Louisville Welcomes Bradley, DePaul and Miami (Ohio) for Cardinal Classic

WEEKEND INFORMATION
Cardinal Classic
Dates: March 5-7, 2021
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Venues: Ulmer Stadium
Live Scoring: GoCards.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLSoftball
Admission: Player pass list inside the stadium.
Louisville Game Notes
Weekend Schedule
Friday, March 5
4:00 PM Bradley vs. Louisville –
Live scoring | ACCNE Watch Link
6:30 PM Bradley vs. Louisville
Live scoring | ACCNE Watch Link
Saturday, March 6
12:00 PM DePaul vs. Louisville
Live scoring | ACCNE Watch Link
2:30 PM Miami (OH) vs. Bradley - Live scoring
5:00 PM Miami (OH) vs. DePaul - Live scoring
Sunday, March 7
12:00 PM DePaul vs. Miami (OH) - Live scoring
2:30 PM Miami (OH) vs. Louisville
Live scoring | ACCNE Watch Link

The University of Louisville softball team will play host to Bradley, DePaul and Miami (Ohio) in the Cardinal Classic this weekend.

Ulmer Stadium Attendance Policy:
In 2021, attendance will be limited to 20 percent capacity at Ulmer Stadium. Due to these capacity limitations, tickets will not be made available to the general public. All home contests will be televised and/or streamed for those that can't attend. Tickets will only be available to guests of Louisville student-athletes, coaches and visiting team, along with a limited number for UofL Students.

Berm Seating
Berm and greenspace areas around Ulmer Stadium are publicly accessible areas that offer views of the action at Don Dobina Field at Ulmer Stadium. While the berm is outside the confines of the stadium, the following of CDC guidelines including social distancing and masking is advised for any fan who chooses to view a game from these areas.

For more information please visit here.

Cardinal Notes
• Louisville brings a 3-6 record into its home-opening weekend.
• The Cards will open play at Ulmer Stadium after playing their first nine games on the road in a three week span. Four of those games have come against teams ranked in the top 10. Louisville opened the season at No. 8/8 Alabama and most recently traveled to No. 6/5 Florida for a two-game series.
• Louisville is 16-5 in home openers in the history of the program.
• Taylor Roby leads the team with a .346 batting average, three home runs and has driven in 10 of Louisville's 22 runs.
• Roby has also produced a team-best four multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games.
^ She was named ACC Player of the Week on February 23.
• Freshman Taryn Weddle has reached safely in via a hit or walk the last four games.
• Jennifer Leonhardt, a graduate senior transfer from the University of Southern Indiana, leads the starting pitching rotation with a 2.10 ERA. She has fanned 15 in 16.2 innings.
• Leonhardt has been named a top 30 candidate for the Senior CLASS Award.
• Celene Funke currently stands second on Louisville's all-time list for triples with 19 and needs seven more to tie for the lead.
• Funke is also third on Louisville's career list for stolen bases with 63 and needs five more to move into a tie for second.
• Louisville was picked to finish seventh in the preseason ACC Coaches poll.

The Aprile Era
• Holly Aprile is in her third season as UofL's head coach. With the 2020 campaign suspended prior to its midway point due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Aprile has compiled a 48-42 record and guided the Cardinals to an NCAA regional final appearance in 2019 during her time at the helm.
• Prior to her arrival at Louisville, Aprile, 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.

Scouting the opponents
Bradley
Record: UL leads 6-0
Last Meeting: The teams last met during the 2019 Tennessee Classic played on February 24-25 in Knoxville Tennessee. The Cardinals took both games by scores of 7-5 and 6-0.
Scouting the Braves: Bradley brings an overall 1-2 record heading into the Cardinal Classic. The Braves fell 6-1and 5-0 against Western Illinois during their weekend opener but bounced back to defeat Saint Louis 5-4. Camryn Monteer leads the Braves with a .667 batting average while Taise Thompson and Stacie Seeton have tallied one home run each. On the mound, Bradley is led by freshman Morgan Radford who carries a 6.63 ERA, with three strikeouts and one win.

