University of Louisville
Creighton
Softball Tops Creighton 8-0
February 24, 2012 | Softball
Feb. 24, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - Senior Tori Collins tossed a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts and sophomore Katie Keller went 3 for 4 with four RBIs as the No. 18/20 University of Louisville softball team defeated Creighton 8-0 in its home opener Friday afternoon at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards are off to a school-record 10-0 start.
"I thought Tori did a great job today," said U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall. "We knew Creighton could hit the ball, they've scored a lot of runs this season, but Tori came out ready and threw well. I thought Creighton's pitchers kept us off balance at first, but we were able to make a few adjustments and seemed to open the floodgates. I'm really proud of our effort today."
The game featured a pitchers' duel through three scoreless innings before the Cards erupted with seven runs in the fourth. Senior Kristin Austin led off the home half of the fourth with a triple. Keller followed with her first home run of the season, a towering shot over the left field fence to put Louisville on the scoreboard. Sophomore Taner Fowler walked and was lifted for pinch-runner Kirsten Straley who moved around to third on Jordan Trimble's base hit. A wild pitch sent Straley home to increase the lead to 3-0. Singles by Alicja Wolny, Hannah Kiyohara and Whitney Arion tacked on three more runs. In her second plate appearance of the inning, Keller connected on a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-0.
Collins retired 11 straight batters with seven strikeouts in the first 3.2 innings before hitting a batter and issuing a walk in the fourth. She went on to strike out the next four and retire the second batter in the sixth before Ellen Homan registered a two-out single in the sixth to break up the no-hitter.
Louisville tallied the final run of the game in the sixth when junior Jennifer Esteban delivered a two-out single, moved to third on Austin's double and came home on Keller's RBI single.
Collins (6-0) notched her second shutout of the season. In addition to Keller's performance, Austin went 3 for 4 with a double, a triple and a run. Wolny was 2 for 2 with an RBI.
Becca Changstrom (3-1) took the loss, allowing four earned runs on four hits and striking out one in 3.0 innings. Brittany Telecky surrendered four earned runs with three strikeouts in 2.2 innings of relief.
Louisville and Creighton (7-1) will meet again in a doubleheader Saturday at noon at Ulmer Stadium.
