Softball Hosts Boston College for Senior Weekend

Friday, April 27

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

BOSTON COLLEGE

April 26, 2018 | Softball

UL Game Notes vs Boston College

Cards will open the series Friday at 6 p.m.

By: Lori Korte

After two weeks on the road, the University of Louisville softball team will play host to Boston College in an ACC series this weekend at Ulmer Stadium. The teams will open the series with a 6 p.m. matchup on Friday. The Cardinals will honor seniors Jenna Jordan, Ashley Nikolao, Nicole Pufahl, Jamie Soles and Alison Szydlowski prior to Saturday's 1 p.m. game. The series finale is slated for a 12 p.m. first pitch on Sunday. All three games will be televised on ACC Network Extra.

The weekend ahead:
Friday vs. Boston College, 6 p.m.
Postgame Autograph session

Saturday vs. Boston College, 1 p.m. | Senior Day
Giveaway: Player Trading Cards (senior class)

Sunday vs. Boston College, 12 p.m. | Pink Game for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research
Giveaway: Pink T-Shirts for first 100 fans in attendance

Team Notes
• The Cards bring a 28-17 overall record after losing three games at No. 8/10 Florida State last weekend. With a 7-10 mark in ACC play, UofL currently stands fifth in the Atlantic Division while Boston College (26-18, 11-6 ACC) is in second place in the division.
• On March 4, Louisville defeated Eastern Illinois 6-0 to mark the 700th win in school history - all under head coach Sandy Pearsall who started the program in 2000. She now has a 713-366 mark at UofL.
Individual Notes
• Junior Megan Hensley (12-7) leads the pitching staff with 120 strikeouts in 150.0 innings. Freshman Danielle Watson leads the Cards with 14 wins in the circle and is holding opponents to a .216 batting average. Freshman Kyra Snyder carries a team-best 2.66 ERA.
• Hensley also paces the Cards with a .357 batting average and six home runs. The junior also has a team-best 14 multi-hit games.
• Sophomore Caitlin Ferguson has collected a team-best 37 RBIs with 11 multi-RBI games.
• Sophomore Celene Funke leads the team with 14 stolen bases.
• Junior Sidney Melton is on a 10 game hitting streak and has reached base in the last 16 games. She leads the team with 37 runs and is 13-for-13 in stolen bases.
• Sandy Pearsall is in her 19th season as UofL's head coach. After building the program from scratch in 2000, Pearsall recently achieved her 700th victory at Louisville. She has guided the Cardinals to six conference championships. Under her watch, Louisville has made 13 NCAA regional appearances and served as a host site in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Senior salute
Prior to Saturday's game, Louisville will honor seniors Jenna Jordan, Ashley Nikolao, Nicole Pufahl, Jamie Soles and Alison Szydlowski. As a class, the 2018 seniors have collected 124 wins, played in two NCAA regionals. All five players have been integral in the Cardinals' success since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference their freshman season. Last year, they helped produce a program-high 3.45 team GPA.

Cards against the field
Boston College
Series Record: Tied 3-3
Last Meeting: April 7-9, 2018 at Boston College - Louisville took the opening game 5-3, but the won the second game 6-2 and clinched the series with a 3-1 victory in the finale.
Scouting the Eagles: BC enters the weekend with a 26-18 record and an 11-6 mark in ACC play which places them second in the Atlantic Division. Most recently, the Eagles defeated Harvard 3-1 in a midweek matchup. Last weekend, BC took two of three games against Notre Dame in Brighton, Mass., falling 8-4 in game one and winning the next two 6-4 and 9-6.
• The Eagles are led offensively by Annie Murphy, who carries a .389 batting average and collected 26 RBIs. Chloe Sharabba follows at a .360 clip with 37 runs, six home runs and 12 stolen bases.
• Jessica Dreswick (15-9) has taken on the majority of the pitching duties and carries 2.46 ERA with 159 strikeouts in 173.2 innings while Allyson Frei (10-9) brings a 1.96 ERA with 116 Ks in 128.2 innings of work.

Up next: The Cardinals will wrap up the home season with a midweek contest against Marshall on Wednesday at 3 p.m. before hitting the road for their regular season finale at Pittsburgh.

