Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Softball sweeps South Florida

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Softball beats Bulls twice

- Final Four: Will you watch, who ya got?


Louisville Softball got back to their winning ways in Tampa Saturday with a sweep of South Florida. The Cards bested the Bulls 5-1 and 3-0.

The big blow in the opener went to Katie Keller...who delivered a three-run homer in the top of the seventh to break it wide open. Louisville had trailed 1-0 through five innings but got a two-run single in the top of the sixth to take the lead.

Maryssa Becker took the win...pitching seven innings and scattering six hits to go to 9-3 on the season. The Cards hung the loss on All-Conference pitcher Sara Nevins (17-5).

In game two, the Cards got a shutout performance from starter Caralisa Connell and reliever Rachel LeCoq.

Louisville (22-15, 4-4)  started the party early with a run...Kelsi Jones doubling in the first and coming home when Kayla Soles was hit by a pitch. The Cards plated two more in the fifth, pinch runner Jordan McNary scoring on a sacrifice fly and Keller doubling to score Jones.

USF (29-10, 3-2) loaded the bases in the third but could not produce and was also victims of a double play on a one-out fly ball to Taner Fowler...who made the catch and threw out a Bull who had tagged and attempted to score from third.

They'll take the field today at noon today to complete the series.

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The Women's Final Four starts today in Nashville. Cardinal Couple will keep an eye on the action but did not apply for media coverage to attend.

We know of several who purchased tickets for the events throughout the year. We have to wonder if they are still going despite the Lady Cards not being participants.

And...who do you cheer for now? If you cheer or watch at all?

Paulie has UConn winning his entry in the CARDINAL COUPLE Bracket Challenge. He's got it won...a game up on Joe Hill with the samd semi-final and champ....and two games up on Curtis Franklin...who had Tennessee and UConn meeting in the final game. He rather see Notre Dame take the title, truth be told. They will have their work cut out for them without Natalie Achonwa against a feisty Maryland squad.

Can Stanford pull the upset over UConn? Will it be a Connecticut year...with wins in the men's and women's brackets? The UConn men's team chomped the Gators, you know...KY squeaked by Wisconsin. 

In our contest, six of the sixteen entries had Connecticut winning the title. Notre Dame was the pick of four contestants. Louisville and Kentucky got the nod from three people each. The UConn v. Notre Dame final was the most popular with seven picks. Louisville v. UConn got three picks. The following matchups were selected once. UConn vs. Tennessee, South Carolina vs. Kentucky, North Carolina vs. Notre Dame, Michigan State vs. Louisville, Stanford vs. Louisville and Texas A&M vs. Kentucky.

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I did search for a good while this morning but didn't see any field hockey scores from the exhibitions yesterday. I'm going to have to assign Worldwide the duties of sending me tweet status updates to my e-mail. He'd probably just laugh at me, though, and invite me to join the 21st. century.

Lacrosse takes on Cincy today. 101 miles away. Or...you could head to the Bass-Rudd for donuts (from Nord's!) and watch tennis at 10 a.m.

paulie
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