Softball Set for Combat Classic
March 03, 2011 | Softball
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
March 3, 2011
The University of Louisville softball team will travel to Cookeville, Tenn. for the Tennessee Tech Combat Classic March 4-6. The Cards will open the tournament Friday, March 4 against Middle Tennessee at 11 a.m and will follow with a matchup against North Carolina State at 1 p.m. On Saturday Louisville will face host Tennessee Tech at 4 p.m. Sunday's action features Belmont at 3 p.m. and Samford at 5 p.m.
Tennessee Tech Combat Classic Schedule
Friday, March 4
11 a.m. Middle Tennessee
1 p.m. NC State
Saturday, March 5
4 p.m. Tennessee Tech
Sunday, March 7
3 p.m. Belmont
5 p.m. Samford
About Louisville
The Cardinals enter the Tennessee Tech Combat Classic with a 9-6 overall record after a 4-1 performance at their home-opening Red & Black Classic Feb. 25-26. Sophomore Alicja Wolny leads the team with a .405 average and 14 RBI. Freshman Maggie Ruckenbrod follows at .391 with eight RBI.
Current BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week Tori Collins carries a 6-3 record and a 3.28 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 53.1 innings. Freshman Caralisa Connell (2-2) has a 3.17 ERA with 27 Ks in 35.1 innings of work.
Cards Against the Field
Middle Tennessee
Series: Cards lead 3-2
Last Meeting: April 14, 2009- Louisville defeated Middle Tennessee 9-4 at Ulmer Stadium.
Scouting the Blue Raiders: Middle Tennessee has registered an overall record of 4-7. Their last time out, the Blue Raiders competed in the War Eagle Classic in Auburn, Ala. where they went 2-2, beating Marshall and Murray State, and recording losses to Georgia Southern and host Auburn.
Middle Tennessee is led by Corrie Abel who recorded her 195th career hit in their last game against Auburn, tying her for first on the school's all-time career hits list. The senior outfielder will be looking to break the record Friday in the team's first game against Louisville. Abel leads the team in many statistical categories, including batting average (.415), hits (17), RBI (8), and slugging percentage (.537).
North Carolina State
Series: Louisville leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Feb. 13, 2004 - Louisville defeated NC State 2-0
Scouting the Wolfpack: N. C. State has posted a 7-7 record for the 2011 season. In their last outing they fell to 2-1 to Georgetown in the Carolina Classic where they went 1-3 on the weekend.
The Wolfpack, who were picked to finish sixth in the eight team Atlantic Coast Conference, are paced by senior Bridget Desbois who leads the team with a .419 batting average. Desbios has amassed 10 RBI on 18 hits so far this season. Junior Morgan Peeler leads the Pack on the mound with a 6.00 ERA and a 3-3 record in eight appearances.
Tennessee Tech
Series: Louisville leads the series 5-1
Last Meeting: The Cards won 7-2 on March 8, 2009. Louisville has won the last five meetings with their last loss to Tennessee Tech coming in the first game of a double header in May of 2000.
Scouting the Golden Eagles: TTU (5-7) was picked to finish second in the Ohio Valley Conference. In 2010 TTU fell in the semi-finals of the OVC conference championships.
The Eagles are led by pitcher Holly Thomas who put together her second career no-hitter against IUPUI earlier in the season. On the season the junior has compiled a 2.27 ERA in seven appearances. She has a 4-2 record with 2 shutouts an 37.0 innings pitched. Offensively, the TTU is led by junior Brooke Basten with a .409 batting average and a .500 slugging percentage.
Belmont
Series: Louisville leads 2-0
Last Meeting: March 22, 2000 - Louisville downed Belmont in two games of a double header, winning 9-1 and 6-0 at Ulmer Stadium.
Scouting the Bruins: Belmont has a 4-10 record for the 2011 season. Their last outing was at the Auburn War Eagle Classic tournament where they went 0-4, falling to Auburn, Marshall, Georgia Southern, and Murray State. The Bruins were unable to produce a hit in their last game vs. MSU and were shutout three times in the tournament
Junior Ashley Byers leads the Bruins with a .353 batting average 12 hits, 13 RBI, and a .912 slugging percentage. sophomore Devon Schmidt leads the team from the pitching mound, with a 4.41 ERA in 39.2 innings pitched. She has amassed a 4-5 record in 11 appearances.
Samford
Series: Louisville leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Feb. 15, 2008- The Cards won 3-0 at Samford.
Scouting the Bulldogs: Samford has compiled a 3-11 record on the season, going 1-3 in their last outing at the Magic City Classic. The Bulldogs defeated Alabama State on a one-hit shutout before falling to Lipscomb, Indiana State and Radford.
Samford is led by sophomore Alex Adams, the team's 2010 leader in batting average (.273), slugging percentage (.482), home runs (7) and RBI (26). At the conclusion of the 2010 season the catcher was named to the All-Southern Conference second team as well as the SoCon All-Freshman team.
Cardinal Quick Hits
• Four of the Cards' six losses have come to teams ranked in the top 15: twice to No. 15 Texas and No. 3/7 Alabama.
• Sophomore Jennifer Esteban is a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen bases this season and is currently on streak of 21 perfect attempts dating back to Feb. 28 5-3 win over Northern Illinois.
• Chelsea Bemis is now second on the career RBI list with 153. She needs 21 to tie Courtney Moore's mark of 174.
Up Last
The Cardinals are coming off of a 4-1 showing at last weekend's home-opening Red & Black Tournament. Louisville opened the weekend with three straight shutout wins, defeating SIU Edwardsville 10-0, Boston 5-0 and Wright State 8-0 before falling to Miami (Ohio) 6-5 in eight innings. The Cards closed the weekend with a 10-0 win over Wright State.
Tori Collins Named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week
Junior LHP Tori Collins was named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week and Maggie Ruckenbrod was named to the league honor roll for the period ending Feb. 27.
Collins posted a 3-0 record in the circle for the Cardinals, who went 4-1 last week, while hosting the Red & Black Tournament. The lefty collected three shutouts over three complete game efforts. She sat down 27 batters in 20.2 innings of work, while scattering five hits for a .074 opponent batting average.
Freshman Maggie Ruckenbrod led the Cards to a 4-1 record this week with a .625 batting average (10 for 16). She belted out three doubles, scored a pair of runs and drove in three. Ruckenbrod had two hits in each of Louisville's five games and posted a .647 on-base percentage and a .813 slugging percentage.
