Saturday's Softball Doubleheader Moved to 4 p.m.
March 13, 2015 | Softball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Due to rain in the Louisville area, first game of the softball doubleheader between the University of Louisville and Virginia at Ulmer Stadium has been changed to 4 p.m. ET.
The University of Louisville softball team will play host to Virginia (5-18, 1-5 ACC) in its first ACC home series this weekend at Ulmer Stadium. The teams will meet in a doubleheader on Saturday starting 4 p.m. and will conclude the three-game series Sunday at 12 p.m. Admission is free.
Cardinal Quick Hits
? The Cardinals enter the weekend with a 10-7 overall record and a 3-0 mark in ACC play.
? Louisville was slated to travel to Miami (Ohio) for a midweek game on March 11, but snow and rain in the Oxford area produced unplayable field conditions, forcing the matchup to be postponed until March 19 at 4 p.m.
? The Cardinals are coming off of a 2-2 showing at the Louisville Softball Classic. Louisville fell 11-0 to Northwestern in their opening game and rebounded with back-to-back eight-run rule wins against Ball State and Illinois State before falling 4-3 in eight innings to the Redbirds Monday afternoon.
? Sophomore Jordan McNary leads Louisville offensively with a .471 batting average. Sophomore Maryssa Becker follows at .438 with a team-best four home runs and 13 RBIs. Senior Whitney Arion has scored a team-leading 15 runs.
? Freshman Shelby McCombs (3-2) carries a team-best 2.20 ERA with 19 strikeouts and is holding opponents to a .238 batting average in 35.0 innings. Sophomore Maryssa Becker (2-1) follows with a 2.87 ERA and 42 Ks in 39.0 innings.
? Sandy Pearsall is in her 16th season as UofL's head coach. After building the program from scratch in 2000, Pearsall has guided the Cardinals to six conference championships. Under her watch, Louisville has made 11 consecutive NCAA regional appearances and served as a host site in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Weekend Promotions
Saturday March 14 (DH) 4/6 p.m.- `Bring your dog to the Park (berm); Postgame Autograph session (after game two); $1 hot dogs; Louisville Slugger mini-bats to the first 100 fans
Sunday, March 15 - (Single game) 12 p.m. - Louisville scarves to first 200 fans; Poster/keychain giveaway.
Cards versus Virginia
Series Record: Louisville leads 3-2
Last Meeting: Feb. 17, 2012 - Louisville won 2-1 at the East Carolina Pirate Clash. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Katie Keller hit a game-winning double to propel the Cards to the victory.
Scouting the Cavaliers: Virginia comes into the weekend with a 5-18 record after splitting a doubleheader with George Mason on Wednesday. The Cavaliers hold a 1-5 record in conference play with their lone win coming at Pittsburgh in a 12 inning marathon.
? Sophomore infielder Kaitlin Fitzgerald leads the Cavaliers offensively with a .375 batting average and a team-high 21 RBIs. Freshman utility player Allison Davis adds a .311 average along with a team-high five home runs and 22 runs scored.
? Freshman first baseman Danni Ingraham has also hit five home runs for the Cavaliers this season. Freshman pitcher Andie Formby leads the Cavs in the circle with a 4-9 record and boasts a 4.67 ERA.
Up Next: The Cardinals will travel to Ohio for their spring break week. They will open play in Columbus with a doubleheader at Ohio State on March 18 and will continue to Oxford for a rescheduled single game against Miami (Ohio) on March 19.
Recapping Louisville Softball Classic
After a winter storm dumped eight inches of snow on Ulmer Stadium, the first two days of the Louisville Softball Classic were cancelled. The schedule was readjusted to span Sunday and Monday resulting in a 2-2 showing for the Cardinals.
Louisville fell 11-0 to Northwestern in its home opener, but rebounded to beat Ball State 8-0 in Sunday's final game. UofL's offense carried over to Monday with a 10-2 win over Illinois State, but the Cards stumbled in the nightcap of the doubleheader with a 4-3 loss in eight innings.
