Softball Defeats Notre Dame 7-4 in Series Finale

Monday, April 3

LOUISVILLE, KY

7 p.m.

University of Louisville

21-10, 0

NOTRE DAME

19-14, 0

Notre Dame

Louisville

April 03, 2017 | Softball

Box Score Louisville 7 - Notre Dame 4 (PDF)Photo Gallery

Pufahl drives in two, scores two, Becker gets complete game win in the circle

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Junior Nicole Pufahl drove in two runs and scored twice to help lead the University of Louisville softball team past Notre Dame 7-4 in game three of an ACC series Monday evening at Ulmer Stadium. The Cardinals (20-10, 4-2 ACC) will continue conference play this weekend when they hit the road for Boston College for a three-game series.

Senior Maryssa Becker (16-6) picked up the complete game win after allowing four runs, two earned, on nine hits and striking out two.

The Cards took an early lead in the first when freshman Caitlin Ferguson led off the home half of the inning with a single and took second on senior Maryssa Becker's sacrifice bunt. Junior Jamie Soles connected on an RBI single and came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior Nicole Pufahl to put Louisville on top 2-0.

After a 1:46 minute rain delay, Notre Dame (19-14, 6-6 ACC) countered with two runs in the fourth. Morgan Reed led off the frame with a hit and Caitlyn Brooks followed with a home run over the left field fence to even the score at 2-2.

Louisville countered with a home run from Pufahl in the bottom of the fourth. The junior centerfielder led off with her team-best fifth home run of the season and third of the series to give Louisville a 3-2 lead.

UofL tacked on another run in the bottom of the third when senior Morgan Meyer walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Ferguson's single put runners on the corners and Meyer crossed the plate on another wild pitch.

In the sixth inning, Louisville capitalized on two hits, a walk and two wild pitches to tally three more runs. Pufahl earned a leadoff walk and moved to third on senior Tiarra Sanabria's base hit. Junior Alison Szydlowski's RBI single plated Pufahl and Sanabria and Szydlowski each crossed the plate on wild pitches to bring the score to 7-2.

The Irish added a pair of unearned runs in the top of the seventh. An error allowed Sara White to reach and Maddie McCracken followed with a single to set up Ali Wester's two-out, two-run single for the 7-4 final.

In addition to Pufahl's performance at the plate, Ferguson and Sanabria each went 2-for-3 with a run to help pace the Cards offensively.

Rachel Nasland (9-6) took the loss, giving up three earned runs on six hits and striking out one in three innings of work Wester went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

"I'm really excited to come away with the win tonight," said UofL head coach Sandy Pearsall. "I felt like we had opportunities to win in the last two days and just didn't finish the games, but tonight we did. I thought Maryssa Becker did a great job on the mound tonight – that's the kind of performance she's capable of and the kind of performance we needed to get from her tonight. Offensively, our team got the job done. When we had runners in scoring position, we capitalized on things. With the exception of one inning when our base running wasn't good, the rest of the time we really stretched out the bases. Defensively, Caitlin Ferguson did a great job for us at shortstop for us tonight."