Up last
Then-No. 8/10 Florida State swept the Cardinals in a three-game series in Tallahassee.
Florida State 4 - Louisville 0
A four-run fifth inning lifted No. 8/10 Florida State to a 4-0 win over the University of Louisville softball in the first game of an ACC series at Florida State's JoAnne Graf Field.
• The teams played through four and a half scoreless innings before Florida State broke through with four runs in the fifth. Carsyn Gordon drew a two-out walk and stole second to set up Sydney Sherrill's RBI single. Back-to-back homers by Jessie Warren and Zoe Casas gave the Seminoles a 4-0 lead.
• Megan Hensley (12-6) took the loss, after giving up four earned runs on five hits and striking out four in 4.2 innings of work. Freshman Kyra Snyder held the Seminoles scoreless and did not allow a hit while striking out two in 1.1 innings of relief.
• Jenna Jordan connected on a double and freshman Maddy Newman singled and walked to pace the Cards offensively.
• Kylee Hanson picked up the win holding Louisville scoreless on two hits and striking out six in 6.0 innings of work. Five different players had a hit for the Seminoles.

Florida State 8 -Louisville 0
The Cardinals fell 8-0 to No. 8/10 Florida State Sunday afternoon.
• Sidney Melton and Maddy Newman each had a hit and the Cardinals stranded four runners in the shutout. Danielle Watson took the loss after giving up eight runs, seven earned, on six hits with one strikeout in 4.1 innings.
• The loss marks the first time the Cardinals have been shutout in back-to-back games wins April 4, 2015 when Virginia Tech swept a doubleheader with scores of 2-0 in each game.
•Meghan King (14-5) picked up the win, holding Louisville scoreless and scattering two hits while fanning seven in 5.0 innings. Mason finished the game with three RBIs.
Florida State 3 - Louisville 1
Megan Hensley's home run gave the University of Louisville a 1-0 lead, but No 8/10 Florida State answered with a pair of homers to win 3-1 in the teams' series finale.
• Hensley blasted a two-out solo shot over the fence in centerfield for her team-best sixth home run of the season to give the Cards an early lead in the top of the first.
• Hensley took the loss, allowing three earned runs on five hits and striking out four in six innings of work.
• Kylee Hanson picked up the win after giving up one earned run and holding the Cards to one hit and striking six out in a complete game effort.

Hensley surpasses 100 career RBIs
On April 6, Megan Hensley hit two home runs to help the Cardinals beat Virginia 14-7. With her first home run of the game, a three-run shot, she achieved and surpassed her 100th career RBI. Hensley became the 16th player in school history to reach the 100 RBI milestone. • She now has 116 and needs 12 more to move into Louisville's career RBI list, tying Lacy Wood (2003-06) for 10th with 128.

Pufahl joins 100 RBI club
In the April 13, 4-3 loss at Syracuse, senior Nicole Pufahl connected on a two-run single to record her 100th and 101st career RBIs. She became the 17th player in program history to reach the 100 RBI mark and currently has 103.

Funke fast
Sophomore Celene Funke (pronounced Funky) is a perfect 14-for-14 in stolen bases to lead the Cardinals. The speedy outfielder needs two more to enter Louisville's top 10 list, joining Shannon Nord (2004), Vanessa James (2010) and Jennifer Esteban (2012) who are in a three-way tie for tenth with 16. Coleen Coughlin owns the school record with 28 stolen bases in 2000.

Ferguson matches single-season run record
In the Cardinals' April 7 16-1 win over Virginia Caitlin Ferguson tied a school record with four runs after registering a double and three walks.
• She became the 12th player in program history to score four runs in a game and the first since Sidney Melton accomplished the feat against Southern Utah on Feb. 10, 2007.

Melton ties school single game record with three stolen bases
On March 23, junior Sidney Melton recorded three stolen bases in Louisville's 5-3 win at Duke. In doing so, it marked the sixth time in program history that a player accomplished the feat and the first time since April 12, 2014 when Kelsi Jones swiped three against Connecticut.

Melton also moves into top 10 in career stolen bases
Melton now stands second on the team with 13 stolen bases (13-for-13) to move her career total to 31. She is now 10th on Louisville's all-time list and needs three more to tie Kenzie Meisenburg (2001-02) for ninth.