DePaul
Series Record: DePaul leads the series 25-21.
NOTE: The bulk of the series dates from 2000-13 when both teams were members of Conference USA and then the BIG EAST Conference.
Last Meeting: The last meeting between the Cards and the Blue Demons was on April 8, 2015. DePaul took the game 5-0 in Chicago, Ill. The second game of the double header scheduled for that day was cancelled.
Scouting the Blue Demons: Coming off an 8-5 win over Saint Louis, the Blue Demons enter the weekend with a 5-4 record. DePaul returns 15 letter winners to their roster including Senior Krista Dalgarn who comes into the Cardinal Classic being named BIG EAST Pitcher of the week for her two-win, 2.39 ERA performance in the last week of February.
• Also returning for the Blue Demons is 2018 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Maranda Gutierrez. The senior shortstop currently fields a percentage of .971.
• Another big returner is three-time All-BIG EAST select Jessica Cothern. The senior is hitting.444 in 2021. Angela Scalzitti who is in her seventh season with the program is fielding .952 this season with 20 putouts.
• DePaul is led by third-year head coach Tracie Adix-Zins who led the Blue Demons to a BIG EAST Tournament title in her first season at the helm.

Miami (Ohio)
Series Record: Louisville leads the series 4-0.
Last Meeting: The Cards beat the RedHawks in their last meeting 2-0 on March 3, 2018 at Ulmer Stadium.
Scouting the RedHawks: Miami comes into the Cardinal Classic with a 4-5 record. Miami was picked second in the 2021 MAC Preseason Coaches' Poll and is led by first-year head coach Kirin Kumar.
• Returning on the mound for Miami are two All-MAC team selections from 2019 in Brianna Pratt and Courtney Vierstra.
• Pratt (2-2) a 2019 MAC All-Freshman team selection comes off a 4-2 record in 2020 and has a 2021 record of 1-3.
• Courtney Vierstra, a 2019 first team selection, finished the 2020 season nationally fifth in the NCAA in strikeouts (140), and first in opponents' batting average (.171).
• Karlee Juarez, is leading the RedHawks with a .414 batting average.

Recapping the Florida series
The Cardinals are coming off of a pair of tough road losses at No. 6/5 Florida, falling 5-1 in the first game and 2-0 in the second.
• Taylor Roby led the the charge offensively on the weekend, batting .400 (2-for-5) with a .500 on-base percentage.
• Jennifer Leonhardt did not allow a hit or a run while striking out eight in 6.1 innings of work.
Florida 5 - Louisville 1
Louisville took an early lead, but a five-run fourth inning keyed host No. 6/5 Florida to a 5-1 win on Saturday.
• After three scoreless innings, the Cardinals broke through with a run in the top of the fourth. Junior Rebecca Chung's connected on her first career triple, a blast that caromed off of the left field fence for Louisville's first hit of the game. Junior Charley Butler entered to run and crossed the plate on redshirt senior Carmyn Greenwood's single to right field.
• Roby took the loss after giving up five earned runs on seven hits and striking out three in 3.1 innings. Leonhardt tossed 2.2 innings of relief and did not give up a hit or a run.

Florida 2 - Louisville 0
The Cardinals fell 2-0 to host No. 6/5 Florida Sunday afternoon at Karen Seashole Stadium.
•Taylor Roby went 2-for-3 and Jennifer Leonhardt registered a season-best six strikeouts in the game.
• The game featured a pitchers' duel through the first two and a half innings with Florida's Katie Chronister and Louisville's Gabby Holloway retiring every batter they faced. Florida (11-0) broke through in the home half of the third with the only two runs of the game.
• Louisville and Florida each tallied three hits, but the Cardinals were unable to push runs across.
• Leonhardt entered to pitch in relief in the bottom of the third and held the Gators in check, retiring 11 of the 13 batters she faced, a pair of walks accounted for the only Florida runners in the final 3.2 innings of the contest.

