Hensley's Grand Slam Propels Softball Past Marshall

Wednesday, May 2

LOUISVILLE, KY

3:00 PM

University of Louisville

32-17

MARSHALL

23-28-1

Marshall

Louisville

May 02, 2018 | Softball

Box Score Louisville 13 - Marshall 10 Photo Gallery

Megan Hensley's two-out grand slam erased a three-run deficit in the fifth

By: Lori Korte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Megan Hensley's two-out grand slam in the bottom of the fifth erased a three-run deficit and helped her cause in the circle as the University of Louisville softball team defeated Marshall 13-10 in their home finale Wednesday evening at Ulmer Stadium. The Cardinals (32-17) will wrap up the season this weekend when they travel to Pittsburgh for a three-game ACC series.

"I think we came out a little bit flat today," said UofL head coach Sandy Pearsall. "Credit to Marshall for taking advantage of our mistakes. Also credit to Megan Hensley, Nicole Pufahl, Sidney Melton and our offense for not backing down when we fell behind."

Hensley and senior Nicole Pufahl tallied four RBIs apiece and each connected on a home run in a wild fifth inning which saw both teams combine for 16 runs and two lead changes. Junior Sidney Melton went 2-for-3 and scored three runs. Senior Alison Szydlowski had two hits and scored two runs while freshman Jordyn Wolfe add a pair of hits and scored a run to help pace the Cardinals. Louisville outhit Marshall 12-9 with five hits falling in for extra bases.

Louisville jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first when junior Sidney Melton led off with a base hit and took second on freshman Maddy Newman's sacrifice bunt and crossed the plate on senior Jenna Jordan's single.

The Cards tacked on three more runs in the fifth when freshman Maddy Newman singled and Jordan walked to set up Pufahl's two-run double. An error sent Pufahl home to give Louisville a 4-0 lead.

The Herd (23-28-1) got on the scoreboard when Taylor McCord led off the fourth with a home run to make the score 4-1.

The fourth inning brought two more Louisville runs. Szydlowski reached on an error and scored on Melton's double. Hensley followed with a walk and was safe at second on Jordan's fielder's choice which allowed Melton to score and extend the Cardinals' lead to 6-1.

Marshall exploded for nine runs on eight hits in the fifth inning to take a 10-6 lead. Three straight infield hits by Eloise Tribolet, Jordan Colliflower and Elicia D'Orazio loaded the bases and a walk to McCord brought Tribolet home. Aly Harrell was hit by a pitch to plate and Ali Burdett's two-run single and Wylie Glover's RBI hit which evened the score at 6-6. Samantha Koehn, Tribolet delivered RBI hits and D'Orazio's two-run single gave the Herd a four run lead.

The Cardinals used four hits to counter with seven runs of their own in the home half of the fifth which was highlighted by Hensley's grand slam and Pufahl's two-run homer. Junior Madison Cousineau got the rally started when she was hit by a pitch in a pinch-hit appearance. Wolfe and Szydlowski loaded the bases with back-to-back singles and Melton was hit by a pitch to bring home pinch-runner freshman Riley Schindler. One out later, Hensley stepped up to the plated and smashed a two-out shot that cleared the fence in left center field for her second grand slam of the season and fourth of her career to put her team on top 11-10. Sophomore Celene Funke followed with a walk to set up Pufahl's home run to give the Cards a pair of insurance runs for a 13-10 lead.

Freshman Danielle Watson entered to pitch in the sixth inning and retired all six batters she faced to earn her second save of the season.

Burdette (3-9) took the loss, giving up six runs, four earned, on three hits and striking out one in 1.2 innings of relief. D'Orazio went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run while McCord had two RBIs and pair of runs to pace the Herd offensively.

NOTES: Megan Hensley connected on her team-best ninth home run of the season and moved into a tie for tenth on Louisville's list for career home runs with 25. She is also now tied for tenth on the school's career RBI list with 128.

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Pittsburgh

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May 4 (Fri)

3:00 PM

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Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Hensley, Megan (16-7)

L: BURDETTE, Ali (3-9)

S: Watson, Danielle (2)

Marshall

Batting:

HR: MCCORD, Taylor 1

RBI: D'ORAZIO, Elicia 2 ; MCCORD, Taylor 2 ; HARRELL, Aly 1 ; GLOVER, Wylie 1 ; KOEHN, Samantha 1 ; TRIBOLET, Eloise 1 ; BURDETTE, Ali 2

SH: RADCLIFFE, Grayson 1

Base Running:

RUNS: D'ORAZIO, Elicia 1 ; MCCORD, Taylor 2 ; HARRELL, Aly 1 ; GLOVER, Wylie 1 ; KOEHN, Samantha 1 ; TRIBOLET, Eloise 2 ; COLLIFLOWER, Jordan 1 ; BURDETTE, Ali 1

SB: KOEHN, Samantha 1 ; TRIBOLET, Eloise 1

HBP: HARRELL, Aly 2

Louisville

Batting:

2B: Melton, Sidney 1 ; Pufahl, Nicole 1 ; Szydlowski, Alison 1

HR: Hensley, Megan 1 ; Pufahl, Nicole 1

RBI: Melton, Sidney 2 ; Hensley, Megan 4 ; Jordan, Jenna 1 ; Pufahl, Nicole 4

SH: Newman, Maddy 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Melton, Sidney 3 ; Newman, Maddy 1 ; Hensley, Megan 1 ; Jordan, Jenna 2 ; Pufahl, Nicole 2 ; Schindler, Riley 1 ; Wolfe, Jordyn 1 ; Szydlowski, Alison 2