Softball Travels to North Carolina for ACC/Big Ten Challenge

The University of Louisville softball team will travel to Chapel Hill, N. C., for this weekend's ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Cardinals will open the tournament Friday when the face Ohio State at 11 a.m. and Purdue at 1:30 p.m. Saturday's action will feature a 4 p.m. matchup against Purdue. Louisville will wrap up the weekend against Ohio State Sunday at 10 a.m.

2017 ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Dates: Feb. 17-19, 2017
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Venue: Anderson Softball Stadium
Tournament Central: GoHeels.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLSoftball

Schedule
Friday, February 17
Louisville vs. Ohio State – 11:00 a.m.
Purdue vs. Louisville – 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 18
Louisville vs. Purdue – 4:00 p.m.
Friday, February 17
Ohio State vs. Louisville – 10:00 a.m.
NOTE: The Cardinals posted a 2-2 record in the inaugural Big Ten/ACC Challenge last season. Louisville beat Wisconsin 7-1 and 5-0 and fell to Nebraska 4-3 and 3-0 in Raleigh, N.C.

Quick Hits:
• Louisville brings a 4-1 record into the weekend after opening the season at UNLV's Sportco Kick Off Classic. The Cards defeated Southern Utah 17-3, CSU Bakersfield 13-2 and Indiana State 6-5 in nine innings before falling 5-3 to UNLV. Louisville wrapped up the weekend with a 1-0 win against Indiana State.
• Junior shortstop Sidney Melton has had at least one hit in every game this season and leads the team with a .526 batting average and nine runs.
• Senior pitcher Maryssa Becker has produced a team-best 13 RBIs with two homers and two doubles.
• Becker (3-1) also leads the Cards in the circle with a 1.58 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 17.2 innings of work.
• UofL is receiving votes in the most recent ESPN.com/USA Softball and the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches' polls.
• Louisville was picked to finish second in the ACC Preseason Coaches' poll.
•Eight starters are back from last year's team including All-ACC selections Becker, senior outfielder Jordan McNary and sophomore pitcher Megan Hensley.
• The Cards return their top six hitters from last season, all of whom batted above .300.
• Louisville's returning players accounted for 33 of its 37 home runs in 2016.
•Becker has been named to several preseason watch lists, including College Softball Madness, DI Softball News and Fastpitch News. She was also featured among ESPNW's top 25 NCAA Softball players (at No. 15).
• The Cardinals are coming off of a 35-17 campaign in 2016 and posted a 13-8 mark in ACC play to finish second in the league's regular season standings.
• Louisville made its 13th straight NCAA appearance in 2016.
• Sandy Pearsall enters her 18th 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 13 consecutive NCAA regional appearances and served as a host site in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Cards against the opponents
Purdue
Series Record: Louisville leads 5-2
Last Meeting: March 19, 2010 – Louisville defeated Purdue 3-0 in Fullerton, Calif. in the Judy Garman Classic.
Scouting the Boilermakers: Coming of a 27-28 2016 season, Purdue enters the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a record of 1-4 under new head coach Boo De Oliveira. The Boilermakers cruised to a 6-1 victory over St. Mary's on Sunday.
• The Boilermakers are led by Maya Hughes who is hitting .500 on the season and has scored four runs. Alexa Binckes is hitting .333 with two RBI's. Maddie Damon has an ERA of 2.47 in 11.1 innings of work and one win.

Ohio State
Series Record: Louisville leads 7-3
Last Meeting: March 18, 2015 – Louisville defeated Ohio State 14-4 in five innings and 9-7 in a double header sweep in Columbus, Ohio.
Scouting the Buckeyes: Ohio State went 34-20-1 last season and captured an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they went 1-2 in the Knoxville Region. Ohio State will enter the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a 3-1 record.
• The Buckeyes are led by Lilli Piper who is hitting .462 with one homerun, five RBI's, and three runs scored. Megan Choinacky enters the matchup with a .429 batting average, two RBI's, and one run scored. Shelby Hursh has a solid 0.58 ERA in 12.0 innings of work and three wins.

