Season Preview: Cards Open New Era Under Coach Holly Aprile

Head coach Holly Aprile contratulates Maddy Newman after a triple

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

Season Preview: Cards Open New Era Under Coach Holly Aprile

February 06, 2019 | Softball

UofL will begin its 20th season of softball and first under head coach Holly Aprile

The University of Louisville softball team will officially open a new era with head coach Holly Aprile at the helm when the Cardinals travel to Fullerton, California for the Titan Classic this weekend.

As Louisville softball enters its 20^th season, Aprile looks continue the tradition of success and elevate the program to new heights.

Prior to joining the Cardinals, the 2018 ACC Coach of the Year spent 10 seasons (2009-18) as Pittsburgh's head coach and five years (2004-08) as an assistant. In 2018, she earned ACC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Panthers to the 2018 ACC Coastal Division title and a runner-up finish in the conference tournament.

Aprile brought with her a dedicated and talented group of staff members in assistant coaches Griffin Joiner, who worked with her at Pitt, and Ashley Lane who was previously at Middle Tennessee State. Both Joiner and Lane bring impressive resumes as coaches and as members of Women's College World Series teams at Kentucky and Michigan respectively.

The transition began in the fall when the team – a balanced mix of veterans and underclassmen –became acquainted with the new coaching staff and began to learn a new system which produced wins against Eastern Kentucky, Indiana, Morehead State, Western Kentucky and Kentucky.

"The team dynamic has been good and I think we've all adapted well to the new coaching staff," said senior Megan Hensley at UofL's spring sports media day. "We've all been coming together as a team. You can definitely see the progress from the early fall to now and I think we're ready for the season."

Aprile has been pleased with the team as a whole, both on and off the field.

"We have been working hard at a lot of different things," said Aprile. "We're to have a great group of returners and a strong nucleus of leadership which helped us out in the fall and with the new staff."

"I've been talking them a lot about some intangible things. I think that we have a ton of talent on the field. Now bringing that talent together, being able to communicate well, being able to handle adversity – and we know that's coming – so when the first thing doesn't go right, how are we going to handle that together as a team. Those are the things that we've been working on mentally and being able to put that together with our physical skills."

Looking ahead
The Cards are coming off of a 33-20 campaign in 2018. Back from that team are 14 letterwinners and six starters as well as five pitchers. Louisville also welcomes the addition of five freshmen and one redshirt freshman to the 2019 roster.

"I think that we have some people that will move around to different positions, so we're not necessarily deep at any particular field position," said Aprile. "I do think that we have some versatility to be able to play some people at different places, so that's a positive. The competition has been great. We have a lot of people that can fit different roles and embrace that and buy into it. Like any team, it will be important that we stay healthy, especially on the pitching mound, we need to be able to keep our people healthy there and we'll manage that throughout the season."

"I think we will pitch the ball well. We do have some depth in the pitching staff and I'm excited about that. We're also returning of the top offensive production in the conference, so I think we'll be able to put those things together. I always think that pitching and defense go directly together, so that's been something we've really focused on with point of emphasis on communication."

Pitchers
The 2019 roster features a great deal of depth in the circle with five returners combined with the addition of redshirt freshman Taylor Roby.

Louisville's pitching staff will count on senior Megan Hensley (Ashland, Ky.) to help lead the way. The two-time NFCA all-Southeast Region and all-ACC selection enters her final season ranked among the Cardinals' top-10 in career wins, strikeouts, saves and games started and finished. She has also been vital to Louisville's offensive production and stands in the top 10 in career RBI, home runs and grand slams.

Darrianne Hale (Mesquite, Texas) also returns to the circle for her final season. The senior transferred to Louisville last year from Butler Community College and helped contribute on the mound after rehabbing from an injury she sustained in the offseason.

Sophomore Danielle Watson (Osceola, Ind.) will look to pick up where she left off after gaining a year of experience as a starter. During her rookie season, Watson collected 14 wins and posted a 3.13 earned run average while striking out 105 batters in 129.2 innings of work.

Fellow sophomore Kyra Snyder (Lake Forest, Calif.) will bring more depth to the pitching rotation. Last year, she made 16 appearances, most of them in relief and posted a 3.07 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 27.1 innings.

Paige Schindler rounds out the sophomore class of pitchers. The Borden, Ind., native gained valuable experience in last season and in the fall and is ready to contribute to the Cardinals' success on the mound.

Roby joins the rotation after taking a redshirt season in 2018. The Mt. Washington, Ky. native brings a stellar resume, earning Metro Louisville Player as well as Sixth Region Player of the Year honors in high school.

Catchers
Following the graduation of three-year starter Jenna Jordan, the Cardinals will have several options to complete the battery in 2019. Senior Madison Cousineau (Franklin, N.C.) will bring veteran leadership to the position after playing in 23 games with five starts last year following her transfer from Mississippi State. She finished her junior season with a .323 batting average, two doubles a home run and seven RBIs.

Freshman Cassady Greenwood (Birmingham, Ala.) will add to the Cardinals depth and turned in impressive results in the fall and early spring practices. Fellow freshman Rebecca Chung was recovering from by injury in the fall, but will also look to contribute behind the plate.

Infielders
The Cardinals return a bevy of infielders from last season. Snyder played in all 52 games with 51 starts either at first base or pitcher last season while fellow sophomore Madison Ciaccio also saw a great deal of time at first base and fielded the position well.

Second base will likely be anchored by Maddy Newman, who is coming off of an impressive rookie campaign in which she earned ACC all-freshman team honors. The speedy left-handed hitter posted a .315 batting average and scored 22 runs with eight stolen bases. The Cardinals could also look to freshman Erin Wilbur (Sugar Hill, Ga.) to bring depth to the position.

Redshirt senior Sidney Melton (Columbus, Ohio) brings a great deal of experience to the infield and could see time at third base or shortstop. The 2018 all-ACC honoree led the Cardinals with 45 runs and 54 hits, stood second on the team with 15 stolen bases and finished her junior year with a .329 batting average, placing her third on the team.

Junior Caitlin Ferguson (Versailles, Ky.) is coming off of an solid sophomore year which culminated in NFCA all-Southeast Region honors. While splitting time between third base and shortstop, she posted a .317 batting average and stood second on the team with 40 RBIs.

Outfielders
Junior Celene Funke (Carmel, Ind.) will anchor a young outfield that includes at least three underclassmen at the start of the season. The speedy outfield had a breakthrough season in 2018, leading the team with a .356 batting average and 17 stolen bases.

The corps of outfielders also includes sophomores Jordyn Wolfe (South Elgin, Ill.) saw time in 27 games with 11 starts and Riley Schindler (Borden, Ind.) also played in 17 games. Freshman Charley Butler will also compete for a starting role after a strong performance in the fall season.

Schedule
The Cardinals will take on a tough 2019 slate which includes a total of 17 games against teams that qualified for the 2018 NCAA Tournament – including national champion Florida State. UofL will also face five opponents ranked among the preseason top 25 and four receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA polls.

Louisville's preseason-ranked opponents include No. 1/3 Florida State, No. 8/8 Tennessee, No. 13/15 Kentucky, No. 17/17 Auburn and No. 19/14 Michigan. Notre Dame, Northwestern, Cal State Fullerton and Missouri are all receiving votes.

"We're really excited about our schedule," said Aprile. "It is challenging, but we're really looking forward to that. I think some of the teams that we're going to play early on will really set us up for success moving into the ACC."