University of Louisville
Connecticut
Cardinal Softball Tops Connecticut 4-0 in BIG EAST Quarterfinals
May 07, 2009 | Softball
May 7, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The third-seeded, 17th ranked University of Louisville softball team defeated sixth-seeded Connecticut 4-0 in the BIG EAST Conference tournament quarterfinals Thursday evening at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards will face second-seeded Notre Dame in Friday's semifinal game at 2:30 p.m. Friday's games have been moved to noon and 2:30 because of expected rain in the area. They will both be televised live on CBS College Sports Television.
"UConn gave us a great game today," said U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall. "They have some tremendous offense on their team. Their pitcher initially did a great job stopping our team, and I am proud of how we responded by taking care of our offense and we played well defensively."
Louisville junior Kristen Wadwell (40-7) went the distance to notch her 11th shutout of the season while giving up eight hits and fanning six. She also becomes the only pitcher in the NCAA to reach the 40-win mark this year. Connecticut's Rachael Crossin (11-13) took the loss, allowing four runs, two earned, on six hits with seven strikeouts.
Cardinal senior Patrika Barlow highlighted Louisville's offense, going 2-for-2 with a walk while scoring a run. Louisville junior Melissa Roth drove in two RBI during her 1-for-2 showing at the plate.
Connecticut catcher Danielle Del Ponte boosted Connecticut's offense going two-for-three, while senior Erin Burntner had a perfect 2-for-2 showing.
Both teams had multiple opportunities to break the game open with a flurry of runs as multiple bases-loaded situations occurred throughout the contest. The defenses, however, held strong, avoiding any outbursts of scoring on either side. Louisville found a break in the bottom of the third inning, scoring the first two runs of the game.
Barlow started off the bottom of the third with a single to center field which began a stretch where five straight players in the Cardinal line up reached base safely. Vanessa James reached on a fielder's choice that saw Barlow safe at second. Roth delivered an RBI single to plate Barlow and Kristin Austin followed with an RBI triple to give the Cards a 2-0 lead.
UConn threatened to score in the fifth when a fielder's choice and two singles loaded the bases with two outs, but Wadwell got the final batter to fly out to preserve the shutout. The Huskies had runners in scoring position again in the sixth and seventh, but Wadwell and the Cardinal defense held up to keep the game scoreless.
The Cards put up another run in the fourth when Christina Roesel reached on an infield single and came around to score on Roth's sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 game. Louisville tallied it's final run in the sixth when Cunningham walked, stole second and came around to score on throwing error.
Louisville advances to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Softball Championship for the fourth straight season where they will face No. 2 seed Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. The semifinals will be televised by the CBS College Sports Network at 12:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Be sure to check BIG EAST Softball Championship Central for updated information on the championship.