Up next
Louisville will continue its 20-game home stand with a recently added midweek matchup against Bellarmine on Tuesday, March 9 at 6 p.m.

Walk it off
Louisville posted back-to-back walk-off wins on Feb. 21 in the ACC Pod Weekend, beating Virginia 5-4 behind Taylor Roby's two-run single in the bottom of the seventh and following with a seventh-inning run off of an error in a 5-4 victory against host NC State.
• Louisville's first two wins of the 2021 season followed a pair of walk-off wins which ended the 2020 season to push the streak to four straight wins in walk-off fashio. In what would ultimately be the final games of the 2020 seaosn, the Cardinals beat Illinois 4-3 and Evansville 9-1 in a run-rule contest on the final day of the Red & Black Challenge.

Tough road ahead
Louisville's 2021 slate is highlighted by five team in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and the ESPN.com/USA Softball coaches' Top 25 polls including: No. 5/6 Alabama, No. 5/5 Florida, No. 16/16 Florida State, No. 10/11 Kentucky, No. 15/14 Virginia Tech, and No. 14/15 Duke.
• In response to the ongoing pandemic, the annual ACC/Big Ten challenge has been cancelled and the ACC has implemented four-game series to limit travel between conference opponents.
• Ulmer Stadium is set to host 28 games throughout the season, including two tournaments in March: the Cardinal Classic and the Red & Black Challenge.
• UofL will host the ACC Tournament from May 12-15, where the top 10 conference teams will be eligible to participate this year.

Dual roles
Three of Louisville's starting pitchers can also help their cause at the plate.
Taylor Roby leads the team with three home runs and 10 RBI.
• The right-handed pitcher is picking up where she left off last season when she led the team with a career-high seven home runs and 16 RBI in 2020.
• Additionally, the redshirt junior has logged a team-high 21.0 innings and issued 13 strikeouts.
Jennifer Leonhardt (0-1) leads the team with a 2.10 ERA. The graduate senior transfer from the University of Southern Indiana only has one hit thus far, but finished her undergrad career with a .327 batting average.
Gabby Holloway (1-1) has logged 17.0 innings, standing a close second behind Roby in innings pitched. The freshman has six strikeouts on the season.
She carries a .250 batting average.

Rookie contributions
The Cardinals' five freshmen have already made immediate impacts in the lineup.
• Sydney Bickel has started every game at shortstop.
• Taryn Weddle has started every game at catcher or as the designated player.
• Gabby Holloway has made five appearances in the circle and recorded the win against Virginia on Feb. 20.
• Mia Forsythe and Vanessa Miller have also seen playing time in six and three games respectively.

Triple Threat
Celene Funke connected on her first triple of the season in the 5-4 win at NC State (Feb. 20), improving her career total to 19. She currently stands second on Louisville's all-time list and needs seven more more to tie Audrey Rendon (2004-07) for first.
• Funke led the nation in triples with 13 in 2019, setting the school single season record along the way.

Funke fast (stolen base edition)
Celene Funke registered her first stolen base of the season in the 5-4 win against Virginia on Feb. 20. She extends her career total to 63 and stands third on Louisville's all-time stolen base list - she needs five more to tie Sidney Melton (2015-19) for third. Audrey Rendon (2004-07) holds the record with 82.

Sister Act
• Louisville's roster features two sets of sisters: the Schindlers and the Greenwoods.
• Senior outfielder Carmyn Greenwood transferred to Louisville from Auburn in the 2020 season, joining her sister, Cassady who is a junior catcher for the Cardinals.
• Senior pitcher Paige Schindler and outfielder Riley Schindler are among 21 sets of twins in NCAA Division I softball who play for the same team. Paige Schindler is sidelined this season due to injury.
• All four sisters saw action in the Feb. 8, 2020 game against Texas State. Carmyn Greenwood was in left field while sister Cassady was catching and Riley Schindler was playing right field while Paige was pitching.

