Softball Travels to Boston College

The University of Louisville softball team will resume ACC play with a trip to Boston College for a three-game series this weekend. This will mark Louisville's first time playing at BC's Shea Softball Field.

Weekend Information
Dates: April 7-9, 2017
Location: Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Venue: Shea Softball Field
Television: None
Live Scoring: BCEagles.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLSoftball

• Louisville brings a 21-10 record into the weekend after posting a 1-2 mark in a weekend series against Notre Dame.
• UofL is currently fourth in ACC standings with a 5-2 league record. No. 1/2 Florida State (35-1-1, 15-0) is atop ACC standings with North Carolina (30-9, 9-3) currently in second and Boston College (20-12, 6-2) is third.
• Junior Nicole Pufahl leads the team with a .404 batting average, five home runs, 33 RBIs and 21 runs. The centerfielder also leads the Cards in multi-hit games (11) and multi-RBI games (9).
• Louisville is hitting .304 as a team with seven plays in the starting lineup batting over .300 on the season.
• Senior Maryssa Becker (16-5) paces the Cards in the circle with a 1.91 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 139.1 innings of work and is holding opponents to a .235 batting average.
• Senior Jordan McNary has reached base via a hit, a walk in 15 of her last 17 games and is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen bases.
• 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.

Boston College
Series Record: Louisville leads 2-1
Last Meeting: April 26, 2015 – Louisville clinched a series victory with a 1-0 win, and Boston College won 3-0 in the second game of a doubleheader.
• Shelby McCombs took the loss after allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits and striking out two in 5.1 innings. Maryssa Becker held the Eagles scoreless and gave up one in 1.2 innings of relief.
• Allyson Frei got the win in a complete game effort. She surrendered five hits and struck out six. Tatiana Cortez went 2 for 3 with three RBIs.
• Louisville took the first game of the doubleheader 1-0 as Maryssa Becker threw a three-hit shutout. Jordan McNary went 3 for 3 with a run scored to lift the Cardinals to a series win over the Eagles.
Scouting the Eagles: Boston College enters the weekend with a 20-12 overall record prior to a Wednesday matchup against Bryant. The Eagles stand third in the ACC with 6-2 mark.
• The Eagles clinched the series over Syracuse winning both games of a doubleheader Sunday after the first game of a series was canceled last weekend. Boston College took the first game of a doubleheader 2-1 and won the second game 2-1.
• The Eagles are led offensively by Taylor Coroneos who carries a .365 batting average with a team-best 38 hits and 21 runs scored. Jordan Chimento follows at .333 and is second on the team with 19 RBIs, while Tatiana Cortez paces the Eagles in home runs (8) and RBIs (28).
• Jessica Dreswick (14-5) leads the Boston College in the circle with a 2.05 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 126.1 innings and has logged one save.

Up Next
Louisville will return to Ulmer Stadium for a midweek matchup with in-state rival No. 20/20 Kentucky on April 12. Following that game, the Cards will hit the road for a three-game ACC series at Virginia Tech.

Up Last
The Cards went 1-2 in a three-game ACC series against Notre Dame last weekend.
• Junior Nicole Pufahl was nearly unstoppable offensively with an .875 (7-for-8) performance with two doubles, three home runs - one in each game - four runs and seven RBIs in the series.
Notre Dame 5 - Louisville 4
Caitlin Ferguson and Nicole Pufahl each had a home run, but it wasn't enough as Melissa Rochford's two-run single in the top of the seventh lifted Notre Dame to a 5-4 win over the Cardinals in game one of an ACC softball series Saturday.

Notre Dame 6 - Louisville 4
The Cards scored three runs in the final two innings and had the go-ahead run at the plate, but fell 6-4 to Notre Dame in game two of an ACC series. Pufahl went 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and drove in all four runs for the Cards, but four errors proved to be costly allowing for two unearned Irish runs.

Louisville 7 - Notre Dame 4
Pufahl drove in two runs and scored twice to help lead the Cards past Notre Dame 7-4 in game three of an ACC series Monday.
• Senior Maryssa Becker picked up the complete game win after allowing four runs, two earned, on nine hits and striking out two.

Hitting for average
The Cardinals are hitting .304 as a team. In the current starting lineup, seven players are batting above .300 on the season. Junior Nicole Pufahl recently took over as the team's leading hitter with a .404 average. Fellow junior Jamie Soles follows at .357 while freshman Caitlin Ferguson rounds out the top three at .348. Senior Tiarra Sanabria follows closely with a .345 average. Senior Jordan McNary is hitting at a .337 clip. Junior Alison Szydlowki (.328) and senior Maryssa Becker (.314) complete the list of .300 hitters.
• Before suffering a season-ending injury in the Feb. 25 game against California, junior shortstop Sidney Melton carried a .364 batting average.

Becker Ties School Record with Twelfth Career Save
On March 18, Maryssa Becker entered the game in relief in the seventh inning during game two of Louisville's ACC series with Pitt. The Cards were leading 5-1, but the Panthers had the bases loaded with no outs in the inning with the tying run at the plate. After surrendering a run on a groundout, Becker proceeded to strike out the next two batters to pick up her school-record tying 12th career save.
• Becker is currently tied with Chelsea Leonard (2010-12) and Catherine Bishop (2004-07) and needs one more save to own the record outright.

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, Notches 500th Strikeout
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 and moved her to sixth on Louisville's all-time list. She currently has 62 wins and needs three more move into a tie for fifth along with Jessica Rak (2000-03). Kristen Wadwell (2007-10) owns the record with 94 victories.
• In the Feb. 24 game against California, Becker registered her 500th career strikeout. She becomes only the sixth player in program history to earn at least 500 career Ks. Becker has 559 strikeouts and stands fifth on the all-time list, needing one more to move into a tie for fourth with Jessica Rak (2000-03). Kristen Wadwell (2007-10) holds the all-time record with 696.

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).

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:
Pitching
• Needs 1 save to own the record for career saves (12)
• Fourth in career strikeouts (581) needs nine more to tie for third.
• Currently sixth on Louisville's career list for shutouts (16); needs five more to tie for fifth.
• Sixth on the list for career wins (63), needs two more to tie for fifth
Hitting
• Tied for fifth on Louisville's all-time list with 145 career RBIs... needs 20 more to move into a tie for fourth.
• Sixth with 96 walks, needs five more to tie for fifth.
• Ninth with 26 home runs - needs one more to tie for eighth

Dual Threats
Two of Louisville's top offensive threats also double as the Cards' Nos. 1 and 2 pitchers. Senior Maryssa Becker is second on the team with four home runs and is second with 21 RBIs. Sophomore Megan Hensley has six doubles and two homers and has driven in 17.
• In the circle, Becker (16-5) carries a 1.91 ERA with 118 strikeouts in 139.1 innings of work and is holding opponents to a .235 batting average with three shutouts on the season, while Hensley (5-4) has a 2.35 ERA and 35Ks in 56.2 innings.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maryssa Becker

Caitlin Ferguson

Lillie Goetz

Shelby Graybill

Megan Hensley

Jordan McNary

Sidney Melton

Morgan Meyer

Ashley Nikolao

Nicole Pufahl

Michala Riggle

Tiarra Sanabria

Jamie Soles

Jordan Vorbrink

University of Louisville Athletics