Louisville and Houston each swept a conference series last weekend. The Cardinals beat DePaul with three shutouts, while the Cougars were victorious at UAB. Louisville pulled ahead of USF in the standings with its conference record of 13-2.


HITTER OF THE WEEK

COURTNEY MOORE, LOUISVILLE
Fr., SS, Visalia, Calif.

Moore helped Louisville to a 5-0 record on the week, including a three-game shutout sweep of DePaul. She batted .467 over the stretch (7-for-15) with two home runs and one double. The rookie hit safely in each game and had a team-leading six RBI and .933 slugging percentage. Moore went 2-for-3 with a home run in the U of L’s 8-1 win at Western Kentucky and 2-for-3 again in the Cards’ 2-0 win over the Blue Demons. She currently leads the team with 36 RBI and a .585 slugging percentage.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK

KADY GARRICK, LOUISVILLE
Fr., RHP, Tucson, Ariz.

Garrick led Louisville from the mound last week with two winning appearances including a shutout victory over conference foe DePaul on Friday. She went 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA over the week. In 11 innings pitched, she allowed just one run and walked one. The rookie held her opponents to a .194 batting average. She currently boasts an ERA of 1.72.

NATIONAL POLLS
USA Today/NFCA Poll (as of Apr. 4)
1. Arizona (24)
2. UCLA
3. Florida State
4. California
5. Georgia
6. LSU
7. Washington
8. Louisiana-Lafayette
9. Michigan
10. Alabama
11. Stanford
12. Tennessee
13. Fresno State
14. Oregon
15. Oregon State
16. Florida
17. Oklahoma
18. USF
19. Nebraska
20. Baylor
21. Pacific
22. Long Beach State
23. Auburn
24. Texas State
25. South Carolina


ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll (as of Apr. 4)
1. Arizona (20)
2. UCLA
3. Florida State
4. LSU
5. California
6. Georgia
7. Louisiana-Lafayette
8. Washington
9. Stanford
10. Michigan
11. Alabama
12. Tennessee
13. Florida
14. Oregon State
15. Oregon
16. Fresno State
17. Oklahoma
18. Nebraska
19. Pacific
20. USF
21. South Carolina
22. Georgia Tech
23. Baylor
24. Long Beach State
25. Auburn

ARV: LOUISVILLE (1)




USF PICKED TO WIN 2004 C-USA TITLE
CHICAGO – Nationally ranked and NCAA Tournament regular, USF (54-19, 17-6), has been selected to win the 2004 Conference USA Softball Championship, as voted on by the league’s nine head coaches. The Bulls’ Leigh Ann Ellis has been named preseason Pitcher of the Year while DePaul’s Sarah Martz has been chosen as the preseason Most Valuable Player.

Ellis led the USF program to its fifth NCAA appearance after notching a 1.29 ERA and a 34-11 record last season. The Barboursville, W. Va. native struck out a conference-high 320 batters in just 315.2 innings pitched. Ellis was also named to the All-C-USA first team as well as All-Southeast Region first team as a junior last year.

Martz, a two-time All-American, finished the 2003 season with a .448 batting average that ranked 12th in the nation, while also producing 15 pitching wins with just one loss.

PRESEASON POLL
(2003 Overall, Conference Records)

1. USF (54-19, 17-6)
2. DePaul (48-7-1, 22-2)
3. Houston (36-24, 15-9)
4. Louisville (24-26, 12-11)
5. Southern Miss (28-30, 12-12)
6. UAB (28-28, 10-14)
7. East Carolina (24-31, 5-19)
8. Charlotte (14-31, 4-19)
9. Saint Louis (21-18, 9-14)

PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE TEAM
C: Arelis Ferreris, Houston
IF: Kattrina Dowd, USF
IF: Kristen Glowacz, Houston
IF: Carmela Liwag, USF
IF: Saskia Roberson, DePaul
IF: Christine Sheridan, East Carolina
IF: Aja Sherman, Louisville
OF: Heather Bell, Southern Miss
OF: Holly Groves, USF
OF: Shannon Nord, Louisville
OF: Shelly Riker, USF
P: Leigh Ann Ellis, USF
P: Jamie Falco, Houston
UT: Sarah Martz, Jr., DePaul
DP: Jenilee Skender, Houston

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Sarah Martz, DePaul
PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Leigh Ann Ellis, USF


AROUND THE HORN

CHARLOTTE (16-17, 3-9 C-USA): Charlotte raised its win total for the season to 16 with a pair of victories at Saint Louis over the weekend. The 49ers nearly made it three in a row in the series finale, but lost 1-0 on a sacrifice fly with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. The victory in game two of the doubleheader against the Billikens gave head coach AIMEE DEVOS 200 for her career. CHRISTY MURRAY struckout six in the same game, matching her career-high. J.J. MCVAY led the Niners at the plate for the week, batting .571.