Highlights from the Louisville Softball Classic
? Sophomore Jordan McNary posted a .545 batting average (6 for 11) with three runs, two RBIs and a stolen base while starting all four games on the weekend in left field.
? Freshman Alison Szydlowski registered her first career starts in the last three games of the Louisville Softball Classic. The catcher registered a .556 batting average (5 for 9) with at least one hit in each game and tallied four RBIs.
? Junior Brittany Sims continued her offensive output, pushing her hitting streak to 11 games. She posted a . 455 average over the weekend (5 for 11) with a double, a home run, four runs and three RBIs.
? Senior Kayla Soles connected on her first career grand slam to break the game open in the 10-2 win over Illinois State. With the score knotted at 2-2 in the second, Maryssa Becker was intentionally walked to load the bases for Soles who sent a 1-0 count to the (brand new) scoreboard in left field to give the Cards a 6-2 lead.
? Freshman Shelby McCombs led the Cardinals in the circle with 1-1 record and a 0.70 ERA and seven strikeouts. She limited opponents to a .188 batting average and did not issue a walk in 10.0 innings.
Louisville/Pearsall nearing 600 wins
Sandy Pearsall currently has 599 wins as Louisville softball's only head coach. Since starting the program in 2000, she has guided the Cardinals to six conference championships. Under her watch, Louisville has made 11 consecutive NCAA regional appearances and served as a host site in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Power surge
The Cardinals entered their first conference weekend with six home runs through their first 10 games. They have connected on nine home runs in their last seven games. The Cards now have 15 round-trippers through 17 games. Maryssa Becker leads the team with four while Whitney Arion and Brittany Sims follow closely with three apiece.
Getting on base
Maryssa Becker has batted in 16 of Louisville's 17 games and has reached safely via a hit or a walk in all 16 games she has played. Whitney Arion recently snapped her own 16 game on-base streak in the 4-3 loss to Illinois State on March 9. Junior Brittany Sims currently holds an 11-game on-base streak.
Hitting for average
The Cardinals are batting .320 as a team with eight players registering an average of .300 or above. Jordan McNary carries a .471 average while Maryssa Becker follows at .438. After playing in eight games with six starts, Tiarra Sanabria is hitting .412 on the season. Kelsi Jones is batting .364 while Hailey Smith (.351) and Brittany Sims (.333) round out the starters batting above .300.
Fountain of youth
The graduation of six senior multi-year starters from last year's team has left the Cardinals with some big shoes to fill. The Cardinals' most recent starting lineup featured six underclassmen on the field with two of the three active pitchers being freshmen - the other is a sophomore.
Arion climbing record books
Senior shortstop Whitney Arion is currently 10th on the school's career list with 23 home runs. She needs two more to tie Sara Bausher (2002-05) for ninth place. Courtney Moore (2004-07) holds the record with 42 home runs.
? Arion also recently took over 10th place on UofL's career RBI list with 116. She needs two more to tie Kristi Cunningham (2006-09) who currently stands in ninth place. Chelsea Bemis (2008-11) holds the career RBI record with 191.
Smith leads Cards in ACC-opening series
Hailey Smith helped lead the Cardinals to a three-game sweep of Georgia Tech in both teams' conference opening weekend. The junior posted a team-best .500 batting average (4 for 8), with four runs and five RBIs on the week. She had at least one hit and one RBI in each game including a two-run homer in the 6-1 win over the Yellow Jackets. Additionally, she earned four walks - at least one in each game - to help a register a .667 on-base percentage in the series. The third baseman also played flawless defense with a 1.000 fielding percentage on the weekend.
Cards picked to finish fifth in ACC preseason voting
The University of Louisville softball team has been picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season as voted by the league's 11 head coaches. Defending regular season and tournament champion Florida State was picked to win the title.