Pearsall, Louisville reach 700 wins
On March 4, 2018, the University of Louisville softball team defeated Eastern Illinois 6-0 in the final game of the Red & Black Classic at Ulmer Stadium.
Pearsall Highlights at Louisville
• Sandy Pearsall is in her 19th season at the helm after starting the program in 2000.
• She has registered a 713-363 record at Louisville; producing 14 consecutive winning seasons (six winning seasons in the 18-year history of the program).
•Six conference championships in three conferences (C-USA, BIG EAST, American Athletic Conference
• Louisville has been ranked in the top 10 numerous times, reaching as high as No. 7 (as recently as 2013)
• Conference Coaching Staff of the Year three times: 2012 (BIG EAST); 2006 (BIG EAST); 2000 (Conference USA); NFCA Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year (2012).

Hitting for average
The Cardinals lead the ACC with a .298 team batting average and feature seven players batting over .300 on the season. Junior Megan Hensles is the team's leading hitter with a .357 average. Sophomore Celene Funke follows at a .346 clip. Sophomore Caitlin Ferguson stands third with a .326 mark. Junior Sidney Melton is fourth at .317 with freshman Maddy Newman on her heels with a .314 mark. Junior Madison Cousineau (.310) and senior Nicole Pufahl (.308) round out the top hitters.

Life is grand for Hensley
Megan Hensley connected on a grand slam in Louisville's 9-4 win against Northern Illinois on March 14 marked the first since Feb. 17, 2017 when Hensley launched a grand slam in the 9-0 win over Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Hensley connected on her first career grand slam as a freshman on March 30, 2016 when the Cards beat Western Kentucky 12-0.
• She leads the current team with three career grand slams. Lacy Wood (2003-06) holds the school record with four.

Hensley registers 200th strikeout
In the March 14, 9-4 win against Northern Illinois, Megan Hensley picked up the win while striking out six in 4.2 innings of relief. In doing so, she registered and surpassed her 200th career strikeout. She now has 263Ks and recently moved into a tie for eighth among Louisville's all-time strikeout leaders.

Watson off to stellar start
Freshman Danielle Watson has been impressive in her debut as a Cardinal.
• Watson (14-8) carries a 2.80 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 117.2 innings while holding opponents to a .216 batting average.
•The Osceola, Ind., native made her debut in the Cardinals 5-3 win over UCF. In that game, she surrendered one earned run and struck out five while scattering four hits in 5.0 innings.

Hensley climbing the record book
Junior RHP Megan Hensley has entered Louisville's top career list in several categories.
• Fifth with eight career saves and needs one more to tie for fourth with Tori Collins (2009-12).
• Seventh in appearances (87). Tori Collins (2009-12) stands sixth at 142.
• Seventh in career games started in the circle (59). Carlisa Connell (2011-14) is sixth with 98.
• Tied for seventh in games finished (29), needs seven more to tied Tori Collins (2009-12) for sixth.
• Eighth career wins (36), needs six more to move into a tie for seventh with Aja Sherman (2002-05).
• Ninth in career strikeouts (263), needs 19 more to tie Tara McClure (2000-01) for eighth.

Pufahl eclipses 100 career runs
Senior Nicole Pufahl scored her 100th career run on March 10 when the Cardinals' 10-6 defeated Eastern Michigan at Ulmer Stadium. The senior outfielder now has 112 runs in her career and needs five more to move into a tie for 10th with Sara Bausher (2002-05) and Alicja Wolny (2010-13) on Louisville's all-time list for career runs.
• She also recently collected her 100th RBI and now has 103 in her career.

Youthful impact
Along with the veteran leadership from the upperclassmen on the field, several underclassmen have also made valuable contributions. Entering the weekend, Louisville's top two hitters are underclassmen.
• Sophomore Caitlin Ferguson has started every game at shortstop, third base or first base and leads the team with 37 RBIs and 11 multi-RBI games. She is the only player to start every contest for the Cards season.
• Sophomore Celene Funke is second on the team with a .346 batting average, and is a team-best 14-for-14 in stolen bases.
• Freshman Maddy Newman stands fifth on the team with a .314 batting average and has scored 19 runs with seven stolen bases. She has played in 37 games with 27 starts.
• Freshman RHP Danielle Watson leads the pitching staff with 14 wins and carries a 2.80 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 117.2 innings of work.
• Freshman Kyra Snyder has started 43 games at first base or in the circle and carries a .286 batting average. She also leads the pitching staff with a 2.66 ERA.