DE PAUL (12-19-1, 7-5 C-USA): DePaul dropped three straight conference road games at Louisville last weekend. SASKIA ROBERSON connected on her 11th double of the season in the second game of the series. Her mark is tied for fifth in Conference USA this season. The junior is second in slugging percentage (.748) and home runs (8), and tied for third in batting average (.408) in the league. The Blue Demons will return to Wish Field on Tuesday with a doubleheader against Valparaiso.

EAST CAROLINA (38-13-1, 5-10 C-USA): KATE MANUSE hit her 22nd double of the season to lift the Pirates to a 2-1 victory over No. 18 USF. The extra-base hit set the record for C-USA single-season doubles. The Pirates’ victory also ended the Bulls’ 17-game winning streak. ECU dropped the other two games of the series. Freshman KELI HARRELL scattered seven hits over seven innings and struck out seven to earn her 11th win of the season. She allowed just one hit in the final three frames as she tossed her 10th complete game. The Pirates return to action on Saturday with a doubleheader against Liberty. Game one of the twin bill is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Lynchburg, Va.

HOUSTON (28-16, 7-5 C-USA): Houston registered its second conference sweep of the season with a trio of victories over UAB last weekend. JEANIE DAVIS' sixth inning grand slam boosted the Cougars to a come-from-behind win over the Blazers in game one of a doubleheader at George Ward Park in Birmingham, Ala. After picking up just one hit through five innings, the Cougars used a five-run, five-hit rally in the sixth inning to overcome a 4-1 deficit to take the series opener. In game two, BROOKE JOHNSON hit her first home run of the year with a two-run line drive shot over the right field fence. UH will be in action again this weekend when they take on Louisville in a league doubleheader.

LOUISVILLE (32-10, 13-2 C-USA): Louisville took three conference games from DePaul last weekend, all shutouts, to increase its winning streak to 10 games, a program best. It was the first time the Cardinals have ever swept the Blue Demons. In game two of the series, junior AJA SHERMAN (10-2) threw a one-hitter for her fourth straight conference shutout and sixth straight win of the season. COURTNEY MOORE hit 4-for-9 in the series, including a double and a home run, while tallying two runs and three RBI. U of L takes its string of victories to Houston this weekend for a conference match-up. Last year, the Cards went 2-1 against the Cougars at home.

SAINT LOUIS (16-29, 1-11 C-USA): Saint Louis claimed its first conference victory of the season, after taking the series finale from Charlotte at home on Saturday. The Billikens dropped the first two of the weekend’s trio of games. In the 1-0 win, freshman CHRISTY ERNST lofted a sac fly to rightfield to score KERRI HIGGINS for the only run of the game. The Billikens have won 10 of 16 games by one run. SLU has won the last four games that have been decided by a single tally and are 10-6 in one-run games. ELIZABETH NIELSEN pitched the complete-game shut out, striking out six while scattering two hits. She has broken the SLU single-season record for appearances with 36. The previous record of 34 was held by Nicole Bohnenstiehl and Heather Hubert.

USF (44-8, 12-3 C-USA): The Bulls went 2-1 at East Carolina last weekend. Game two ended No. 18 USF’s 17-game winning streak. The streak placed the Bulls tied for fourth on the all-time C-USA list. In the series finale on Saturday, CARMELA LIWAG led the offense to the 11-3 victory. Liwag went 3-for-5 with a double, two home runs (one from each side of the plate) and six RBI. LEIGH ANN ELLIS threw for the two wins of the series, striking out 18 in 15 innings pitched. She improved her record to 30-4. The Bulls will return to the USF Softball Complex for a three-game series against UAB this weekend.

SOUTHERN MISS (21-19, 9-3 C-USA): Southern Miss dropped a single contest to Mississippi State last Tuesday. The Bulldogs reeled off six runs over the first two innings, securing the eventual 6-3 victory. The Golden Eagles won the first meeting of the season, 6-0, two weeks ago in Hattiesburg. DIANE HAMMES connected on a two-run homer to cut the lead to 6-4 but USM could only come up with one more when CHARITY BUTLER scored on JESSICA HUERTA’s fielder’s choice. AURIEL JENKINS picked up two of the squad’s five hits, while Hammes led all players with two RBI.