"Super Seniors"
UofL has two "super seniors" on its roster in the form of graduate students Celene Funke and Jennifer Leonhardt, both of whom are utilizing an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA following the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign.
• Funke (Carmel, Ind.) was leading the team in stolen bases (13-for-13) and triples (3) when her senior season came to an abrupt halt after 23 games. In 2019, she led the nation in triples and set a school record with 13 while registering a team-best 48 runs and standing second with a .324 batting average and 29 stolen bases. The speedy centerfielder currently stands second on Louisville's career list for triples (18) and third on the all-time stolen base list with 62.
• Funke is also the program's first three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American (2018, 2019) and is pursuing her MBA after earning her undergraduate degree in finance in May 2019.
• Leonhardt returns to her hometown after completing her career at the University of Southern Indiana where she was a three-time NCAA Division II All-American. The right-handed pitcher will play for the Cardinals while attending UofL's School of Dentistry.
• Leonhardt led the USI to the 2018 NCAA Division II national title and earned Most Outstanding Player of the 2018 NCAA Division II Softball Championship Series honors.
• As her senior campaign was cut short, Leonhardt carried a 7-3 record with a 1.63 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 68.2 innings of work. She also led the team with a .386 batting average.
• Leonhardt finished her career at USI as the program's all-time leader in wins (83), strikeouts (787) and complete game shutouts (35) while standing second in saves (8) and innings pitched (730.2). At the plate, she registered a .327 career batting average with 87 RBIs and 74 runs.

Home sweet home
Louisville has a 20-6 overall record at Ulmer Stadium in the last two seasons under head coach Holly Aprile.
• The Cardinals compiled a 4-1 record in the shortened 2020 season. Prior to that, Louisville registered a 16-5 record at Ulmer Stadium in 2020 with three wins over ranked opponents (No. 3/3 Florida State twice and No. 24/23 Kentucky).

Roby named ACC Player of the Week
Taylor Roby was named ACC Player of the Week for the period ending on February 22.
• Roby (Mt. Washington, Ky.) earned her first ACC weekly honor after helping the Cardinals to three straight wins to close out the ACC Pod Weekend. The redshirt junior registered a .438 batting average (7-for-16) with three home runs, 10 RBIs and three runs and was walked twice. She also posted a 1.000 slugging percentage and .526 on-base percentage on the weekend.
• Roby registered three multi-hit and RBI games on the weekend, reaching via a hit or a walk in all but one game. Additionally, she drove in at least one run in four of the Cardinals' five contests on the weekend.
• In Saturday's 5-4 win against Virginia, Roby crushed a two-run homer to even the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth. She went on to deliver a walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to lift Louisville to its first win of the season. She finished the game with a 3-for-4, four RBI performance at the plate, tying her career highs for hits and RBI.
• In addition to her offensive production, Roby was a workhorse in the circle for the Cardinals as they went 3-2 in the ACC Pod Weekend, logging 14.2 innings with seven strikeouts. She closed the weekend with a complete game one-hit shutout to help Louisville to a 4-0 win against Virginia. In that game, she retired the first eight batters she faced before surrendering a two-out single in the third. A walk and subsequent fielder's choice allowed the Cavaliers' only baserunners in the game, none moved into scoring position. She registered three strikeouts in the contest.

Leonhardt named Senior CLASS® Award Candidate
Jennifer Leonhardt has been named one 30 candidates for the 2021 Senior CLASS® Award in collegiate softball.
•To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
• Leonhardt, right-handed pitcher who hails from Louisville, Ky. (Fern Creek HS) is a graduate transfer from the University of Southern Indiana and is utilizing an extra season of eligibility granted by the NCAA following the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season.
• The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in March, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
• The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2021 Women's College World Series® in June.

