follows with a .380 average, 11 doubles and 20 RBI.
Junior RHP Kristen Wadwell has been a workhorse for the Cardinals, posting nation-leading 28-5 record and a 1.11 ERA in 209.0 innings of work. She also has 179 strikeouts and is limiting opponents to a .192 batting average.
Louisville Against Pittsburgh
Series Record: Louisville leads 3-1
Last Meeting: April 13, 2008 - U of L won the first game 11-4, while the Panthers took the second 8-0.
Scouting the Panthers: Pittsburgh enters the weekend with a 15-18 overall record and a 3-9 mark in BIG EAST Conference play. Reba Tutt leads the team with a .297 average and 18 runs. Sam Card follows with nine doubles and 15 RBI. Cory Berliner (5-7) carries a 1.72 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 89.1 innings of work.
Up Last
The No. 16/19 Cardinals are coming off of a two BIG EAST Conference series sweeps. Louisville opened the weekend with a 4-1 win over visiting Villanova and held on to beat the Wildcats 12-7 in the nightcap of Friday's doubleheader. On Sunday, the Cards rolled to an 8-0 win over Providence in the first game and defeated the Friars 10-3 in the second game to improve to 34-5 on the season and 10-2 in league play.
On Deck The Cardinals will take a break from conference play with a single game against Middle Tennessee on April 14 at 5 p.m. Connecticut will visit Ulmer Stadium for a BIG EAST doubleheader on April 17 at 4 p.m.
Louisville Sweeps BIG EAST Softball Honors
Melissa Roth was named BIG EAST Conference Player of the Week and Kristen Wadwell earned her second conference Pitcher of the Week honors, the league announced on April 6.
Roth, a junior catcher from Long Beach, Calif., led the Cardinals to a 5-0 record last week with a .643 batting average (9 for 14) and 11 runs to earn BIG EAST Player of the Week honors. Roth put together a 1.143 slugging percentage after belting two home runs to go with a double and three stolen bases. The junior proved to be a steady source of offense at the plate, netting a .773 on-base percentage through 14 at-bats. In the second game of a doubleheader with Villanova on April 3, Roth went 2 for 2 while scoring three runs in the 12-7 win. Louisville swept a pair of BIG EAST doubleheaders against the Wildcats and Providence on April 5. In conference action, Roth batted .700 (7 for 10) with 10 runs, a double, home run and four RBI.
Wadwell, a junior from Sydney, Australia, posted a 0.50 ERA in her five wins throughout the week, putting in 28 innings of work from the circle. In the five contests combined, the junior surrendered only two earned runs and struck out 22 while scattering 20 hits. Opponents hit just .206 against her as she posted a 0.67 ERA in conference games, including an 8-0 shutout of Providence. Wadwell holds a nation-leading 28-5 record and is two wins away from tying Louisville's single-season record for wins.
Card Notes
• U of L is in its eighth consecutive week in the national rankings. The Cards rejoined the top 25 on Feb. 17, after a two-year absence and reached as high as No. 14 - a program-best.
• The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 223-76
• Kristen Wadwell leads the nation with 28 wins and stands at second on the school's single season list for wins. Catherine Bishop owns the record with 30, set in the 2006 season.
• Louisville leads the BIG EAST in team batting average (.327), slugging percentage (.490), runs scored (223), doubles (62), ERA (1.11) and opponent batting average (.211) and wins (34)
•Melissa Roth leads the conference in home runs (8) and runs scored (44). Roth and Colby Wherry are tied for the league lead with 11 doubles
• Junior Vanessa James tied a school record with two triples against Albany (2/21). She has seen time at second base, in the outfield and at designated player. She now has a conference-best five triples on the season.
• Kristen Wadwell (28-5) has shouldered the majority of the pitching duties, logging 209.0 innings and posting a 1.11 ERA with 179 strikeouts. Freshman Tori Collins (6-0) has a 2.46 ERA with 14 starts in 54 innings of work.
• Collins is the first left-handed pitcher in the history of Louisville softball. • Senior centerfielder Kristi Cunningham is now in sole possession of third place on the school's all-time home runs list with 26. She needs one more to tie former all-American Lacy Wood. Courtney Moore holds the record with 41.
• Senior Kassie Stanfill snapped a 14 game hitting streak in the March 29, 6-1 win over Seton Hall. Prior to that, Stanfill had been tied for third for the longest hitting streak in Louisville program history. The longest hitting streak was 16 and was held by Coleen Coughlin in 2001.
• Colby Wherry went the first 35 games of the season without striking out... until the April 3 game against Villanova when she fanned twice. She is currently ranked third in the nation in the `toughest to strike out' category with 2 Ks in 108 at-bats.
Louisville on the National Scene
As of April 6, the Cardinals are ranked among the nation's leaders in several categories. As a team, Louisville is third in winning percentage (0.872), seventh in batting average (.327), 14th with a 1.38 ERA , 20th in scoring (5.72 runs per game) and 20th in slugging percentage (0.49). Kristen Wadwell leads the nation with 28 wins and is 18th in ERA (1.07) and strikeouts (179). Colby Wherry is third in the `toughest to strike out' category. Melissa Roth is 10th in runs per game (1.13) and 21st in on base percentage (0.531). Vanessa James is sixth in the nation with five triples.
Round Trippers
In the first half of the season, the Cardinals have hit 30 home runs, surpassing last year's total of 21. The school record for most home runs in a season is 57, set in the 2005 season. Melissa Roth leads the team with 8 home runs, while Chelsea Bemis and Kristi Cunningham have seven each.
No Place Like Home
The Cardinals have been tough at home this season posting an 18-1 record at Ulmer Stadium. Louisville's only home loss came at the hands of No. 14/16 Ohio State on March 14.
Cards Earn Highest Rankings in Program History
On March 24, the Cardinals moved to No. 14 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and were at No. 16 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball and coaches polls released on Tuesday, March 23. The Cards were also No. 14 in the Ultimate College Softball rankings.
The rankings marked the highest in program history in each of the polls. The Cards matched their highest rankings on March 17, when they were No. 15 in the NFCA poll and No. 16 in the USA Softball rankings. They were also No. 17 and 18 respectively in the 2006 season. This is their first year in the UCS poll.
Pearsall Reaches 600 Wins
On March 22, 2009, the University of Louisville defeated Rutgers 9-0 in game two of a BIG EAST Conference doubleheader. With the win, U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall reached 600th career victory Pearsall is in her 23rd year as a head coach, and her tenth season since starting the program at U of L where the Cards have compiled a 356-211 record.
Wadwell Sets School Record for Strikeouts in a Game
In the March 16 3-2 win over Eastern Michigan, Kristen Wadwell set a new school record with 16 strikeouts in the game, breaking Aja Sherman's mark set on March 25, 2005 against Western Kentucky.
Roth Sets New Home Run Record
Junior catcher Melissa Roth set a school record with three home runs in Louisville's 12-3 win over Albany. She also tied a school record with four runs. Her six RBI fell one short of tying a school record.
Bruggeman Gets 500th Career Win
On Feb. 14, the Cards defeated No. 18/21 Nevada 3-2 in the UNLV Louisville Slugger Desert Classic. With the victory, Associate head coach Carol Bruggeman reached her 500th career win. She has been Louisville's Associate Head coach since 2006 and spent 12 years as the head coach at Purdue, where she started the program and amassed 380 wins.
Cards in Tenth Season
Louisville softball is in its tenth season since beginning the program in 2000. Over the past nine years, with Pearsall at the helm, the Cards have amassed 338 wins, earned five consecutive NCAA tournament bids, earned their first top 20 ranking and won three conference championships.
