Softball Travels to No. 16/20 Kentucky
April 19, 2011 | Softball
April 19, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The University of Louisville softball team will take a break from BIG EAST Conference play when it travels to No. 16/20 Kentucky for a single game Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Following Wednesday's game, the Cards will return to Ulmer Stadium for a three-game series against Providence starting with a single game Thursday at 5 p.m. Louisville will wrap up regular season home play and celebrate senior day with a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m.
About Louisville
The Cardinals (32-13, 10-4 BIG EAST) is led offensively by freshman rightfielder Hannah Kiyohara, who is batting .387 with 17 runs and 18 RBIs. Senior shortstop Colby Wherry follows at .370 with 19 runs, five home runs and 22 RBIs. Senior third baseman Chelsea Bemis rounds out the top three hitters at .368 with a team-best eight home runs and 37 RBIs.
Freshman Caralisa Connell (18-6) carries a 2.38 ERA with 138 strikeouts in 170.1 innings of work. Junior LHP Tori Collins (12-6) carries a 2.43 ERA with 118 strikeouts in 118.0 innings and is holding opponents to a .206 batting average.
Cards Against the Field
No. 16/20 Kentucky
Series Record: Louisville leads 14-12
Last Meeting: March 23, 2011 - Junior Tori Collins struck out nine batters en route to a complete game shutout while Alicja Wolny and Maggie Ruckenbrod finished 2-for-2 to lead the Cards to a 6-0 victory over the University of Kentucky at Ulmer Stadium.
Scouting the Wildcats: Kentucky has compiled a 31-10 record on the season, marking their third consecutive season with 30 or more wins. They are coming off of a doubleheader sweep of Tennessee Tech, winning 9-0 in the opening game and 4-3 on a walk-off homerun in 10 innings in the nightcap.
The Wildcats are led at the plate by senior Meagan Aull who has posted a .381 batting average on the season. Collectively, Kentucky is batting .303 and have seven individuals batting above .300. Aull also leads the team with 53 hits. Junior Brittany Cervantes leads the team in slugging with a .793 percentage and 13 homeruns and 44 RBIs.
Junior Chanda Bell continues to pace UK on the mound with a 1.86 ERA. She has registered an 11-5 record while only giving up 57 hits and striking out 176 batters.
Providence
Series Record: Louisville leads the series 9-0
Last Meeting: The Cards swept the Friars in a three-game series in Providence last April. Louisville won 9-2, 10-1 and 3-0.
Scouting the Friars: Providence has recorded an 18-25 regular season record and a 4-10 BIG EAST record. They are coming off of a 1-2 weekend against conference for Rutgers. The Friars won the last game 14-11 on a two-homerun effort by sophomore Jessie Bryant.
Providence is paced by junior Jen Abrams who is batting .333 on the year. Abrams is the team leader in hits (47) and doubles (6). Bryant leads the team with 11 home runs on the season, including a grand slam to lift the Friars over Rutgers in their last outing.
On the mound they are led by junior Alicia Grosso with a 3.70 ERA in 128.2 innings pitched. Grosso has a 10-14 record and has notched 55 strikeouts on the year.
Card Notes
• The Cards' 12 game winning streak (spanning March 26-April 13) was the fourth longest in school history. The 2006 team holds the record of 17 games (April 22-May 13, 2006).
• Six of Louisville's 13 losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top 5: twice to No. 1 Michigan, twice to No. 4 Alabama and twice to No. 5 Texas.
• Sophomore Jennifer Esteban is a perfect 17-for-17 in stolen bases this season and is currently on a streak of30 perfect attempts dating back to the Feb. 28, 2010 win over Northern Illinois.
Cards receiving votes coaches polls
For the third week in a row, the Cardinals are receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball coaches polls.
