Softball Falls 7-3 to Virginia in Home Finale

Sunday, April 30

LOUISVILLE, KY

12 p.m.

University of Louisville

28-18, 0

VIRGINIA

22-31, 0

Virginia

Louisville

April 30, 2017 | Softball

Box Score Virginia 7 - Louisville 3

Cavaliers score five runs in the fifth to beat the Cards 7-3

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senior Tiarra Sanabria went 3-for-3 to help the University of Louisville softball team to 10 hits, but a five-run fifth inning lifted the Cavaliers to a 7-3 win in the Cardinals home finale Sunday afternoon at Ulmer Stadium.

The Cardinals (28-18, 11-8 ACC) will wrap up the regular season with a three-game series at North Carolina State next weekend. Louisville took the first two games of the series to secure a spot in the upcoming ACC Championship which will be held May 11-13 at North Carolina.

Virginia (22-31, 9-15) jumped on the scoreboard with two unearned runs in the first. Katie Park led off the game with a single and was safe at second when Kaitlin Fitzgerald reached on a fielder's choice. Danni Ingraham's fielder's choice saw Fitzgerald out at second but put runners on the corners. An error allowed McKall Miller to reach and sent Park home. Allison Davis followed with an RBI single to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead.

Louisville answered in the home half of the inning when junior Nicole Pufahl earned a two-out walk and moved to third on senior Maryssa Becker's base hit. Sophomore Megan Hensley and Sanabria followed with back-to-back RBI singles to even the score at 2-2.

The Cards pulled ahead 3-2 in the fourth when senior Jordan McNary registered a one-out hit, stole second, took third on senior Morgan Meyer's hit and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Pufahl.

In the fifth inning, the Cavaliers took advantage of six hits and an error to up a five-spot. Singles by Park and Fitzgerald set up Danni Ingraham's three-run homer that bounced off the scoreboard in left center field to give Virginia a 5-3 lead. Miller and Allison Davis followed with hits to place two runners in scoring position for Lacy Smith's sacrifice fly which plated pinch runner Lexi Mettler. An error on Iyana Hughes' sacrifice bunt sent Davis home to bring the score to 7-3.

The Cards put runners in scoring position, but stranded five in the final three innings.

Erika Osherow (15-18) picked up the win, allowing three earned runs on 10 hits and striking out one in a complete game effort. Ingraham finished the game with three RBIs and scored two runs while Park and Allison Davis had two hits for the Cavaliers.

Becker (20-10) took the loss after giving up six runs, four earned, on six hits and striking out two in four innings. Hensley surrendered one earned run on two hits and struck out three and retired eight of the final nine batters she faced in three innings of relief.

The Cardinals outhit the Cavaliers 10-8 in the game with Meyer and Becker collecting two and McNary going 1-for-4 with a run and a stolen base in her final home game. Pufahl had a hit, a run and an RBI to help her team offensively.

"We set the tone early with errors to start the game," said UofL head coach Sandy Pearsall. "Maryssa came out an threw a good game early on and we did not make the plays behind her. It's hard to win games when you don't execute the little things."