Louisville silences USF bats
The South Florida Softball team lost consecutive games Saturday at Louisville for the first time since March 8 on the second day of the Speedline Invitational.
Jessica Rak pitched both games for a total of 13 innings and 200 pitches to lead Louisville (17-17, 5-2) to 2-1 and 8-0 victories. She leads Conference USA with 142 1/3 innings and 15 wins.
Despite Rak’s performance, the Bulls credit the two losses to a less-than-stellar attitude.
“We were just off this weekend,” sophomore outfielder Holly Groves said. “She wasn’t throwing anything this week.”
The Bulls regard the weekend more as a defeat due to a lack of intensity, rather than the Cardinals dominating them.
“I think everyone tried to pump everyone up, but it didn’t happen,” Groves said. “We were nonchalant towards the game.”
USF’s two leading pitchers, Corin Tassio and Niki Trowell, allowed a combined 17 hits, including seven in the second game from C-USA Pitcher of the Week Tassio (8-6). Trowell (8-10) allowed 10 hits in only 5 1/3 innings.
The Bulls’ (19-23-1, 5-5) bats struggled against the Cardinals with only three hits each game.
The Bulls, who lead the conference with 125 walks, could only get three free passes in the first game and had trouble getting their offense started, holding the league-leading base stealers to two bases.
The Bulls scored their lone run of the weekend when Carmela Liwag scored on a sacrifice fly by Renee Oursler.
The Bulls will have time to get back to their winning ways during their next game April 10 when they host Florida.
“I think we learned from it. I don’t think we’ll ever have that same attitude towards the game again,” Groves said. “(We) didn’t like the way (we) felt after the game.”
More Stories
Meet the Team
Oracle EditorProfile
USF gives it away in Memphis 34-33
At the half, a 14-point lead meant USF was on track to win its first conference game in over a calendar year. That energy was kept up even with under five minutes to go when the Bulls were up 33-20. Then USF watched as its lead went from comfortable, to slim, to nonexistent in the […]
Club teams missing competition, friendship due to COVID-19
Under normal circumstances, Grant Nolder, president of the USF flag football team would be preparing for the club’s biggest competition of the year, the Swamp Bowl. The annual tournament, hosted at UF, typically takes place during the fall semester and features some of the best club flag football teams in the country. Winners of the […]
Bulls battle with ECU in OT win
Coach Brian Gregory said Tuesday the Bulls didn’t play complete, 40-minute games in their two losses last week. It’s debatable if they did Wednesday night against East Carolina (11-18, 5-11) at the Yuengling Center, but it was more than enough to put up a 73-68 overtime win. “It’s funny. There were stretches where we played […]
First SG scholarship rewards student leaders
Student Government (SG) launched the first-of-its-kind, merit-based scholarship to students Nov. 5 on USF’s Tampa campus. As a part of Student Body President Britney Deas and Student Body Vice President Travis McCloskey’s platform, Bull S.H.I.F.T., — Success, Health, Innovation, Finance and Tradition — the SG’s Student Leadership Scholarship consists of two merit-based scholarships which will […]
On-campus Jabil institute sparks anticipation from students
A plan drafted on a bar napkin two years ago has now become the USF Jabil Innovation Institute, a multi-million dollar institute combining the College of Engineering and the Muma College of Business. Senior Vice President of Advancement and CEO of the USF Foundation Joel Momberg and Jabil CEO Mark Mondello jotted the idea down […]