Cards picked to finish seventh in the ACC
The University of Louisville softball team was picked to finish seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference released its preseason coaches poll.
2021 ACC Softball Preseason Coaches Poll
1) Florida State (141 pts, nine first-place votes)
2) Virginia Tech (136 pts, four first-place votes)
3) Notre Dame (114 pts)
4) Duke (99 pts)
5) North Carolina (96 pts)
6) Clemson (88 pts)
7) Louisville (81 pts)
8) NC State (78 pts)
9) Georgia Tech (61 pts)
10) Syracuse (39 pts)
11) Pitt (31 pts)
12) Virginia (28 pts)
13) Boston College (22 pts)

Cards in 2020
• Louisville posted a 10-13 overall record in 2020 while in the midst of a challenging schedule that featured 10 games against teams in the top 25. The season came to an end on the eve of the Cardinals conference opener against Boston College.
• The Cardinals return 14 letterwinners and welcome seven newcomers to the 2021 squad.
• Sophomore Cassady Greenwood paced the Cards offensively with a .386 batting average (17-for-44). her sister, redshirt junior Carmyn Greenwood stood second at .373.
• Redshirt sophomore Taylor Roby led the team with seven home runs and 16 RBIs. She also carried a 5-7 record in the circle with a team-best 2.00 ERA.
• Maddy Newman led the Cards with 13 runs and is second on the team with eight stolen bases.
• Celene Funke finished the season on a 10-game hitting streak. The senior centerfielder also had a team-best 13 stolen bases and three triples.
• During the early season, the Cardinals experienced some growing pains in the midst of a challenging schedule that featured 10 games against teams in the top 25 in the most recent rankings including: No. 9/9 Oregon, No. 13/11 Oklahoma State, No. 10/13 Alabama, No. 18/17 Michigan, No. 21/18 Baylor, No. 21/22 Mississippi State and No. 23/24 Missouri.
• The team emerged from the month-long road swing with some impressive milestones, including a season-opening upset against No. 21/25 Ole Miss, a no-hitter from Chardonnay Harris against Wichita State and handing then-10th-ranked Oregon its first loss of the season.
• UofL opened play at Ulmer Stadium by hosting the Red & Black Challenge. After dropping their first game 2-1 in extra innings to Illinois, the Cards posted three straight wins against Northwestern, Illinois and Evansville to finish the weekend.

Looking back to 2019
In its most recent complete season, 2019, the Cardinals posted a 35-23 overall record and a 12-12 mark in ACC play for a third place finish in the league's Atlantic Division and fifth in the overall conference standings.
• Louisville earned an at-large bid to the Evanston Regional and opened NCAA postseason play with a 9-5 win over Southern Illinois and folowed with a 2-1 upset of host No 18-17 Northwestern to advance to the regional final for the fifth time in school history and the first since the 2012 Louisville Regional.

Cards excel in the classroom
The Cardinals turned in impressive academic results in the fall semester earning a team GPA of 3.351. It marks the program's 31st straight semester with a collective GPA of 3.0 or higher - a streak dating back to the fall of 2005.
• The Cardinals also achieved some outstanding individual accomplishments as 19 out of 25 student-athletes will be named to the Athletic Director's honor roll after posting a mark of 3.0 or better. Eleven players made the Dean's List with a GPA of 3.5 or better.
•Senior Celene Funke and freshman Gabby Holloway earned Dean's Scholar status after posting a perfect 4.0 GPA - Funke did so while pursuing her MBA.

Louisville Welcomes Bradley, DePaul and Miami (Ohio) for Cardinal Classic

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Players Mentioned

Sydney Bickel

Charley Butler

Rebecca Chung

Mia Forsythe

Celene Funke

Carmyn Greenwood

Cassady Greenwood

Chardonnay Harris

Gabby Holloway

Jennifer Leonhardt

Vanessa Miller

Maddy Newman

Taylor Roby

Paige Schindler

Riley Schindler

Taryn Weddle

University of Louisville Athletics