Cardinals Fall Short Against No. 23/25 Clemson

Sunday, March 21

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:00 P.M.

University of Louisville

9-11, 0

CLEMSON

20-2, 0

Clemson

Louisville

Photo by: Carl Schmid | Louisville Athletics

March 21, 2021 | Softball

Box Score

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville softball had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, but could not capitalize in a 4-2 to No. 23/25 Clemson in the teams' ACC series finale Sunday at Ulmer Stadium.

Louisville will continue ACC play next weekend when the Cardinals play host to No. 18/16 Virginia Tech in a four-game series March 26-28.

Redshirt senior Carmyn Greenwood went 2-for-3 with a run and redshirt junior Taylor Roby went 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Cardinals offensively.

Clemson (20-2, 12-2 ACC) took an early lead behind Valerie Cagle's two-run single in the top of the first.

The Cardinals (9-11, 3-6 ACC) got a run back in the home half of the inning. Carmyn Greenwood led off with an infield hit. One out later, Taylor Roby singled and Celene Funke entered to run for her. Rebecca Chung's fielder's choice saw Greenwood out at third, but an error on the play sent Funke home to make the score 2-1.

A pair of solo home runs by Valerie Cagle in the third and the sixth innings brought the score to 4-1.

After Louisville's run in the first, Cagle, Clemson's starting pitcher, retired the next 14 batters until the sixth inning when the Cardinals countered with a run. Carmyn Greenwood registered a one-out hit and crossed the plate on Roby's two-out single to cut the lead in half.

The Tigers threatened to add to the lead in the seventh when Alia Logoleo walked and Morgan Johnson's infield hit put two runners on with one out, but Louisville shortstop sophomore Jenna Servi corralled a ball in shallow left field and teamed with third baseman sophomore Elana Ornelas and first baseman junior Makayla Hurst for a double play to end the top of the frame.

In the home half of the seventh, Hurst blasted a single to centerfield and was lifted for pinch runner Mia Forsythe, who took second on a wild pitch to bring the tying run to the plate with no outs in the inning, but Cagle delivered a pair of strikeouts and got a foul out to end the game.

"It was a really, really tough weekend offensively – we had too many strikeouts," said UofL head coach Holly Aprile. "I think we were trying to figure out how to battle and how to adjust. Valerie Cagle is a tremendous pitcher, and I think we had to go one pitch more, or two pitches better in some at bats and we couldn't get that solved."

Cagle (12-1) picked up the complete game win, giving up two runs, one earned, on five hits and striking out 14. She also led the Tigers with a 3-for-3 performance at the plate and drove in all four of Clemson's runs.

Roby (5-5) took the loss, allowing four earned runs on six hits and striking out three in 6.1 innings.

"I thought our defense and our pitchers were really good, we were just under the gun the whole time," said Aprile. "Our margin for error was really slim, because we were really struggling to score any runs, even having quality at bats up and down the lineup, regardless of the pitcher that they put out there, so I think that really kind of tells the story, just not enough offensive pressure, there were some bright spots here and there, but that doesn't really win games. I was proud of our pitching staff, I thought they did a really good job. They gave up some big hits at times, but we battled back and with the exception of one game, we were in striking distance, but we just weren't able to get it done."