LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A University of Louisville pitcher held the North Carolina Central University softball team to just one hit for a second straight game as the host Cardinals finished off a three-game series sweep of the Lady Eagles with an 8-0 win in six innings Sunday afternoon at Ulmer Stadium.
 
Junior Maryssa Becker earned her second shutout against NCCU in as many days with her one-hit gem. Becker (17-6) – an All-ACC selection each of her first two seasons with the Cardinals – fanned seven Lady Eagles and did not surrender a walk in her six innings of work.
 
The Cardinals are receiving votes in the current ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top-25 Poll. Louisville improved to 30-9 overall after holding the Lady Eagles scoreless for all 18 innings in the series. NCCU (4-38) was playing a team receiving votes in a national poll for the third time in 2016 (USC Upstate and Charlotte).
 
Becker retired her first seven batters faced before freshman Alejah Evans registered NCCU's lone hit by dunking a clean single in front of the center fielder. The Lady Eagles had two runners in scoring position that frame after senior Markell Wylie reached on an error and stole second herself but Becker ended the threat with a strikeout.
 
After the strikeout, Becker retired the final nine NCCU batters over the last three innings in order.
 
The Cards cruised to the run-rule victory scoring runs in four of six innings. Louisville did most of its damage from atop the lineup. Sophomore leadoff hitter Sidney Melton was 2 for 2 with 2 walks, three runs scored and one RBI. Becker followed in the two hole and drove in a pair of runs with a double and a single. Freshman Megan Hensley belted a three-run homer off the scoreboard located beyond the left field fence in the third – her 13th long ball of her rookie season – from the third position.
 
Junior Dominique Wilson suffered the loss for the Lady Eagles, allowing four runs on just three hits and three walks over three innings of work. Freshman Breanna Carter was tagged for four runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief, but only one of those runs were earned.
 
NCCU returns to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play with an important series at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg next weekend. The two teams battling for the final playoff position in the Southern Division will play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.