Softball Travels to DePaul Wednesday
March 29, 2011 | Softball
March 29, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The University of Louisville softball team (21-10) will travel to Chicago for a non- conference doubleheader against DePaul Wednesday. The Cards will return to Ulmer Stadium for a BIG EAST Conference series against Seton Hall. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon with a single game set for 11 a.m. Sunday at Ulmer Stadium. Admission is free.
About Louisville
The Cardinals (21-10, 2-1 BIG EAST) are led offensively by sophomore first baseman Alicja Wolny who is batting .396 and has a team-best 33 RBIs. Senior shortstop and sophomore Jennifer Esteban each have a .364 average, tying them for second on the team. Wherry has 13 runs, six doubles and 14 RBIs while Esteban has scored 26 runs and has 11 stolen bases on the season.
Sophomore Caralisa Connell (8-4) carries a 2.77 ERA with 66 strikeouts in 86.0 innings of work. 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.
Cards Against the Field
Record: DePaul leads 23-13
Last Meeting: The Cardinals went 1-2 in a weekend series at Ulmer Stadium on March 27 and 28, 2010. DePaul took the first two games 2-0 and 15-4 before Louisville stopped the skid by winning the finale 5-4.
Scouting the Blue Demons: DePaul has compiled an 17-8 record thus far in the 2011 regular season and a 2-1 record in BIG EAST play. They are coming off of a weekend series at Providence where they went 2-1, dropping the second game of a doubleheader. In the last game between the two teams, freshman Kristen Verdun's three-run homerun broke the tie game to give DePaul a 6-3 victory.
Before their three-game stint at Providence, the Blue Demons suffered a five-game losing skid at the Judi Garmon Classic in Fullerton, Calif. where they lost to Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Long Beach State and Arizona.
DePaul, picked to finish second in the BIG EAST, is led by senior Alex Morocco and freshman Kristen Verdun. Morocco leads the team with a .393 batting average and 33 hits on the season. She has a .485 on base percentage and also ranks first in stolen bases with 6. Verdun leads the team with a .600 slugging percentage and 17 homeruns on the year, including the game winner she hit on their last outing against Providence.
Card Notes
• Six of Louisville's 10 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
Louisville is coming off of a 3-1 performance on the week including a 6-0 win over in-state rival No. 23/24 Kentucky. The Cards also went 2-1 in their BIG EAST Conference opening series against Villanova, dropping the first game 3-1, but coming back to beat the Wildcats 5-3 and 12-5 in the next two games.
Up Next...
U of L will return to Ulmer Stadium for a three-game BIG EAST Conference series against Seton Hall.
Esteban named to BIG EAST honor roll
Sophomore Jennifer Esteban led the Cardinals offensively in a 3-1 performance on the week. The left fielder batted .615 (8-for-13) with a triple, five runs, three RBI's, a sacrifice fly and a stolen base. She registered a .769 slugging percentage and a .600 on-base percentage. She had at least one hit in each of the four games and had two, three-hit performances against Villanova.
Hitting for average - underclassmen 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 .396. Colby Wherry and Jennifer Esteban follow at .364. Maggie Ruckenbrod (.354), Chelsea Bemis (.341), Hannah Kiyohara (.333) and Katie Keller (.301)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.
