March 26, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
No. 14/16 Louisville will embark on its first league road trip of the season with a doubleheader at St. John's on Saturday and a twinbill at Seton Hall on Sunday.
The Cardinals are batting a healthy .320 as a team and have eight starters hitting over .300 on the the season. Sophomore shortstop Colby Wherry leads the team with a .403 average. Sophomore third baseman Chelsea Bemis follows with a .398 average, six home runs and 27 RBI. Junior catcher Melissa Roth rounds out the top three at .381. The leadoff hitter also has a team-best 29 runs and nine doubles.
Louisville is also getting the job done in the circle with junior Kristen Wadwell and freshman Tori Collins combining for a 1.07 team ERA. Wadwell - the current BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week - has shouldered the majority of the pitching duties, logging 157.2 innings and has already surpassed her 20th win of the season. She carries a 0.93 ERA and leads the conference with 146 strikeouts.
Cards Against the Opponents
St. John's
March 28, Noon
Series Record: Louisville leads 5-2
Last Meeting: March 20, 2008 - Louisville won 1-0 and 3-2 at Ulmer Stadium
Scouting the Red Storm: St. John's brings an 11-12 overall record and a 1-3 mark into Saturday's game. The Red Storm swept a double header against Rider 8-3 and 4-2 Wednesday evening. Roxy Struble leads the team with a .411 batting average, five home runs and 21 RBI. Chelsea Durning follows at .343 and 16 runs scored. Linzee Sumrall (6-5) carries a 2.14 ERA and has 109 strikeouts in 75.1 innings.
Seton Hall
March 29,11 a.m.
Series Record: Louisville leads 6-0
Last Meeting: March 28, 2008 - Louisville won 8-4 and 9-1 at Ulmer Stadium
Scouting the Pirates: Seton Hall enters the weekend with a 12-13 record and a 3-3 mark in BIG EAST play. The Pirates are coming off of a double header sweep of Georgetown, defeating the Hoyas 11-2 and 3-0 on Wednesday. Michelle Reed leads the team with a .347 batting average and 16 runs. Britt Schillizzi follows at .338 and has a team-best four home runs and 19 RBI. Ashley Forsyth (5-5) has started 11 games and carries a 5.28 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 55.2 innings of work.
Cards Earn Highest Rankings in Program History
The University of Louisville softball moved to No. 14 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and remained at No. 16 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball and coaches polls released on Tuesday, March 23. The Cards also step in at No. 14 in the Ultimate College Softball rankings.
The rankings mark the highest in program history in each of the polls. The Cards matched their highest rankings last week when they were No. 15 in the NFCA poll and No. 16 in the USA Softball rankings. They were also No. 17 and 18 respectively in the 2006 season. This is their first year in the UCS poll.
Louisville on the National Scene
The Cardinals are ranked among the nation's leaders in several categories. As a team, Louisville is fourth in winning percentage (0.897) and seventh with a 1.10 ERA. Kristen Wadwell leads the nation with 21 wins. Colby Wherry is tied for first in the `toughest to strike out' category. She has not struck while playing in all of the Cards' 30 games this season. Melissa Roth has also been hit by a pitch 14 times to lead the nation.
Up Last
Louisville is coming off of a 6-1 win over Indiana. Chelsea Bemis went 3 for 4 and Kristen Wadwell picked up her 21st win as the Cards closed a 16 game homestand Tuesday evening.
On Deck
The Cardinals will travel to in-state rival Kentucky for a single game on April 1.
Wadwell Named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week; Roth on honor roll
The University of Louisville's Kristen Wadwell was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week for the second time the season the league office announced on March 23. Melissa Roth was selected to the honor roll.
Louisville junior pitcher Kristen Wadwell (Sydney Australia) never left the circle in a pair of complete-game wins against USF on the way to BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week honors. Wadwell posted a 0.00 ERA in three complete-game performances over the weekend. The junior got the wins in the 5-4, nine-inning decision and 5-0 shutout against USF on March 20. Wadwell notched another shutout on March 22 in Louisville's 8-0 blanking of Rutgers. The four runs scored against the Cardinals in the first USF game were unearned. The unblemished week gave Wadwell her career-high 20th win of the season. Wadwell fanned five batters in each game for a weekend total of 15 and held opponents to a .162 batting average.
Junior catcher Melissa Roth (Long Beach, Calif.) helped lead the Cardinals to a 4-0 record on the weekend. She batted .545 (6 for 11) on the weekend with two doubles, two homers, five RBI and scored eight runs in the Cards' opening weekend of BIG EAST play. She had at least one hit and one run in each of the games, including a home run and a 3 for 3, three run performance in the 5-0 win over USF. Roth registered her fifth homer of the season with a two-run shot in the 8-0 win over Rutgers. Louisville's leadoff hitter posted an impressive 1.273 slugging percentage and drew four walks to help her to a team-leading .688 on-base percentage on the weekend.
Card Notes
• Kristen Wadwell leads the nation with 21 wins and is 11th in the nation with a 0.96 ERA.
• Louisville leads the BIG EAST in team batting average (.320), slugging percentage (.479), home runs (21), ERA (1.07) and opponent batting average (.198)
• Chelsea Bemis leads the conference in RBI (27) and is tied for the home run lead with Kristi Cunningham - they each have 6 homers. Kristen Wadwell stands atop the league in wins (21), strikeouts (146) and is second with a 0.93 ERA.
• Junior Vanessa James tied a school record with two triples against Albany (2/21). She has seen time at second base, in the outfield and at designated player.
• Kristen Wadwell (21-3) has shouldered the majority of the pitching duties, logging 157.2 innings and posting a 0.93 ERA with 146 strikeouts. Freshman Tori Collins (6-0) has a 1.54 ERA with 12 starts in 45.1 innings of work.
• Collins is the first left-handed pitcher in the history of Louisville softball.
• Senior first baseman Kassie Stanfill is on a career-best 12 game hitting streak dating back to the March 7 Tennessee Tech game.
• Senior centerfielder Kristi Cunningham is now tied for third on the school's all-time home runs list with 25. She needs two more to tie former all-American Lacy Wood. Courtney Moore holds the record with
41.
Round Trippers
In the first half of the season, the Cardinals have hit 21 home runs, tying last year's total. Louisville stands atop the league with 21 home runs, while Kristi Cunningham and Chelsea Bemis each have six homer to lead the conference. The school record for most home runs in a season is 57, set in the 2005 season.
No Place Like Home
The Cardinals just completed a 16 game home stand which began the last weekend of February and spanned almost the entire month of March. During that time, they went 15-1 at Ulmer Stadium including four BIG EAST Conference victories.
Pearsall Reaches 600 Wins
The March 15, 6-3 win over Illinois-Chicago gave U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall her 600th career win. Pearsall is in her 23rd year as a head coach, and her tenth season since starting the program at U of L where the Cards have compiled a 356-209 record.
Cards in Tenth Season
Louisville softball is in its tenth season since beginning the program in 2000. Over the past nine years, with Pearsall at the helm, the Cards have amassed 338 wins, earned five consecutive NCAA tournament bids, earned their first top 20 ranking and won three conference championships.
