No. 14/15 Softball Travels to Western Kentucky Wednesday
March 13, 2012 | Softball
The No. 14/15 ranked University of Louisville softball team will travel to Bowling Green, Ky. to face in-state rival Western Kentucky Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The Cardinals (20-0) are coming off of a 5-0 performance in the Red & Black Tournament this weekend. The tournament concluded Monday afternoon, leaving a one day turnaround heading into Wednesday's contest.
About Louisville
Louisville extended its season-opening win streak to 20 games with a 5-0 performance in the Red & Black Tournament. The Cards picked up a pair of 9-0 wins over Saint Louis, a 2-1 upset of then-No. 14/14 Michigan and closed the tournament with an 8-2, 8-0 sweep of Illinois State.
As a team, the Cardinals are hitting .337 and have outscored opponents 120-25 through the first 20 games of the season. Senior outfielder Kristin Austin leads the team with a .492 batting average, six triples and 21 runs. Junior Alicja Wolny follows at .491 with three homers and 12 RBIs. Sophomore Taner Fowler follows closely at .422 with a team-best five homers and 19 RBI.
The Cardinal pitching staff of Tori Collins (9-0), Chelsea Leonard (5-0)and Caralisa Connell (6-0) have combined for a 1.12 ERA and are holding opponents to a .154 batting average with 10 shutouts and 173 strikeouts in 131.1 innings of work. Senior Tori Collins carries a 1.37 ERA with 89Ks in 61.1 innings.
Note Cards
• U of L is one of five undefeated Division I teams in the nation. The other four teams include: Louisana-Lafayette (22-0), California (21-0), Alabama (21-0 and Hawaii (21-0).
• Senior Kristin Austin leads the nation with six triples.
• Louisville has featured a young lineup this season with four freshmen and four sophomores in the lineup at times.
• Head Coach Sandy Pearsall is in her 13th season as the head coach of the University of Louisville softball program. After building the program from scratch in 2000, Pearsall has guided the Cardinals to three conference championships, eight consecutive NCAA regional appearances including serving as a host site in 2009 and 2011.
Western Kentucky
Series Record: UL leads 10-3
Last Meeting: March 12-13, 2011 - The Cards won 3-2 on March 12, 2011 and 6-2 on March 13 at Ulmer Stadium
Scouting the Lady Toppers: WKU enters Wednesday's game with a 17-7 overall record. The Lady Toppers are coming off of a 2-2 showing at the Florida Atlantic Embassy Suites Tournament March 9-10. After beating Providence 5-1, the Lady Toppers suffered back-to-back losses including a 1-0, nine inning setback to Minnesota and a 4-2 loss to Boston College before rebounding iwth a 9-3 victory over Florida Atlantic.
Mallorie Sulaski carries a team-leading .322 batting average while Amanda Thomas has cranked out six home runs and 24 RBI to lead Western. The Cards batter will likely be tested by Olivia Watkins, who has 11 stolen bases on the season.
Kim Wagner (8-2) holds a 1.85 ERA with 71 strikeouts in 68.0 innings while Emily Rousseau (8-3) carries a 2.01 ERA with 63 Ks in 66.1 innings of work.
On Deck
Louisville will go back on the road for its final non-conference tournament when the Cards travel to Sacramento, Calif., for the the Capital Classic March 16-18. The tournament field includes: Colorado State, Princeton, Akron and Sacramento State.
Wolny selected to BIG EAST honor roll
Alicja Wolny was selected to the BIG EAST honor roll on March 12 after helping lead the Cards to a 3-0 performance on the weekend in the Red & Black Tournament (through Sunday's games). The junior first baseman batted. 571 (4 for 7) with a home run, a double, three RBIs and three runs. She had at least one hit in each game and posted a 1.143 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage.
Cards move up to No. 14/15 in Coaches' Polls
The Cardinals moved up two spots to No. 14 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association rankings - matching the school's highest ranking which was attained on March 24, 2010. This marks their sixth week in the 2012 NFCA polls. Their preseason ranking of 24th was the Cards' first appearance in the top 25 since April 13, 2010 when they were ranked 25th. The Cards subsequently moved up each week. Louisville reached its highest ranking at No. 14 in the NFCA poll on March 24, 2010 and spent several weeks in the top 25 in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 and was receiving votes in 2011.