UAB (16-26, 3-12 C-USA): UAB lost its fourth-consecutive Conference USA series this weekend as the Blazers were swept by the Houston Cougars, 6-4, 6-0, 7-5, at George Ward Park in Birmingham, Ala. The Blazers are currently in the midst of their second, eight-game losing streak of the 2004 campaign and have not won a game since March 27. After a 2-1 victory over Louisville in the opening game of a three-game series, UAB lost the next two contests against the Cardinals and were then swept by both Southern Miss and Houston. The Blazers will look to snap their losing streak on Tuesday as they host the Chattanooga Mocs in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m.


WINNING BIG
Houston and Louisville have combined to post five wins over nationally-ranked teams. USF has also recorded a win, beating then-No. 7 Stanford. Here's a look at this season's ranked wins:

2004 RANKED NON-CONFERENCE WINS
Feb. 18 Houston 6, (15) Texas A&M 5
Feb. 18 Houston, 3, (15) Texas A&M 0
Feb. 20 Louisville 3, (4) Oklahoma 1
Feb. 28 (22) USF 8, (7) Stanford 0
Feb. 29 Louisville 2, (19) Iowa 0
Mar. 6 Houston 2, (5) Oklahoma 1

FLAWLESS ON THE BASES
East Carolina’s LACASSA HILL has stolen a conference-leading 39 bases in 39 attempts for a perfect record this season. She moved into 10th place on the ECU career stolen base list with 56.

2004 NO-HITTERS
Louisville’s AJA SHERMAN pitched the second no-hitter of the 2004 season against UAB on Sunday, March 28. She held the Blazers hitless and struck out five in seven innings. In 2003, there were six no-hitters thrown in Conference USA

2004 No-Hitters
March 28 Aja Sherman, Louisville (5) at UAB (0)
March 4 Jessica Saunier, Southern Miss (10) vs. Alabama State (0)


ONE-RUN GAMES
Charlotte 7-3
DePaul 4-5
East Carolina 12-3
Houston 8-8
Louisville 5-4
Saint Louis 10-6
USF 7-5
Southern Miss 8-1
UAB 11-11

NON-CONFERENCE RECORDS
Last season, Conference USA teams posted a non-conference record of 156-92-1, the best non-league ledger in C-USA’s first four seasons of softball. Here’s a look at this year’s non-conference marks:

Charlotte 13-8
DePaul 5-14-1
East Carolina 31-3-1
Houston 21-11
Louisville 19-8
Saint Louis 15-18
USF 32-5
Southern Miss 12-16
UAB 13-14
TOTAL 161-97-2


MAKING PROGRESS
For the fifth year in a row, Conference USA teams are in position to show an improvement in non-conference action. League teams won more than 60 percent of their non-league games in 2003. Here’s a look at how the league has fared in non-conference action in all five years the league has had softball:

2004: 161-97-2 (.623)
2003: 156-92-1 (.628)
2002: 180-125-1 (.589)
2001: 94-81-1 (.537)
2000: 78-71(.523)

ELLIS NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
USF’s LEIGH ANN ELLIS was named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week for the period ending March 7. The southpaw pitched recorded four wins and one save to earn MVP of the Speedline Invitational. She struck out 19 batters in 24 innings while posting a perfect 0.00 ERA. The senior held her opponents to a .163 batting average to lead the Bulls to a 6-0 mark over the week and the tournament title.

GROVES AND ELLIS ON PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Teammates HOLLY GROVES and LEIGH ANN ELLIS of USF have been named to the list of 25 finalists for the third annual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award. This award, which is considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball and is the only softball national player of the year award, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. The initial watch list was comprised of 40 players and will be narrowed down for the second time, to ten players, on April 28.

COACHING MILESTONES
Charlotte head coach AIMEE DEVOS earned her 200th win of her career last Friday with the 49ers’ win over Saint Louis. Devos is in her 10th year as head coach and 11th year with the Niners’ program.

Louisville’s head coach SANDY PEARSALL recorded her 400th career win in the Cardinals’ 5-0 shutout against UAB on March 28. In her fifth season with U of L, Pearsall has accumulated 161 victories.

