Weekend Softball Schedule Altered
April 23, 2015 | Softball
Complete game notes vs Boston College 
Due to extensive rain in the forecast for Saturday, the weekend softball series between the University of Louisville (25-14, 12-5 ACC) and Boston College (20-19, 3-12 ACC)has been altered. The teams will play a single game Friday at 7 p.m. and will meet in a doubleheader at 12 p.m. Sunday at Ulmer Stadium. Admission is free.
The series was originally scheduled to play a doubleheader at 12 p.m. Saturday and a single game Sunday at 12 p.m.
Prior to Sunday's first game, Louisville will honor seniors Whitney Arion, Brittany Duncan, Kelsi Jones and Kayla Soles. The Cardinals will also hold their annual `Pink Day' Sunday in support of breast cancer awareness. The team will wear special pink uniforms and a silent auction will be held to raise money for cancer survivors for the Live Strong Foundation through the Louisville YMCA.
Series Info: Boston College at Louisville
Dates:April 24 (single game) 7 p.m.
April 26 (DH) 12 p.m./2:30 p.m.(Pink Game and Senior Day)
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Venue: Ulmer Stadium
Television: ESPN3
Announcers: Paul Najjar (play-by-play); Patty Norton (analyst)
Gametracker: GoCards.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLSoftball
Cardinal Quick Hits
• The University of Louisville softball team (25-14) will play host to Boston College in a three-game ACC series at Ulmer Stadium. The Cardinals will hold their "Pink Day" in support of cancer awareness and honor seniors Whitney Arion, Brittany Duncan, Kelsi Jones and Kayla Soles prior to Sunday's doubleheader.
• Senior Kelsi Jones leads the Cardinals with a .385 batting average,16 doubles, 33 runs and 12 stolen bases on the season while sophomore Jordan McNary follows at a .383 clip. Sophomore Maryssa Becker has driven in a team-high 34 RBI and has seven home runs on the season.
• Becker (11-5) also leads the Cardinals' pitching staff with a 2.46 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 119.1 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 614-310 as the Cardinals' head coach.
Cards against Boston College
Series Record: First meeting
Scouting the Eagles: Boston College enters the weekend with a 20-19 overall record and stand ninth in the ACC with a 3-12 mark in conference play. The Eagles bring a four-game winning streak into the weekend and are coming off of a 5-0 midweek win over Connecticut. In their last ACC series, the Eagles took two of three games from Georgia Tech. • Annie Murphy leads the team with a .313 batting average and has 19 stolen bases on the season. Tatiana Cortez has belted out a team-best six home runs and produced 27 RBIs. Allyson Frei (14-12) carries a 3.20 ERA with 167 strikeouts in 153.1 innings of work.
Up Next:
Louisville will play host to in-state rival Western Kentucky in their final home game of the season Wednesday, April 29 at 6 p.m.
Last Up:
Maryssa Becker tossed a one-hit shutout and added a two-run homer to lead the University of Louisville softball team defeat No. 17/19 Kentucky in six innings Tuesday evening at John Cropp Stadium. • Becker put on a dominating performance in the circle to register her fourth complete game shutout of the season. The sophomore issued eight strikeouts in six innings and allowed only one hit - to the first batter of the game - she went on to retire 18 of the next 20 batters she faced. After a walk and a fielder's choice in the third inning, she retired 11 straight batters to end the game. She also helped her cause by going 2 for 2 at the plate with three RBIs on the night. • The Cardinals outhit the Wildcats 10-1 in the game and handed Kentucky its first eight-run rule loss of the season. The win also snaps Louisville's four-game losing streak to its in-state rival and moves the Cards' overall lead in the series to 19-17.
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.
Soggy season
The Cardinals have had eight games cancelled due to weather this season. The following is a list of weather-impacted games. • The entire Eastern Kentucky Invitational (four games: Kent State-twice; Western Michigan, Eastern Kentucky (Feb. 21-22) • The second game of the DePaul doubleheader (April 8) • The third game of the Florida State series (April 13) • Two games in the series against Ole Miss (April 17 and 19)
Getting on base
Maryssa Becker has batted in 38 of Louisville's 39 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 14 games.
Hitting for average
The Cardinals are batting .323 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.
Balance of power
Louisville has belted out 34 home runs through 38 games this season. Twelve different players have registered one homer with eight connecting on multiple round-trippers. Maryssa Becker leads the team with seven.
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 seven 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 255. 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
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.
