Softball Set to Play Host to Indiana
April 05, 2011 | Softball
April 5, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The University of Louisville softball team will wrap up a four-game homestand with a midweek matchup against Indiana Wednesday at 5:30 at Ulmer Stadium.
About Louisville
The Cardinals (26-10, 5-1) are currently on a season-high seven game win streak and have won nine of their past 10 games. Louisville is led offensively by sophomore first baseman Alicja Wolny who is batting .385 and has a team-best 35 RBIs. Sophomore Jennifer Esteban follows at .376 with 33 runs, four triples and 14 stolen bases. Senior third baseman Chelsea Bemis rounds out the top three hitters with a .362 average and five home runs on the season.
Freshman Caralisa Connell (13-4) carries a 2.37 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 117.0 innings of work. She has won the past seven games for the Cardinals. 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
Indiana
Record: Louisville leads 10-2
Last Meeting: The Cardinals 11-0 game on March 24, 2010 in Bloomington.
Scouting the Hoosiers: Indiana has compiled a 20-14 regular season record along with a 2-2 record in Big Ten play. Last weekend, the Hoosiers defeated third-ranked Michigan 5-4 in eight innings.
Indiana is led by senior pitcher Morgan Melloh, who was named to the Top-50 Watch List for the 2011 USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year. Melloh is currently the national leader in strikeouts with 278 on the season. She has an ERA of 2.16 through 181.2 innings pitched with only 119 hits and 88 walks.
Also leading the Hoosiers is senior Sara Olson who is batting .357 on the season with a team-leading 35 hits, seven home runs and 26 RBIs.
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 14-for-14 in stolen bases this season and is currently on a streak of 27 perfect attempts dating back to the Feb. 28, 2010 win over Northern Illinois.
• Senior Chelsea Bemis is second on the career RBI list with 169. She needs five more to tie Courtney Moore's mark of 174.
Keller and Connell Named to BIG EAST honor roll
Freshman second baseman Katie Keller led Cards at the plate, batting .500 (7-for-14) on the week with two home runs and a double and a stolen base. She scored nine runs and drove in 10 - including a five RBI performance in the 9-3 win over Seton Hall. Keller posted a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .563 on-base percentage.
Freshman pitcher Caralisa Connell pitched every inning and posted all five wins as the Cards went 5-0 on the week. She posted a 1.35 ERA with 26 strikeouts - including a career-high 10 Ks in the 9-3 win over Seton Hall. Connell scattered 20 hits in 31 innings, holding opponents to a .190 batting average. She has now won seven consecutive games dating back to March 26.
Up Last for Louisville
Louisville is coming off a 5-0 performance on the week. The Cards swept host DePaul 2-1 and 13-2 in a midweek, non-conference doubleheader Wednesday. They returned to Ulmer Stadium to sweep a three-game BIG EAST series against Seton Hall. U of L took both games of Saturday's twinbill 7-2 and 10-2, and won Sunday's single game 9-3.
Up Next...
U of L will go on the road for a three-game BIG EAST series at Pittsburgh this weekend.
On a hot streak
The Cardinals are in the midst of a season-high seven-game winning steak dating back to the March 26 5-3 win over Villanova - they have also won nine of their last 10 games. The team has hit .356 and outscored opponents 58-18 in the past seven games.
A pair of freshman have led the current offensive charge during the streak. Right fielder Hannah Kiyohara has batted .476 (10-for-21) with seven runs and 10. Second baseman Katie Keller is right behind her at .474 (12-for-26) with 14 RBIs and 11 runs.
Freshman Caralisa Connell has posted a 7-0 record with a 1.24 ERA, 33 strikeouts and a .209 opponent batting average while pitching every inning during that stretch.
Walk this way
Senior Chelsea Bemis now holds the record for career walks with 103. 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.
Hitting for average - underclassmen stepping up to the plate
Louisville is batting .322 as a team with seven active players batting at, or above .300. Alicja Wolny leads the way at .385. Jennifer Esteban follows at . 376 and Chelsea Bemis is batting .362. Hannah Kiyohara (.348), Colby Wherry (.343), Maggie Ruckenbrod (.339) and Katie Keller (.330) complete the .300 lineup.
Five of the Cards' top seven hitters are underclassmen Ruckenbrod, Kiyohara and Keller are freshmen while Wolny and Esteban are sophomores. Sophomore Jordan Trimble was also batting .410 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.
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 204 and is sixth on the all-time hits list. She needs 19 more to tie Lacy Wood for fifth (223). Audrey Rendon holds the school record with 283.