RAGING BULLS
USF has a player leading, or tied for, in 13 of 18 of C-USA’s major hitting categories. HOLLY GROVES is tops, or tied for, in eight of the lists. East Carolina leads in five categories. Here’s a look at who holds the top spot in each hitting category:

Batting Average Holly Groves, USF .438
Slugging Percentage Holly Groves, USF .790
On Base Percentage Kattrina Dowd, USF .531
Runs Scored Kattrina Dowd, USF 48
Shelly Riker, USF 48
Hits Holly Groves, USF 71
Runs Batted In Holly Groves, USF 69
Doubles Kate Manuse, East Carolina 22
Triples Audrey Rendon, Louisville 6
Home Runs Holly Groves, USF 14
Total Bases Holly Groves, USF 128
Walks Christine Sheridan, East Carolina 32
Hit By Pitch Sarah Watson, USF 8
Sac Bunts Shelly Riker, USF 14
Sac Flies Holly Groves, USF 4
Kate Manuse, East Carolina 4
Stolen Bases Lacassa Hill, East Carolina 39
Total Plate Appearances Carmela Liwag, USF 186
At Bats Holly Groves, USF 162
Steal Attempts Lacassa Hill, East Carolina 39


ERIKSEN NAMED TO USA SOFTBALL COACHING STAFF
USF’s KEN ERIKSEN will serve on the 2004 Olympic Team coaching staff. Eriksen joins John Rittman (Stanford University) as an assistant to head coach Mike Candrea (University of Arizona). The trio will attempt to lead the Women’s National Team to its third (of a possible three) consecutive gold medal, in Athens, Greece this summer.

Eriksen’s teams met up on March 6 as USF matched up against the USA Olympic team at Clearwater, Fla. in an exhibition game. LEIGH ANN ELLIS struck out five batters and held USA scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning but the Olympians rallied to win 3-0. Team USA also met up with DePaul at the Kia Klassic in Fullerton, Calif. on March 18. The Blue Demons fell 9-0.

2004 C-USA TOURNAMENT
The 2004 Dr. Mark Lynn & Assoc., PLLC Conference USA Softball Tournament will be held May 13-15 in Louisville, Kentucky. Three year old Ulmer Stadium on the University of Louisville’s campus will serve as the host site of the double-elimination tournament. The championship game on Saturday, May 15 will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network. Louisville played host the 2001 Conference USA Tournament, where Southern Miss defeated DePaul, 2-0, in the championship. The Blue Demons are the defending tournament champion.



RE-WRITING THE BOOKS
KATE MANUSE of East Carolina has claimed the league single-season record for doubles. She has tallied 22 this year and has outdone former Pirate, Angela Manzo who set the record with 21 in 2002. Manuse’s record-setting extra base hit lifted ECU to a win over No. 18 USF last weekend.

This season, HOLLY GROVES of USF has collected 69 RBI to take over the No. 1 slot in the C-USA single-season record book. The top spot was previously held by Amy Berman of Southern Miss who batted in 58 in 2000.

Houston’s JENNY JOHNSON has also made the C-USA annals after recording eight saves this season. The previous record of five was held by Jamie Peterka of USF (2001) and Lindsay Chouinard (2000, 2002).


PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Each Monday during the season Conference USA names a Hitter of the Week and a Pitcher of the Week. Here’s a look at the season’s winners:

HITTER OF THE WEEK
Feb. 9 Michelle Keith 1B Houston
Feb. 16 Mandi Nichols INF East Carolina
Audrey Rendon 3B Louisville
Feb. 23 Lisa Estes C/OF Louisville
Mar. 1 Courtney Moore SS Louisville
Mar. 8 Courtney Moore SS Louisville
Mar. 15 Holly Groves OF USF
Mar. 22 Kate Manuse INF East Carolina
Mar. 29 Auriel Jenkins OF Southern Miss
Apr. 5 Tiffany Stewart OF USF
Apr. 12 Courtney Moore SS Louisville

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Feb. 9 Leigh Ann Ellis LHP USF
Feb. 16 Kady Garrick RHP Louisville
Feb. 23 Jenny Johnson P Houston
Mar. 1 Catherine Bishop RHP Louisville
Erica Mascarenas RHP UAB
Mar. 8 Jenny Johnson P Houston
Leigh Ann Ellis LHP USF
Mar. 15 Jenny Johnson P Houston
Mar. 22 Leigh Ann Ellis LHP USF
Mar. 29 Leigh Ann Ellis LHP USF
Sarah Martz RHP DePaul
Apr. 5 Leigh Ann Ellis LHP USF
Aja Sherman RHP Louisville
Apr. 12 Kady Garrick RHP Louisville