No. 23 Softball Tops Kentucky 6-0
April 07, 2010 | Softball
April 7, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - The No. 23 University of Louisville softball team scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to a 6-0 win over visiting Kentucky 6-0 Wednesday evening in front of a record crowd of 1,134 at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards improve to 25-12, while the Wildcats drop to 22-16.
"I was very proud of our team's effort tonight," said U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall. "We played a solid game across the board. This was a very good Kentucky team we faced and we were able to take advantage of a shaky start by them and get ahead early."
The Cards used seven hits to jump to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Vanessa James reached on a fielder's choice and came home on Alicja Wolny's double. Jordan Trimble followed with a hit and Colby Wherry's two run single made it a 3-0 game. Chelsea Bemis' base hit placed runners on the corners for Brittany York, who hit into a fielder's choice which scored Wherry and saw Bemis safe at second on a fielding error. Bemis crossed the plate on Melissa Roth's RBI single to increase the lead to 5-0.
The Cats threatened to score early in the first when Natalie Smith singled and moved to second on Brittany Cervantes' two-out hit. Starter Tori Collins struck out Megan Aull to end the inning. Kentucky's best scoring opportunity came in the top of the third as Molly Johnson connected on a one-out double and moved to third on Smith's fly-out, but the Wildcats would get no more chances to score. After Johnson's double Collins and reliever Kristen Wadwell did not allow another runner the rest of the game, retiring the next 14 batters with the help of a solid defensive effort.
Louisville's final run came in the fifth when Jennifer Esteban registered a two-out triple and scored on an error when Roth stole second for the 6-0 final.
Collins (8-3) got the win, scattering three hits and striking out three in 5-0 innings of work. Wadwell retired all six batters she faced and striking out three in 2.0 innings. Roth finished the game with a 2 for 2 performance at the plate. Wolny, Trimble and Esteban all had a pair of hits in the game.
Rachel Riley (8-6) took the loss, giving up five runs, four earned, on six hits and striking out one on 0.2 innings. Reliever Chanda Bell surrendered one unearned run on five hits and struck out five in 5.1 innings. Johnson, Smith and Cervantes accounted for the three Kentucky hits.
U of L will travel to Rutgers for a BIG EAST Conference doubleheader Wednesday, April 14.
