Softball to Open BIG EAST Conference Play this Weekend
March 25, 2011 | Softball
March 25, 2011
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
The University of Louisville softball team (19-9) will open BIG EAST Conference play with a three-game series against Villanova (8-14) this weekend. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon with a single game set for 11 a.m. Sunday at Ulmer Stadium. Admission to this weekend's games is free.
About Louisville
The Cardinals (19-9) are led sophomore first baseman Alicja Wolny who is batting .405 and has a team-best 28 RBIs. Senior third baseman Chelsea Bemis follows at .378 with 12 doubles, four home runs and 25 RBI. Senior Colby Wherry rounds out the top three at .367 with 11 runs and 12 RBI.
Junior LHP Tori Collins (12-5) carries a 2.30 ERA with 117 strikeouts in 112.2 innings and is holding opponents to a .204 batting average. Freshman Caralisa Connell (6-3) has a 3.12 ERA with 51 Ks in 65.0 innings of work.
Cards Against the Field
Villanova
Record: Louisville leads 7-1
Last Meeting: The Cardinals swept the Wildcats in a double header on April 3, 2009 at Ulmer Stadium. Louisville won 4-1 and 12-7.
Scouting the Wildcats: Villanova has compiled an 8-14 record thus far in the 2011 regular season and will open BIG EAST play this weekend at Ulmer Stadium. They are coming off of a 1-0 win over St. Joseph's after dropping three straight one run contests prior to the victory.
The Wildcats are led by sophomore catcher Amanda Marquez who leads the team with a .286 batting average and 18 hits on the season. On the mound, they are anchored by a pitching staff that ranks sixth in the BIG EAST
Card Notes
• Six of Louisville's nine losses have come to teams ranked in the top 15: twice to (then) No. 5/6 Michigan, twice to No. 15 Texas and twice to No. 3/7 Alabama. Each of those teams has since risen in the rankings, with Alabama sitting at No. 1 in this week's ESPN.com USA Softball poll.
• Sophomore Jennifer Esteban is a perfect 11-for-11 in stolen bases this season and is currently on a streak of 24 perfect attempts dating back to the Feb. 28, 2010 win over Northern Illinois.
• Senior Chelsea Bemis is second on the career RBI list with 167. She needs seven more to tie Courtney Moore's mark of 174.
Up Last for Louisville
Junior Tori Collins struck out nine batters en route to a complete game shutout while sophomore Alicja Wolny and freshman Maggie Ruckenbrod finished 2-for-2 to lead the University of Louisville softball team to a 6-0 victory over the University of Kentucky Wednesday evening at Ulmer Stadium.
Up Next...
U of L will travel to Chicago to take on DePaul in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, March 30.
Tori Collins Named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week (Again); Colby Wherry Selected to Honor Roll
Junior Tori Collins was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week and senior Colby Wherry was selected to the honor roll for the period ending March 20. This marks the second Pitcher of the Week nod for Collins this season.
Collins posted a 3-0 record with one save and a 0.59 ERA for the Cardinals in five appearances on the week. The lefty allowed just two earned runs on 12 hits, striking out 24 in 23.2 innings of work. Collins limited opponents to a .150 batting average.
Wherry led the Cardinals to a 4-1 performance on the weekend. She batted .625 (10-for-16) with a home run, three doubles, six RBIs and four runs. She posted a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .611 on-base percentage.
Hitting for average - youngsters stepping up to the plate
Louisville is batting .319 as a team with seven active players batting at, or above .300. Alicja Wolny leads the way at .405. Chelsea Bemis follows at .378. Colby Wherry carries a .367 average. Maggie Ruckenbrod (.356), Jennifer Esteban (.333) and Katie Keller (.303) and Hannah Kiyohara (.302) round out the top hitters.
Five of the Cards' top seven hitters are underclassmen Ruckenbrod, Keller and Kiyohara are freshmen while Wolny and Esteban are sophomores. Sophomore Jordan Trimble was also batting .410 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.