Team Pts (1st place votes) 2014 Record (Conference)
1. Florida State 100 (10) 55-9 (24-3)
2. Notre Dame 88 (1) 41-13 (16-5)
3. NC State 82 36-18 (16-8)
4. Virginia Tech 69 36-23 (19-9)
5. Louisville 68 36-22 (14-7)
6. North Carolina 56 24-26 (14-11)
7. Syracuse 44 24-25 (12-12)
8. Georgia Tech 33 23-24 (11-17)
9. Boston College 32 30-23 (12-14)
10. Pittsburgh 17 15-29 (6-18)
11. Virginia 16 8-43 (1-25)
Louisville softball broadcast schedule
The University of Louisville softball team will have 11 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season games televised on the ESPN family of networks as announced by ESPN Tuesday. ESPNU will carry two of the Cardinals' games against 2014 Women's College World Series participant Florida State when the Seminoles visit Ulmer Stadium April 12 at 7 p.m. and April 13 at 7 p.m.
? Additionally, Louisville will appear on ESPN3 nine times during the regular season. The Cardinals will kick off their ESPN3 coverage March 21 and 22 when they host North Carolina in a three-game series. Louisville's ESPN3 slate continues on the road with all three games at Virginia Tech being shown on April 3 and 4. The Cardinals will conclude their regular season coverage April 25 and 26 when Boston College visits Ulmer Stadium in their final home weekend series.
? The remainder of Louisville's home games will be streamed on CardsTV through GoCards.com.
Louisville Softball on ESPN Networks
March 21- 12 p.m. - North Carolina (ESPN3)
March 21 - 2:30 p.m. - North Carolina (ESPN3)
March 22 - 12 p.m. - North Carolina (ESPN3)
April 3 - 7 p.m. - @ Virginia Tech (ESPN3)
April 4 - 12 p.m. - @ Virginia Tech (ESPN3)
April 4 - 2 p.m. - @ Virginia Tech (ESPN3)
April 12 - 7 p.m. - Florida State (ESPNU)
April 13 - 7 p.m. - Florida State (ESPNU)
April 25 - 12 p.m. - Boston College (ESPN3)
April 25- 2:30 p.m. - Boston College (ESPN3)
April 26- 12 p.m. - Boston College (ESPN3)
New neighborhood, familiar faces
The 2015 season will mark Louisville softball's debut in the Atlantic Coast Conference. While the Cardinals will be facing some new opponents, they will also be encountering some familiar foes in Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse - all of whom played in the BIG EAST Conference prior to joining the ACC.
? Louisville was a member of the BIG EAST Conference from 2006-2013, and won two regular season titles and two conference tournaments during that time.
? Prior to moving to the BIG EAST, the Cardinals spent six seasons in Conference USA where they won 2005 regular season title. UofL was one of seven teams to play in the league's first season of softball.
? In 2014, the Cardinals competed in their lone season in the inaugural season of the American Athletic Conference.
? The following is a breakdown of the Cards' inaugural conference seasons.
Conference First season UofL Conference RecordAmerican* 2014 14-7 (Finished 3rd regular season, won tournament title)BIG EAST 2006 19-3 (Regular season Champion)Conference USA* 2000 8-8^ (Finished 4th- regular season)^UofL's first softball program;*First season in a newly-formed conference
Cards solid in classroom
The University of Louisville softball team worked hard off the field in the 2014-15 fall semester. As a team, the Cards posted a 3.34 GPA in the fall semester. Additionally, 17 players were named to the Athletic Director's honor roll after posting a 3.0 GPA or higher.
The following players were named to the 2014-15 Athletic Director's honor roll for the fall semester: Whitney Arion, Maryssa Becker, Sydney Benz, Kristina Dillard, Brittany Duncan, Bridgette Flaherty, Kelsi Jones, Autumn McDuffie, Sidney Melton, Morgan Meyer, Madi Norman, Nicole Pufahl, Brittany Sims, Hailey Smith, Kayla Soles, Alison Szydlowski and Hannah Tow.
