Cards Down No. 21/24 Arizona

Wednesday, March 6

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

5:30 PM

University of Louisville

16-5

Arizona

17-4-1

Arizona

Louisville

March 06, 2024 | Softball

Box Score Vanessa Miller and Alyssa Zabala postgame interview

Miller, Richardson homer, Zabala tosses a complete game as the Cards build an early lead and hold on for a 5-3 win over No. 21/24 Arizona

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville softball team built an early 4-0 lead and held on to beat No. 21/24 Arizona 5-3 Wednesday evening at Ulmer Stadium. The Cardinals (16-5) will continue their eight-game home stand on Friday at 6 p.m. when they welcome No. 20/15 Virginia Tech to Ulmer Stadium for their Atlantic Coast Conference opening series.

Alyssa Zabala went the distance to improve to 10-1 on the season, scattering six hits and striking out five. Vanessa Miller connected on her fifth home run of the season, Bailee Richardson added another homer and Riley Frizell doubled to extend her on-base streak to 19 games.

After the teams played through a scoreless first inning, the Cardinals broke through with three runs in the second. Kiley Goff drew a one-out walk and an error on Ally Alexander's sacrifice bunt placed two runners on for Paige Geraghty's RBI single. Katie Thatcher was hit by a pitch to load the bases and another Arizona miscue sent Alexander home. Geraghty crossed the plate when Gabby Holloway reached on a fielder's choice to make the score 3-0.

Miller led off the third inning by crushing a shot over the right field fence for her fifth home run of the season, extending Louisville's lead to 4-0.

Zabala and the Cardinals' defense retired the first 11 batters before Dakota Kennedy registered the Wildcats' first hit of the game with a two-out single in the top of the fourth. Carlie Scupin followed with an RBI double to put Arizona on the scoreboard.

Louisville got the run back in the home half of the fifth inning when Richardson lifted a two-out solo shots over the center field fence.

The Wildcats (17-4-1) quickly countered in the sixth behind Ally Skaggs' two-out, two-run homer which made the score 5-3.

The Cards threatened to score again in the sixth when Ava Venturelli earned a walk, Geraghty followed with a sacrifice bunt. Chelsea Mack reached safely on a bunt single and proceeded to steal second, placing two runners in scoring position, but a groundout ended the frame.

Arizona built another scoring opportunity in the seventh when a hit and error send Regan Shockey to third and brought the tying run to the plate, but Zabala delivered a called strikeout and retired the final batter on a groundout to shut the door.

NOTES:

Louisville improves to 2-0 at Ulmer Stadium this season.
Wednesday's win marks Louisville's first victory over Arizona. The Wildcats now lead the series 4-1.
The last time Louisville defeated a top-25 team was on March 12, 2023 when the Cardinals defeated No. 15/15 Duke 13-9 in Durham.
The last time Louisville defeated a top-25 team at home was on April 23, 2021 when they beat No. 7/7 Florida State 5-1.
Zabala has earned the last six victories in the circle for the Cardinals.
Paige Geraghty is now on a seven-game hitting streak.