By Eddie Bobbitt
The University of Louisville softball team is opening this season by hosting this year’s Red and Black tournament at Ulmer Stadium in Cardinal Park on Feb. 23-25. The Cardinals will be hosting Kansas University, Kent State University, and University of Iowa.
The nationally ranked Cardinals dropped their first two contests of the year against the No. 16 ranked University of Oklahoma Sooners and University of Illinois at the Florida International Fun & Sun Diamond Classic on Friday. The losses came despite 11 hits in the Oklahoma game and six hits in the Illinois game.
Currently the Cardinals are led by senior pitcher Catherine Bishop of Adelaide, Australia. Bishop was named to the Amateur Softball Association’s Top 50 Watch List and for the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Award.
“Catherine is extremely deserving of this honor,” said U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall. “She has worked very hard, and each year she has improved, not only in her pitches, but also in her speed, as well as developing a stronger mental game. We believe this will be her best year ever.”
The Kansas Jayhawks are the first challenge of the tournament for the Cards. Kansas is coming off a Big 12 postseason championship, the first in school history. They won their season opener against University of California Santa Barbara but lost their second game against the California Bears at the Cambell-Cartier Classic last week, but look to rebound on the Cards.
Kansas’ top returning hitter is third baseman sophomore Val Chapple of Overland Park, Kan. Chapple started 61 games last season and compiled a .228 batting average.
“Chapple learned a lot last year as a freshman and will be solid defensively while continuing to work on her hitting weaknesses,” coach Tracy Bunge said.
Kansas has a Top 50 Watch List player of their own, senior pitcher Kassie Humphreys from Glendale, Ariz. She is an All-Big 12 Conference First Team selection and also compiled a 19-17 record while holding hitters to a .156 batting average as a junior last season. She also posted a 1.19 ERA last year
The second game will be against Kent State. Kent State has not played a game yet and will not until this Friday when they play at the Greensboro Tournament, in Greensboro, N.C. They will square off against Ohio University for their season opener.
Iowa opened their season with a dominating performance at the Stetson Tournament in Deland, Fla. with wins over Howard University and Marist College. Both games were shutouts, and the combined score of the two games was 19-0. Against Howard, junior Stephanie Ackerson of Clive, Iowa, threw a five-inning no-hitter in her first career start.
“I really was confident in my pitches around that time. The defense was awesome behind me and they made some great plays,” said Ackerson.
The Cardinals went 4-1 last year at the Red and Black Classic. Their only loss was to instate rival Western Kentucky University.
