Softball Travels to No. 14/16 Kentucky Tuesday
April 20, 2015 | Softball
The University of Louisville softball team (24-14) will travel to Lexington, Ky., for a 6 p.m. matchup against No. 14/16 Kentucky (28-16). The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
Game Day Info: Louisville at Kentucky
Dates: April 21, 2015
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Venue: John Cropp Stadium
Television: SEC Network+ (digital only) Watch Link
Announcers: Dave Baker (play-by-play); Ginny Carroll (analyst)
Gametracker: UKathletics.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLSoftball
Cardinal Quick Hits
? Louisville holds an 18-17 edge in the series, however the Wildcats have won the last four meetings, including a 4-0 decision at Ulmer Stadium on April 1, 2015. ? Senior Kelsi Jones leads the Cardinals with a .386 batting average,15 doubles, 32 runs and 12 stolen bases on the season while sophomore Jordan McNary follows at a .378 clip. Sophomore Maryssa Becker has driven in a team-high 31 RBI and has six home runs on the season. ? Becker (10-5) also leads the Cardinals' pitching staff with a 2.59 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 113.1 innings. Freshman Shelby McCombs (8-4) follows with a 3.27 ERA and 59 Ks in 87.2 innings of work. ? 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. On March 14, Pearsall recorded her 600th win at UofL (also the 600th victory in program history). She is now 613-310 as the Cardinals' head coach.
Cards against Kentucky
Series Record: Louisville leads 18-17
Last Meeting: April 1, 2015, UK won 4-0 at Ulmer Stadium
The teams played through four scoreless innings before the Wildcats broke through with a run in the fifth. A three-run homer in the sixth brought the score to 4-0. The Cards ended the game with runners on second and third, stranding seven while being shutout for only the third time this season.
Scouting the Wildcats: Kentucky enters the matchup with a 28-16 record after losing two of three games with South Carolina this past weekend. The Wildcats are led by Christian Stokes, who has a team-high .342 batting average along with seven home runs and 24 RBIs. Griffin Joiner carries a .322 average and has a team-high eight home runs and 34 RBIs. Sylver Samuel adds 19 stolen bases and a team best 31 runs for the Wildcats. Kelsey Nunley leads the Wildcats with 30 appearances in the circle and has compiled an 11-11 record with a 2.02 ERA while adding five saves. She holds opponents to a .221 average and also has struck out 126 batters LHP Meagan Prince has amassed a 12-5 record with a 3.03 ERA.
NOTE: Louisville third baseman junior Hailey Smith is the sister of former UK infielder Krystal Smith. Hailey Smith is in her first season at Louisville after playing at LSU her freshman and sophomore seasons.
Up Next
Louisville will return to Ulmer Stadium for a three-game ACC series with Boston College April 25-26. The Cardinals will also honor senior Whitney Arion, Brittany Duncan, Kelsi Jones and Kayla Soles in their final home weekend.
Last Up
The Cardinals team fell to host Ole Miss 5-2 in a non-conference game Saturday afternoon at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. The Rebels built a 5-0 lead through three innings of play. Kayla Soles connected on a two-run homer, but the Cards could not overcome the deficit.
A glance at the ACC
Louisville is currently fourth in ACC standings with a 12-5 conference mark. Florida State leads the conference with a 14-3 league record. North Carolina follows at 15-4 and Notre Dame is third at 16-5.
? Louisville has two ACC opponents remaining on the schedule, a three-game set with Boston College (3-12 ACC/ninth place) at Ulmer Stadium and a three-game series with Pittsburgh (10-11 ACC/6th place) at Pitt.
Louisville's most recent ACC series: Florida State (April 11-12)
Louisville 1 - Florida State 0
? Sophomore Maryssa Becker registered a complete-game shutout and junior Brittany Sims delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth as the University of Louisville softball team upset No. 8/10 Florida State 1-0 in the first of a three-game ACC series Saturday evening at Ulmer Stadium.
? Becker struck out two and scattered four hits as she notched her second straight complete-game shutout. Sims went 2 for 3 with an RBI to lead Louisville offensively.
? Lacey Waldrop took the loss, allowing one unearned run on three hits and striking out five in 7.0 innings. Victoria Daddis paced the Seminoles with a 2 for 3 performance at the plate.