Up Next
Louisville will head West to Cathedral City, Calif. for the Mary Nutter 2 Classic where the Cards will face a daunting schedule which includes No. 10/11 Arizona, national champion No. 4/6 Oklahoma, No. 25 BYU, No. 22 California and CS Fullerton (receiving votes).

Last Weekend
The Cardinals posted a 4-1 record in their season-opening weekend at the UNLV Sportco Kick Off Classic.
• On the weekend, junior Sidney Melton led the Cardinals with a .526 batting average (10 for 19) and had at least one hit in each game while registering a .550 on base percentage and a .579 slugging percentage. The leadoff hitter scored at least one run in four of the five games, totaling nine on the weekend – tying a school record with four runs against Southern Utah in Louisville's season opener. Melton went 2 for 5 with a double and scored a pair of runs as the Cards edged Indiana State 6-5 in nine innings.
• Senior Maryssa Becker posted a 3-1 record in the circle and a 1.58 ERA in Louisville's opening weekend. The senior held opponents to a .197 batting average and struck out 10 in 17.2 innings of work. She collected her first shutout of the season when she allowed only two hits in seven innings in Sunday's 1-0 win against Indiana State.
• Becker also helped the Cardinals offensively in their opening weekend by registering a .368 batting average (7 for 19) and a team-best 13 RBIs. She also used two doubles and a pair of homeruns, including her second career grand slam, to produce a hefty .789 slugging percentage.

Becker Sets Single Game RBI Mark
In the Cards' 13-2 win over CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 10, Maryssa Becker connected on an RBI single, a three-run homer and a grand slam, producing eight RBIs and setting a school record. She surpassed the previous record (7) held by Katie Keller (twice in 2013) and Melissa Jacobo (2002).

Becker Earns 50th Career Win
On Feb. 12, senior Maryssa Becker tossed a two-hit, complete game shutout to help the Cardinals to a 1-0 win over Indiana State. The victory marked the 50th of Becker's career, moving her to sixth on Louisville's all-time list. She needs 15 more wins move into a tie for sixth along with Jessica Rak (2000-03). Kristen Wadwell (2007-10) owns the record with 94 wins.

Louisville Softball Tabbed to Finish Second in 2017 ACC Preseason Coaches' Poll
The University of Louisville softball team was picked to finish second in the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season as voted by the league's 11 head coaches.
• Louisville, which finished second in the league and reached the semifinals of the tournament in
• In 2016, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina and Notre Dame earned postseason berths, with the Seminoles finishing as the Women's College World Series semifinalist.
ACC Softball Predicted Order of Finish
1.       Florida State- 100 (10 first-place votes)
2.       Louisville – 86 (1 first-place vote)
3.       Notre Dame – 84
4.       North Carolina – 67
5.       Virginia Tech – 58
6.       Boston College – 57
7.       Syracuse – 48
8.       Pittsburgh – 44
9.       NC State – 30
10.   Georgia Tech – 17
11.   Virginia – 14

Becker Named to DI Softball News Top 50 Player of the Year Watchlist
The preseason accolades continue to add up for senior Maryssa Becker who has been named to the 2017 DI Softball News Top 50 Player of the Year Watchlist.
      Becker, a senior pitcher from Medford, Ore., led the Cardinals in hitting with a .411 average in 2016 and helped Louisville (35-17) to second-place regular-season finish and an NCAA tournament berth with her performances on the mound and at the plate. The two-time All-ACC First team and 2016 ACC Softball Championship All-Tournament Team selection finished last season with a 20-11 pitching record and 2.22 ERA while striking out 169 batters and walking just 33 in 204.2 innings. As a junior, she set a school single-season record for runs batted in with 60.
      In 2014, she became Louisville's first freshman National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region selection and was a top 25 finalist for NFCA Freshman of the Year. Becker been among the team's leaders in batting average, home runs, doubles and RBIs in each of her seasons, is ranked in the top 10 of nearly every career pitching category.
      The D1 Softball News Player of the Year award recognizes the outstanding on-field performance of players across the country. This year's watchlist is comprised of student-athletes from 13 different athletic conferences. The SEC leads the way with 13 athletes represented, while the Pac 12 has 10. There are 35 different universities represented on the list.
      The list will be narrowed to the Top 25 names in April and the Top 10 finalists will be announced in May. The winner of the 2017 D1 Softball News Player of the Year will be announced at the conclusion of the WCWS.
• Becker also enters the 2017 season with College Sports Madness and Fastpitch News (FPN) Preseason All-America honors and stands fifth among the FPN 2017 TOP 50 NCAA Softball Hitters.
• She was profiled on ESPNW's Top 25 NCAA Softball Players (Feb. 7, 2017).

