By Dalton Ray–

In the first day of the annual Red & Black Tournament, softball (10-6) defeated Indiana State (6-5) and Wisconsin Green Bay (1-4). In day two, Louisville plays Wisconsin Green Bay at 12:30 p.m. and Bowling Green at 3 p.m.

Even though the Cards walk away with two wins, coach Sandy Pearsall sees room for improvement.

“Obviously I’m happy with the wins but I don’t think we were real good today. We did some good things here and there but I don’t think our pitching was particularly sharp,” Pearsall said. “We relied on their mistakes and I don’t want to rely on their mistakes.”

Pearsall said the team plays best when they’re playing loose and she doesn’t want to have a let down as the team opens up their home slate.

Indiana State, 9-6

Stat leaders:

  • Redshirt junior Nicole Pufahl bats 4-for-4 with seven RBIs
  • Senior Tiarra Sanabria hits 3-of-4 with four RBIs and a home run
  • Senior Maryssa Becker (7-4) threw 88 pitches in five innings with two strikeouts

Rundown:

Louisville jumped up 5-1 after two innings. Scoring another run in the third, the Sycamores claimed the lead during a four-run fourth inning.

Not to be outdone, the Cardinals answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning, making the Louisville lead 10-6.

After ISU went scoreless in the top of the fifth, Sanabria finished the game with a four-run walk-off homer. Up 14-6 in the bottom of the inning, the Cards won due to the eight-run rule.

Wisconsin Green Bay, 8-0

Stat leaders:

  • Pufahl goes 2-for-3 with two RBIs
  • Freshman Caitlin Ferguson records three RBIs going 2-for-3
  • Sophomore Megan Hensley (3-2) throws 110 pitches in 5.2 innings, recording six strikeouts and no earned runs

Rundown:

At the bottom of the first inning, sophomore Lillie Goetz followed Beckers single with a double. With two outs, Pufahl collected her eighth and ninth RBI on the day with a single.

The next three innings went by quietly as both team only registered one hit. With bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning, Hensley got out of her jam by striking out Allie Taylor.

In the bottom of the inning, Ferguson’s two-run RBI double made Louisville’s lead 4-0.

Bases loaded again in the top of the sixth inning, Becker replaced Hensley and ended the threat by striking out Olivia Magaldi. The Cards recorded four runs in the bottom of the sixth, giving Louisville their second win through the eight-run rule.

Courtesy photo / Louisville Athletics