Becker Pitches Cards to a Pair of Wins

Friday, March 10

LOUISVILLE, KY

12:30 PM

University of Louisville

13-7

OHIO

13-5

Ohio

Louisville

March 10, 2017 | Softball

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Maryssa Becker collected two wins in the circle as the Cards beat Ohio 2-1 in eight innings and IUPUI 7-2

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senior Maryssa Becker posted two wins in the circle and had 13 strikeouts on the day as the University of Louisville defeated Ohio 2-1 in eight innings and IUPUI 7-2 on day one of the Louisville Softball Classic Friday afternoon at Ulmer Stadium.

With Saturday's games cancelled due to inclement weather in the forecast, the Cardinals (14-7) will return to action against Northern Iowa Sunday at 2 p.m.

Louisville 2 – Ohio 1 (eight innings)
Freshman Caitlin Ferguson's two-out RBI single plated sophomore Lillie Goetz to lift the Cardinals to a 2-1 win over Ohio. Becker struck out nine and scatters four hits while surrendering one unearned run in eight innings to improve to 9-4 on the season.

The Bobcats (13-5) jumped to an early lead with an unearned run in the first. Alex Day led off the game with a hit, stole second and scored on an error after a single by Natalie Alvarez.

Louisville evened the score in the home half of the second. Junior centerfielder Nicole Pufahl beat the throw on an infield hit and an error on the throw sent her to third. A sacrifice fly off the bat of junior catcher Alison Szydlowski evened the score at 1-1.

The Cards had runners in scoring position with no outs in the fourth and fifth innings, but Ohio's Savannah Dorsey held them in check to keep the score tied at 1-1.

After allowing one-out single in the third, Becker and the Cardinals' defense retired 17 of the next 19 batters, giving up a walk in the fifth and a single in the seventh.

With the game still knotted at 1-1, Ohio started the eighth inning with MacKenzie Brunswick as a runner at second base in accordance with the international tiebreaker rule. Becker delivered two strikeouts and fielded a groundout to hold the Bobcats at bay.

Goetz was placed at second to start the bottom of the eighth. Two outs later, Ferguson connected on her second hit of the game to give the Cards the 2-1 win.

Dorsey (7-2) took the loss after allowing two unearned runs on four hits and striking out 11 in 7.2 innings. Day paced the Bobcats offensively with a 2-for-4, one run performance at the plate.

"I was very pleased today with Maryssa Becker's performance," said UofL head coach Sandy Pearsall. "Ohio has a good team with a very good pitcher – she did extremely well and we had to scrap and work hard to get that win. Our team stayed in it, we played some good defense in that game."

Louisville 7 – IUPUI 2
Senior Tiarra Sanabria went 3-for-3 with a double, two runs and two RBIs and Becker struck out four as the Cards defeated the Jaguars 7-2.

IUPUI took a 1-0 lead in the second behind Roni Patterson's leadoff home run in the third.

The Cards used five hits and a walk to put up a five-spot in the third. Ferguson earned a walk and senior leftfielder Jordan McNary singled to set up Pufahl's two-run double. Sanabria and junior catcher Jenna Jordan followed with back-to-back RBI doubles and junior second baseman Jamie Soles added an RBI single to put Louisville on top 5-1.

The fifth inning brought two more runs for the Cardinals with Sanabria's base hit plating Pufahl and Soles connecting on an RBI single to bring the score to 7-1.

IUPUI tallied another run in the top of the seventh when Delilah Wright reached on a one-out error and eventually came around to score on an RBI hit by Patterson for the 7-2 final.

Soles finished the game batting 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Pufahl was 1-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs to help the Cards offensively.

Erica Tharp (2-9) took the loss, allowing five earned runs on six hits in 2.2 innings of work. Taylor Chitwood's 4-for-4 performance led the Jaguars at the plate.

"I thought we came out a little flat to start our second game, but I thought we did a good job," said Pearsall. "We still had some issues on defense at the very end that we need to work on, but overall I was very pleased with our shortstop Caitlin Ferguson and the performance she had today."