DePaul's Eugene Lenti recorded the 800th win of his career as the Blue Demons defeated Northwestern 6-3 at home on Wednesday. Louisville had its 17th shutout of the season with a 3-0 victory at Evansville while Leigh Ann Ellis threw a one-hitter to lead USF to a 5-0 victory at Jacksonville.

HITTER OF THE WEEK

SARAH BOYD, SOUTHERN MISS
Sr., DP, Mandeville, La.
Boyd led Southern Miss to a perfect record and a conference three-game sweep over East Carolina, hitting 4-for-11. She reeled off a double and two home runs, while scoring four runs and posting four RBI in just three games. In the first game of the series, Boyd smashed a solo home run to tie the game and force the game into extra innings. Boyd also had key hits in Sunday’s win with an RBI double to tie the game in the sixth and then a two-run homer to seal the win in the seventh.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK

AJA SHERMAN, LOUISVILLE
Jr., RHP, Las Vegas
Sherman earns C-USA Pitcher of the Week for the period ending May 2 and for the third time this season. The Las Vegas native registered her third no-hitter of the year in Louisville’s 1-0 win over Evansville last Tuesday. Only three other players in league history have thrown as many no-hitters in a single season. It also marked the fourth of her career. During the contest, Sherman struck 11 to match a career-high. The shutout marked the 16th for U of L, a program record.

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

ARV: LOUISVILLE (12)


ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll (as of May 2)
1. Arizona (19)
2. Florida State (1)
3. UCLA
4. LSU
5. California
6. Stanford
7. Michigan
8. Washington
9. Louisiana-Lafayette
10. Oregon
11. Tennessee
12. Georgia
13. Alabama
14. Nebraska
15. Fresno State
16. Auburn
17. Oregon State
18. USF
19. Long Beach State
20. Oklahoma
21. Florida
t22. Baylor
t22. Georgia Tech
24. Texas A&M
25. Notre Dame

ARV: LOUISVILLE (3), SOUTHERN MISS (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

TOURNAMENT CHAMPS
Five C-USA teams have combined to win 12 tournament crowns this season. East Carolina has claimed the most with four while USF has three tourney crowns under its belt. Here’s a look at this season’s tournament champions:

TEAM TOURNAMENT
East Carolina Hampton Inn Pirate Classic, Pirate Clash, Cougar Classic,
GMU Patriot Classic
Houston Hyatt Regency Cougar Classic
Louisville Red and Black Classic, Courtyard Marriott East Classic
USF USF-Best Western, GRU-Classic, Speedline Invitational
UAB Holiday Inn Select Tulsa Festival, Magic City Classic
AROUND THE HORN

CHARLOTTE (22-27, 5-15 C-USA): JESSICA MOORE broke the 49ers' single-season record for home runs last week, hitting three roundtrippers to raise her 2004 total to nine. The previous record was seven, shared by Stephanie Dunlap and Leah Heston. Two of those home runs won games for Charlotte. Both were three-run blasts and were against Appalachian State and Houston. Moore is also climbing the single-season lists for runs scored and RBI. She is tied for third with 36 runs, and is eighth in runs batted in. The team's 22 wins so far this season match the most for the program since 1998. The Niners will conclude their regular season next weekend as they host East Carolina for a three-game series.

DE PAUL (23-27-1, 11-8 C-USA): DePaul head coach EUGENE LENTI recorded his 800th career win on Wednesday in the second game of a double header against Northwestern at Wish Field. Lenti has been at the helm of the Blue Demon program for 23 seasons and becomes the 16th softball coach in NCAA Division I to reach the 800 mark. DePaul split the twinbill with the Wildcats dropping game one in the top of the 11th (6-0) and taking the night cap 6-3. SARAH MARTZ recorded her 18th win of the season while freshman LINDA SECKA hit an in-the-park home run.