U of L is also ranked No. 15 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball moving up two spots from last week's No. 17 showing. This is Louisville's fifth week in the USA Softball top 25 after debuting at No 23 on Feb. 14 and moving up each week. Louisville reached a program-best 14th in the ESPN.com/USA on March 1, 2010. They were also ranked in the top 25 in the 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Cards in the national standings
The most recent national statistical ranking were released on March 11 and the Cardinals are among the nation's leaders in several categories, including tied for first in win/loss percentage as one of five undefeated teams in the nation. The other four teams include: Louisana-Lafayette (22-0), California (21-0), Alabama (21-0 and Hawaii (21-0). Louisville also leads the nation in triples per game with 10 total triples (0.63 per game).
• Senior Kristin Austin leads the nation with six triples and 037 triples per game. She is also ranked fifth with a .492 batting average.
• The Cards are ranked ninth with a 1.11 ERA and 12th with a .344 team batting average.
Recapping last weekend
Louisville is coming off of a 5-0 performance in the Red & Black Tournament and outscored opponents 36-3 with a pair of 9-0 wins over Saint Louis, a 2-1 upset of No. 14 Michigan and a doubleheader sweep of Illinois State (8-2 and 8-0).
Tennessee Matchup Rescheduled for May 2
The Cardinals were slated to play No. 9 Tennessee in the Tennessee Classic on March 3, but inclement weather in the area forced the tournament schedule to be altered. A make-up game has been scheduled for May 2 at 6 p.m. in Knoxville.
Austin-tatious offense
Senior outfielder Kristin Austin is having a career-best season with a .492 batting average, 21 runs, six triples and four stolen bases. The speedy slap hitter reached safely via a hit or a walk in the past 15 games and in 19 of the Cards' 20 games this season. She has scored at least one run in 14 of the past 15 games.
The `S' word
The Cardinals have opened the 2012 season on a 20 game win streak. Not only is it the best start in program history, it also set a new school record, surpassing the 17 game streak the 2006 team put together from April 22-May 13.
Bombs away
The Cardinals have hit 21 home runs through their first 20 games of the season with nine players connecting on roundtrippers. Sophomore Taner Fowler leads the team with five homers, while junior Alicja Wolny, sophomore Katie Keller and freshman Whitney Arion have three apiece. Sophomores Jordan Trimble and Hannah Kiyohara and Kayla Soles have one apiece. Sophomore Maggie Ruckenbrod belted out three home runs in her first four games before being sidelined by injury.
Stingy pitching
The Cardinal pitching staff of senior Tori Collins and sophomores Chelsea Leonard and Caralisa Connell have shut out eight of the Cards' last 11 opponents. During that stretch, they have scattered four runs in the last 67 innings for a 0.42 ERA. The trio has notched a pair of one-hitters (Collins and Leonard) and a no-hitter (Connell) and combined scatter a total of 34 hits (.143 batting average) and register 89 strikeouts.
Consistent Katie
Sophomore second baseman Katie Keller recently snapped a season-high11 game hitting streak and is tied for the Cards' leading RBI producer with 19. As a freshman in 2011, Keller tied the school record with a 16-game hitting streak.
Maggie's on the mend
In the March 12, 8-2 win over Illinois State, sophomore Maggie Ruckenbrod took her first at-bat (resulting in a groundout) since Feb. 11 when she was sidelined by a hand injury in the win over FIU. Prior to that, the sophomore opened the season on an offensive tear, registering a .417 batting average, three home runs, seven RBI and five hits through the first four games of the season.
Defensively, Ruckenbrod had already thrown out four base stealers and picked off one runner. Last season, she led the league and set a new school record with 10 pickoffs on the season.
Taner's taking over
Taner Fowler has taken over at catcher in Ruckenbrod's absence and has turned in a solid performance. After serving playing catcher and designated player last season, Fowler opened 2012 as the Cards' designated player and also saw some time at first base before becoming the regular starter behind the plate for the last 11 games.
Fowler is having a career- best season, batting .422 with a team-best five home runs - surpassing last year's total of four - and is tied for the team lead with 19 RBIs.