Record watch
Senior Maryssa Becker is ranked among the top 10 in several career categories at Louisville. The following is a list of milestones she will reach in the near future:
• Currently has 24 career home runs, tie for 10th on Louisville's all-time list - needs one more to tie for ninth
• Eighth with 134 career RBIs, needs three to tie for seventh
• Tied for seventh with 74 walks, needs 12 more to tie for eighth
• Second on career list with 10 saves – needs two more to tie for 1st (12)

Homegrown Talent
The Cardinals' roster featured nine (of 19) players from the commonwealth of Kentucky. Caitlin Ferguson (Fr., INF, Versailles, Ky./Woodford County), Lillie Goetz (So., INF, Owensboro/Owensboro Catholic), Shelby Graybill (Fr., INF/C, Ft. Thomas, Ky./Highlands), Megan Hensley (So., P/UT, Ashland/Paul Blazer), Jordan McNary (Sr., OF, Madisonville/Hopkins County Central), Morgan Meyer (Sr., OF, Louisville/Mercy), Ashley Nikolao (Jr., UT, Flaherty/Meade County), Michala Riggle (So., C/1B, Louisville/Christian Educational Consortium), Jordan Vorbrink (So., OF, Louisville/Mercy).

Cardinals Shine in the Classroom
The University of Louisville softball team has produced impressive results both on the field and in the classroom. Most recently, The Cardinals collectively achieved a 3.45 grade point average for the 2016 fall semester.
• Along with the impressive team GPA, 16 of 19 players were named to the Athletic Director's honor roll after earning a 3.0 or better GPA while five Cardinals registered a perfect 4.0. The softball team has posted a 3.0 or better GPA in 24 consecutive semesters dating back to the 2005 spring semester.

The Road Ahead
The Cardinals will face a challenging 2017 schedule which features nine games against top-25 opponents including 2016 national champion Oklahoma. UofL will also host two tournaments as part of a 26-game home slate.
• Among Louisville's opponents are eight teams that played in the 2016 NCAA tournament including national champion Oklahoma and fellow Women's College World Series participant Florida State. The Cardinals will play a total of nine games against teams ranked in the top 25 and will have four contests with teams who were receiving votes at the end of the 2016 season.

Louisville Softball Television Schedule Released
UofL will have 31 games televised nationally including four contests on ESPNU as announced by ESPN and the Atlantic Coast Conference office Tuesday. The television slate will include all of the Cardinals' 27 home games along with league games at Virginia Tech and North Carolina State.
      All 11 ACC institutions sponsoring softball will be featured multiple times throughout the season, with more than 100 games streaming on ACC Network Extra, Watch ESPN and the ESPN App. ESPN's broadcast schedule will include more than 600 college softball games.
      The Cardinals will appear on ESPN's ACC Monday twice this season – both in the month of April. Louisville will make its 2017 ESPNU debut on April 2 for the second game of the Cardinals' ACC matchup against No. 22 Notre Dame. The series finale will be also air on ESPNU as part of the network's ACC Monday package. Three weeks later, the Cards will return to the ESPN airwaves when No. 4/3 Florida State visits Ulmer Stadium. Game two of that series will be shown on ESPNU and the third game will be featured as part of ACC Monday on April 24.
• The remaining home games will be carried on ACC Network Extra.

The 2017 ACC Softball Championship will take place May 11-13, with the first two days of competition being aired on ACC Network Extra, and the championship game on ESPN.

Softball Travels to North Carolina for ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maryssa Becker

Caitlin Ferguson

Lillie Goetz

Shelby Graybill

Megan Hensley

Jordan McNary

Sidney Melton

Morgan Meyer

Ashley Nikolao

Michala Riggle

Jordan Vorbrink

University of Louisville Athletics