EAST CAROLINA (44-19-1, 8-13 C-USA): East Carolina dropped three contests to Southern Miss at home last weekend. LACASSA HILL posted her seventh triple of the season. Her mark is tied for the most single-season triples in league history. No other player has reached the mark since SARAH MARTZ of DePaul when she connected on seven triples in 2001. ECU returns to action on Thursday at Elon before concluding C-USA regular season play next weekend at Charlotte.

HOUSTON (32-22, 9-11 C-USA): Houston split a doubleheader with Charlotte at home last Sunday. The series was just two games due to heavy rain on Saturday. UH picked up the win in game one with the help of a six hit, six run inning in the third. The Cougars batted through their line-up and hit for the cycle as a team in the bottom of the third frame. JENILEE SKENDER hit her eighth home run of the year over the leftfield fence. JAMIE FALCO tossed a one-hitter to pick up a victory in her final home game as a Cougar. The senior threw six consecutive hitless innings and struck out four. She currently leads the league with eight saves. Houston’s win also solidified a spot for the Cougars in the 2004 C-USA Softball Tournament.

LOUISVILLE (40-12, 19-2 C-USA): Louisville recorded its 17th shutout of the season with a 3-0 win at Evansville on Wednesday. It marked the Cardinals’ 40th victory and matched the school record for wins set in 2001, when U of L went 40-26. After three scoreless innings, COURTNEY MOORE connected on a solo home run to put the Cards on the board in the fourth frame. AJA SHERMAN recorded the second roundtripper of the day, a two-run homer in the same inning. KADY GARRICK picked up the win after pitching two hitless innings of relief. U of L battles Southern Miss this weekend for the regular season crown and the No. 1 seed in the C-USA Tournament.

SAINT LOUIS (16-42, 1-20 C-USA): ELIZABETH NIELSEN has broken the school record for innings pitched in a season with 221.2. The previous record of 201 innings worked was first set by Heather Hubert in 2001. ADRIENNE MAY stole her 21st base this season, as SLU dropped three to UAB over the weekend. It is the third-highest single-season stolen bases total at Saint Louis. The record is 25 set by Missy Keim in 1990. LOGAN JUSTICE has driven in 25 runs, tied for third on the single-season RBI list. The record is 31 set by Nicole Bohnenstiel, and the second-most is ASHLEIGH WILLIAMS’ 28 this season. The Billikens have played in 58 games this season. The SLU record for games in a season is 59 set in 2001.

USF (51-10, 18-5 C-USA): HOLLY GROVES broke the C-USA single-season record for home runs when she cranked out her 17th of the year to lead USF to a 5-0 victory at Jacksonville on Wednesday. The previous record of 16 was set by DePaul’s SASKIA ROBERSON last season. LEIGH ANN ELLIS broke the USF record for wins with her 35th of the year. Ellis previously set the record with 34 victories last season. The lefty pitched six scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing just one hit. The Bulls have finished league play and play at UCF on Friday.

SOUTHERN MISS (29-22, 16-4 C-USA): Southern Miss won its fifth C-USA game in a row with a weekend sweep at East Carolina. The Golden Eagles’ 29 wins are the most for the program in three seasons, surpassing the 28-wins in both 2002 and 2003. With the series sweep, USM won its sixth league series of the season. Five Golden Eagles led the team with four hits on the week. ASHLEY BRENAN and AURIEL JENKINS each batted .444 (4-for-9), while SARAH BOYD, ASHLEY DAVIS and DIANE HAMMES all added four hits. Brenan and Boyd both had two home runs, while Jenkins and HEATHER BELL added solo home runs. Jenkins and Boyd now are tied with JESSICA HUERTA for the team lead in homers with seven each.

UAB (19-34, 6-15 C-USA): UAB completed its first three-game series sweep of the season last Sunday as the Blazers defeated Saint Louis at George Ward Park on Sunday with a come-from-behind win. The Blazers are undefeated against the Billikens at home and own a lopsided 14-2 all-time record versus SLU. Prior to facing Saint Louis this weekend, the Blazers played a home-and-home series against Mississippi State and lost both contests. UAB will next be in action on Saturday as the Blazers square off against the DePaul in Chicago.

