The University of Louisville softball team won its final regular season game with an 8-3 victory over North Carolina State on May 3 at Dail Stadium. Louisville, ranked No. 24, finished the regular season with a record of 43-11 overall and went 18-6 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
This result marks the Cardinals’ best conference performance since they posted an 18-4 record in the Big East in 2013. The win also gives Louisville momentum heading into postseason play.
Alyssa Zabala earned her fourteenth win after pitching four innings, while Brooke Gray secured her first save by throwing two and two-thirds hitless innings in relief. Camryn Lookadoo contributed two runs batted in and tied the program’s single-season doubles record with her twentieth double. Chelsea Mack led offensively by going three-for-four at bat, scoring twice, and stealing two bases. Bri Despines hit her second home run of the weekend as part of a three-RBI day.
The Cardinals broke through offensively in the third inning after both teams were scoreless through two frames. Lookadoo doubled to drive in Mack and Easton Lotus, then Taylor Monroe walked to bring home another run before Jordan Williams drove in another on a fielder’s choice. NC State scored once each in the third and twice more in the fifth but could not overcome Louisville’s lead.
Louisville added three insurance runs during the sixth inning thanks to Despines’ home run following singles from Mack and Lotus. Gray closed out the game by retiring six of seven batters faced across the final two innings.
Louisville will next face NC State again on Wednesday, May 6, for their opening game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
