Wednesday wins over Nova improve UofL BIG EAST record to 9-2

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Softball takes two in Philly...7-0, 8-4


-One final Petrino article

Katie Keller 2 for 3 with a home run
and three RBI's in the first game

The Louisville Softball team swept a double-header Wednesday against the home-standing Villanova Wildcats 7-0 and 8-4 to improve to 35-2 on the season and 9-2 in BIG EAST play.


Louisville hasn't loss since dropping two against DePaul to end the month of March and had a fairly easy time against the 0-8 in-conference Nova  squad yesterday.


GAME ONE


The Cards came out strong against Villanova starter Kaity Sitzman. Jennifer Esteban started the game with a single and Kristin Austin followed with the same. That set the stage for Katie Keller to plant a base-clearer over the right-center fence for her fifth home run of the year. The fireworks weren't quite finished...one out later Alicja Wolny sent one over the right field fence to give Louisville a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the first. 

Tori Collins mows them down like
a mulching mower with a
new spark plug and sharpened
blades.

With torrid Tori Collins on the mound, the chances of the Villanova bats doing much damage were remote and Louisville added to their lead in the third inning. Austin drew a walk to start things off and Keller singled next. Wolny followed a out later with a double which scored Austin and Jordy Trimble got into the act with a single that scored Keller. Make it 6-0 Cards after two and a half. 


Louisville would put up a final run in the fifth. Should have been more, probably...the Cards loaded the bases but could only get pinch runner Kirsten Straley home on a Trimble single. 7-0 Louisville and it was becoming a long afternoon for Villanova.  


Collins (16-1) was masterful and domineering again on the mound for Pearsall's bunch...going the distance and allowing just four hits while striking out two. The whitewash was Louisville's 16th of the season.


GAME TWO

Maggie drove in the first
Cardinal run of the second
game.

Chelsea Leonard drew the start in the second game for the Cards and Louisville drew first blood in the top of the second when Trimble got a base on balls, advanced on a Kayla Soles single and scored on Maggie Ruckenbrod's infield single. 1-0 "Ville" as the teams went to the bottom of the inning. 


Villanova loaded the bases in the bottom of the second against Leonard with two outs...but she got out of the jam without allowing a run by getting a strikeout. Unfortunately, the Wildcats lit her up for four runs in the bottom of the third. Three 'Nova hits, a Cardinal fielding error and a wild pitch had the home team sporting a 4-1 lead with just one out in the inning and a runner on.


Pearsall and Louisville pitching coach Courtney Scott had seen enough and brought in Caralisa Connell to relieve Leonard. The call was a good one, Caralisa got the Cards out of the inning with no further damage done.

Taner Fowler's double put
Louisville ahead to stay.

Louisville retaliated with four runs in the top of the fifth. Soles started the inning off by reaching on a booted grounder and took third on a Ruckenbrod booming double. Esteban worked Villanova pitcher Caitlyn Delahaba for a base on balls and the bags were full of Cards. Kristin Austin got Soles across the plate with what looked to be a fielder's choice but a error got Austin to first safely and the bags were still full. Keller grounded out to score pinch-runner Katelyn Mann to make it 4-3 and Taner Fowler's double drove in Esteban and Austin to give Louisville a 5-4 lead. 

Whitney Arion's two run tater was her fifth of the year.

The Cards added two more runs in the top of the sixth. Trimble started the inning with a double and two outs later Whitney Arion smacked a shot over the left field fence to make it 7-4 Cards. That was enough to send Delahaba to the bench and Molly Manning took the circle...getting Nova out of the inning with no other runs scored. Pearsall brought in Collins to pitch in the bottom of the sixth for the Cards. 


Louisville added the final run of the game in the top of the seventh. With one out, Keller doubled and moved to third on a Wolny single. Keller scored on a Fowler single to make it 8-4 Louisville. 

Caralisa Connell is now 12-1.

Caralisa Connell got the win for Louisville, allowing no runs and three hits in 2.2 innings of relief. Credit Collins with the save with 2.0 innings of scoreless, two-hit hurling. Leonard allowed four runs on four hits in her 2.1 innings of work. 


The Cards come home for a three game, out-of-conference series with Longwood starting Saturday. 


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Too much probably has already been said about the Petrino fiasco. We've covered it ad nauseam and we don't even do that much with men's sports. So...this will be our final "take" on the events unless something dramatic happens in the future -- if Bobby is abducted by a spacecraft full of aliens and Elvis impersonators or decides to run for the senate in Arkansas -- we'll give it some coverage. 

"Will someone explain this Waffle House menu
to me? Where's the @#$% smothered and covered
hash browns? "

 Positions of power do not give people the right to be a megalomaniac Lord and Manor over all they survey. WE look at the kind and benevolent way Bernie Trager ran Republic Bank for years or the impeccable way John Asher handles his duties as Vice-President of Racing Communications at Churchill Downs as shining examples of how power, humility and good-heartedness can co-exist with authority.

MArky MArk poses with the next two "hog riding"
candidates. 

We can only hope that, finally, the former Arkansas coach has learned a life lesson that will help shape and turn him into a person that can respected for more than just directing a gridiron offense to success. After all, Ronald Reagan went from a "B" movie actor to President of the United States. Howard Stern parlayed a disc jockey job to a  judge on a network talent show. We digress...but hopefully you, dear reader, get the point. If not the sack...


We all make mistakes and errors in judgment. Most of our slip ups, though, are not normally played out and documented in the main-stream media. People will still continue to lie, deny and commit acts of adultery and corruptive influence in this world. But, learning from such mistakes and becoming a better person after paying the price for their erroneous ways is a sign of character. A sign of growth and maturity. 

"You do want to be good, don't you Bobby?"

We hope that Bobby "wants to be good" (in the words of Judge Smells in Caddyshack) from now on. Christian philosophy teaches that to err is human but to forgive is divine. Many will forgive Bobby, in time, for the events and actions that embarrassed him, the Arkansas football program and legions of Razorback fans. He must, however, become the type of person that is "forgivable". 


We hope that he can become a different, a better Bobby. Time will tell. In time, he'll get another opportunity to stand in, or near, the white, hot spotlight of notoriety. 

The morning after Bobby Petrino was fired,  a rainbow
appears to lead to the stadium where Arkansas plays
their home football games. Whoa....

Do it the right way, Coach...when the light hits you again.


Here's a interesting and funny Asian animation on the Petrino saga. Click the link below.


Bobby-san


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