Softball takes two vs. Murray State...Numbers from 2011 Women's basketball attendance...A star is born

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Softball outhits the Racers 2-0, 6-2

-We look at 2011 NCAA Women's Basketball attendance numbers

-Look out for this colt.

The softball Cards out slugged the Murray State Racers yesterday in Ulmer Stadium...sweeping the double-header 2-0 and 6-2. Louisville got a base-clearing triple from freshman Whitney Arion to provide the two runs in the first game.



Two today against Morehead State!

 In game two, the Cards plated four runs in the second inning and held on to down the Racers by four runs.

Strong pitching performances by Caralisa Connell and Tori Collins yesterday, limiting the Racers to four hits and picking up a combined 12 strikeouts.

The Cards will play a double-header again today...this time the Morehead State Eagles visit Ulmer. First pitch is 1 p.m.

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The University of Louisville women's basketball team drew 162,892 fans for 15 home games in 2011. This was an average of 10,859 fans per game - second in the nation in per game attendance. Only Tennessee was higher...with 12,599 per contest.

The Cards ranked fourth in total attendance. UConn, with 22 home games, drew 215,328 attendees. Tennessee had 17 home games with a total attendance of 214,187. In 21 home games, Baylor brought in 166,593.

In all games (Home, Road or Neutral) Louisville finished fifth. The numbers:

Rk.  School                Games       Attendance
1.   Tennessee              37            352,488
2.   Connecticut           38             323,470
3.   Baylor                    37             270,280
4.   Notre Dame            39            268,275
5.   LOUISVILLE            35            238,874

Out of the top fifty in average home game attendance, six Big East schools made the list.

2.  LOUISVILLE              15            10,859
3.  Connecticut              22              9,788
35. West Virginia           16              3,103
39. Rutgers                    13              3,039
45. DePaul                     17              2,866
50. Pittsburgh                14              2,614

Big 12 numbers? Pretty Impressive. In the top 25 for home game attendance:    

4.  Iowa State                17              9,370
6.  Baylor                      21               7,933
10. Texas Tech              17               7,043
12. Texas A&M               14               6,104
14. Oklahoma                17               5,490
18. Texas                      15               4,710
21. Nebraska                 16               4,333
24. Kansas State             15               4,068

Other schools in Kentucky:

11. Kentucky                 15               6,364
27. Murray State            14               3,758

The test for Louisville is to see if they can improve on those numbers with one less home game in the 2011-12 season and key home attendance games against Notre Dame and Connecticut on week nights.

IF the Cards are BIG 12 bound, they'd play in front of some pretty sizable crowds, as indicated above. Maybe the days of 200 in the seats on the road at St. John's and Seton Hall are over...but the raucous crowds at Rutgers, Notre Dame, UConn, DePaul and Georgetown would definitely be missed.


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Watch out for two year old colt HANSEN. In yesterday's KENTUCKY CUP JUVENILE STAKES the big grey runner demolished the field over the 1 1/16 mile race at Turfway.
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Hansen broke alertly, jumped out to a ten length lead over the rest of the field after six furlongs and cruised in a winner by 13 1/4 lengths. These weren't any cheap claimers he dusted, either.

Definitely a horse to be on the lookout in the juvenile races during Breeder's Cup at Churchill Downs this November. HANSEN is trained by Michael Maker and has had jockey Victor LeBron aboard in both of his lifetime starts. He won his debut at Turfway earlier this summer by a whopping 12 lengths. I'm calling him my " way too early to pick but I'm going to anyway.." choice for the Kentucky Derby next May and will hope to see him do a similar destruction job here at Churchill this fall.

The horse is named after his owner and northern Kentucky physician Kendell Hansen.
My cousin Scott's last name is Hansen...so odds are good I'll remember the name in the future.

Unless I start mistakenly calling him Jones or Willson. (Two more Scott relatives...It never ends, does it?)

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Sunday is a big day for UofL women's sports. We'll have recaps on volleyball, field hockey, soccer and softball games for you Monday...plus Donny Yaste promises an article on the Friday night volleyball match vs. St.John's. He's a hard-working college lad...so he posts when he can. 

Also, we'll have a recap of game two from Atlanta...where the Dream look to even the series against the Indiana Fever. Cardinal Couple reader Sandra Walker is in the Peach State city and will tell us what she saw.

A busy day, Monday. We may need to dig out the old Commodore 64 PC from the mid-eighties and turn Co-Co loose on the keyboards to keep up....(you have been warned)

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