Up Last for Louisville
The Cardinals are coming off a three-game BIG EAST series at No. 24 Notre Dame. The Irish took the first two games 8-5 and 4-3 and Louisville won the third game 9-6 to snap Notre Dame's 14 game winning streak. In game one, Lauren Stuhr's two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh gave the Irish an 8-5 win in a game that featured four home runs, five lead changes and a tie. In game two, the teams again traded leads three times before Notre Dame prevailed 4-3. The final game of the series saw the Cardinals rally from a 6-0 deficit with nine runs in the sixth to win 9-6.
Up Next...
U of L will wrap up the home season with a three-game series against Providence. The teams will play a single game Thursday at 5 p.m. and will celebrate senior day in between games of Saturday's doubleheader.
Bemis owns career RBI record
On April 16, senior Chelsea Bemis delivered a sacrifice fly in the 8-5 loss to No. 24 Notre Dame to become the school's sole career RBI leader at 175 - she surpassed Courtney Moore's (2004-07) mark of 174.
Walk this way
Senior Chelsea Bemis now holds the record for career walks with 105. She drew a walk in the April 3, 9-3 win over Seton Hall to give her 103, surpassing Courtney Moore's previous mark of 102 which has stood since the 2007 season.
Wherry joins the 200 Hits Club
On April 10, Colby Wherry had a pair of hits in the 10-3 win over Pittsburgh to earn her 200th career hit. She becomes the seventh player in program history to record 200 hits. She currently has 208 and is seventh on the all-time hits list - eight behind teammate Chelsea Bemis.
Ruckenbrod throwing down
Freshman catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod picked off two runners in the first game of the Pitt doubleheader. She now has 10 on the season and owns the single game, season and career records for runners picked off.
Hitting for average - underclassmen stepping up to the plate
Louisville is batting .323 as a team with seven active players batting at, or above .300. Hannah Kiyohara leads the way at .387. Colby Wherry follows at .370 and Chelsea Bemis is right behind her at .360 with Alicja Wolny following closely at .366. Jennifer Esteban (.357), Katie Keller (.344) annd Maggie Ruckenbrod (.302) complete the .300 lineup.
Five of the Cards' top seven hitters are underclassmen Kiyohara, Keller and Ruckenbrod, are freshmen while Wolny and Esteban are sophomores. Sophomore Jordan Trimble was also batting .410 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.
Senior leadership...
This year's senior class, Chelsea Bemis, Christina Roesel and Colby Wherry will be honored following Saturday's 11 a.m. game against Providence. As a class, they have compiled 152 wins, been to three-straight NCAA tournaments, and were ranked in the top 25 the past two seasons.
Captains Chelsea Bemis and Colby Wherry comprise the left side of the infield at third base and shortstop respectively. Both are four-year starters and have turned in solid performance both offensively and defensively this season. Wherryy is currently batting ..370 with 19 runs and 22 RBIs. Bemis carries a .368 average with a team-leading eight home runs, 17 doubles and 37 RBIs.
Both Bemis and Wherry will leave their marks in the Cardinal record books. They are currently tied for 8th in career games started at 218 each. They are also in the top 10 in several offensive categories including hits, doubles, RBIs and walks.
Bemis a Member of the 200 Hits Club
On March 30, Chelsea Bemis blasted solo home run in the 13-2 win over DePaul to notch her 200th career hit, becoming the sixth player in program history to record 200 hits. She currently has 216 and is sixth on the all-time hits list. She needs seven more to tie Lacy Wood for fifth (223). Audrey Rendon holds the school record with 283.
Cards in NCAA Standings
The Louisville softball team is among the top performers in the nation in several categories including: doubles per game, batting average and fielding percentage. Senior Chelsea Bemis, junior Tori Collins are also ranked in the top 25 in the latest NCAA stats released on April 19.
As team the Cardinals are 19th with 1.58 doubles per game, 22nd in team batting average (.323) and 20th in fielding percentage (.973). Collins is ranked 20th in the nation with three saves and 24th with seven shutouts. Bemis stands in at No. 15 with 0.38 doubles per game (17/45).