Florida State 9 - Louisville 1
? The teams played through two scoreless innings before the Seminoles broke through with two runs in the third - and continued with a run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh as Florida State evened the series with a 9-1 win.
Louisville put up a run in the fifth when Brittany Sims walked and eventually came around to score on an error to make it a 5-1 game. Lacey Waldrop picked up the win, allowing only one hit and striking out six in 4.0 innings of work. Jessica Burroughs held the Cardinals scoreless and struck out four in 3.0 innings of relief to earn the save. Klaevermann and Kossoff each had three hits and two RBIs while Warren went 2 for 4 with four RBIs to lead Florida State offensively.
Shelby McCombs took the loss after giving up seven runs, six earned, on 11 hits and striking out four in 6.1 innings. Madi Norman surrendered two earned runs on three hits in 0.2 innings of relief. Kayla Soles had Louisville's lone hit in the game. Game 3 - rained out
The deciding game between the University of Louisville and No. 8/10 Florida State was cancelled due to heavy rain in the fourth inning. The game will not be made up and the series will remain tied at 1-1 with Louisville winning the first game 1-0 and Florida State taking the second 9-1.
? The Seminoles struck early with a run in the first when Morgan Klaevermann walked, stole second and came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Alex Powers. Trailing 1-0, the Cardinals put two runners on to start the home half of the fourth. Jordan McNary was hit by a pitch and Maryssa Becker drew a walk. Brittany Sims was at the plate with a 3-1 count before heavy rainfall forced the game to be called. It will not count as an official game.
Getting on base
Maryssa Becker has batted in 37 of Louisville's 38 games and has reached safely via a hit or a walk in all but two games - snapping a career-high 32-game on-base streak in the 2-0 loss to Virginia Tech on April 4.
Kelsi Jones recently ended a 20-game on-base streak while Whitney Arion had a 16-game on-base streak end on April 3. Kayla Soles has reached in last 13 games.
Hitting for average
The Cardinals are batting .321 as a team with 10 players hitting.300 or above. Kelsi Jones leads the team with a .386 batting average while Jordan McNary follows at .374.
Fountain of youth
The graduation of six senior multi-year starters including two All-Americans 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 24 home runs. She needs one more to tie Sara Bausher (2002-05) for ninth place. Courtney Moore (2004-07) holds the record with 42 home runs.
? Arion also recently moved to eighth on UofL's career RBI list with 131. She needs nine more to tie Keola Calderon (2000-03) for seventh place. Chelsea Bemis (2008-11) holds the career RBI record with 191.
? In the March 19 game against Miami, Arion made her 200th career start - the most of any player on the team. She now has 215 career starts and needs four more to move into the school's top 10.
Becker registers 200th career strikeout - moves into career top 10
Sophomore Maryssa Becker registered her 200th career strikeout in the 7-5 win over Virginia on March 15.
? She is currently ranked eighth on Louisville's list of career strikeout leaders with 247. Kristen Wadwell (2007-10) holds the school record with 696.
Arion Reaches Century Mark in Runs
Senior Whitney Arion's solo home run in the 7-5 win over Virginia produced her 100th career run. She currently has 111 in her career, needing six more to move into a three-way tie with Sara Bausher (2002-05) and Alicja Wolny (2010-13) for 10th on UofL's all-time list.
Louisville/Sandy Pearsall Reach 600 wins
The 5-0 win over Virginia on March 14 marked the 600th win in Louisville softball program history. It was also head coach Sandy Pearsall's 600th victory since starting the program in 2000. Under her watch, Louisville has won six conference championships, made 11 consecutive NCAA regional appearances and served as a host site in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Cards picked to finish fifth in ACC preseason voting
Louisville was picked to finish fifth in the ACC 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.
2015 ACC Preseason Coaches Poll
Team 1. Florida State
2. Notre Dame
3. NC State
4. Virginia Tech
5. Louisville
6. North Carolina
7. Syracuse
8. Georgia Tech
9. Boston College
10. Pittsburgh
11. Virginia
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 carried two of the Cardinals' games against 2014 Women's College World Series participant Florida State when the Seminoles visit Ulmer Stadium April 12 and 13.
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 marks 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.
? In 2014, the Cardinals competed in their lone season in the inaugural season of the American Athletic Conference.
? 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.
? 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;*AAC Inaugural conference season; % C-USA's inaugural softball season
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.