LIFE IS GRAND
Houston saw its fourth grand slam of the year when JENILEE SKENDER registered her first of the season in the Cougars’ 5-3 win over McNeese State on April 27. Here’s a look at this season’s grand-slam hitters:

HITTER GS-HR MOST RECENT
Holly Groves, USF 2 Feb. 1, vs. Bethune Cookman
Tiffany Stewart, USF 2 April 4, vs. Saint Louis
Kristen Glowacz, HOU 2 Apr. 24, at USF
Ashley Davis, USM 1 Feb. 5, vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Christine Sheridan, ECU 1 Feb. 20, vs. Delaware
AshLeigh Williams, SLU 1 Feb. 21, vs. Oakland
Shirley Burleson, ECU 1 Feb. 29, vs. George Mason
Danielle Urbanik, USF 1 Mar. 10, vs. Boston University
Christie Chapman, USF 1 Mar. 14, vs. Louisville
Kate Manuse, ECU 1 Mar. 20, vs. St. Francis (NY)
Jeanie Davis, HOU 1 Apr. 9, at UAB
Sarah Douglas, DPU 1 Apr. 13, vs. Valparaiso
Jenilee Skender, HOU 1 Apr. 27, at McNeese State

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 45 bases in 45 attempts for a perfect record this season. Her mark of 44 ranked seventh in the nation as of May 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: 181-122-2 (.597)
2003: 156-92-1 (.628)
2002: 180-125-1 (.589)
2001: 94-81-1 (.537)
2000: 78-71(.523)


MARTZ NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
DePaul’s SARAH MARTZ was named Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I Player of the Week for the period ending April 18. Martz led the Blue Demons to a 7-0 record over the week as she recorded four wins from the circle, including her second career perfect game, and hit 15-for-25 (.600). This is the third time that a DePaul player has received a national player of the week award and the seventh time in league history. Earlier this year, USF’s LEIGH ANN ELLIS garnered the honor for pitching four wins and one save while holding a 0.00 ERA at the over the week ending March 7.

THE 50-WIN CLUB
With a 6-3 win over DePaul last weekend, USF has reached the 50-win plateau. Last year, the Bulls became only the fourth school in league history to claim 50 or more wins. Southern Miss set the C-USA record for victories when the Golden Eagles notched a 63-13 mark in 2000. DePaul followed with back-to-back 50-plus win seasons in 2001 (51-16-1) and 2002 (50-11).

COACHING MILESTONES
EUGENE LENTI of DePaul recorded his 800th career win on Wednesday at home against Northwestern. Lenti has been at the helm of the Blue Demon program for 23 seasons and becomes the 16th softball coach in NCAA Division I to reach the 800 mark.

Charlotte head coach AIMEE DEVOS earned her 200th win of her career on April 9, 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 166 victories.

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
This season, HOLLY GROVES of USF has set two new league single-season records. She had made her mark in the record books with 17 home runs and also with 77 RBI. Groves’ record-setting longball led the Bulls to a 5-0 victory at Jacksonville on Wednesday.

KATE MANUSE of East Carolina has claimed the league single-season record for doubles. She has tallied 26 this year and has outdone former Pirate Angela Manzo who set the record with 21 in 2002.

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
Apr. 19 Sarah Martz RHP DePaul
Apr. 26 Ashley Brenan 3B Southern Miss
Shannon Nord OF Louisville
May 3 Sarah Boyd DP Southern Miss

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
Apr. 19 Sarah Martz RHP DePaul
Apr. 26 Aja Sherman RHP Louisville
May 3 Aja Sherman RHP Louisville

JUST SAY NO
AJA SHERMAN of Louisville became the fourth player in C-USA history to record three or more no-hitters in a single season. Here’s a look at the top four single-season leaders:
No-Hitters
2001 Felicia Gonzales, Southern Miss 4
2000 Courtney Blades, Southern Miss 3
2002 Lindsay Chouinard, DePaul 3
2004 Aja Sherman, Louisville 3