CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
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Monday, April 24, 2017

Louisville Softball drops two to Noles...More on the transfers -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


CARDS SWEPT BY FSU



#2/3 Florida State took two against the Louisville Softball team on Sunday. The Noles were dominant in the opener, run-ruling the Cards 11-0 in the first and then coming back to win the second 4-3 in ten innings. 

The less said about the first contest the better. FSU jumped out to a 5-0 first inning lead that Louisville contributed to with four errors. Three Seminole singles and a walk also contributed to the early hole that the Cards dug for themselves. 

Maryssa Becker and the Cards did settle down in the circle and on the field for a couple of innings after that but couldn't find any batting success against FSU hurler Jessica Burroughs. FSU added three runs in the top of the fourth and three more in the top of the fifth to hold the 11-0 lead as UofL approached the plate in the bottom of the fifth. Burroughs was three outs away from a no-hitter and got two of those before Morgan Meyer connected on a double to bust up the attempt. 

Coach Pearsall on the run-rule: 

"We started off on a bad note, with an error, and...unfortunately, that set the tone for us. That first inning hurt us. After that, we settled down but you can't make those kinds of mistakes against a team like Florida State. We knew they were going to hit the ball...so we can't give them runs." 


The second contest was a pitcher duel that was a battle of the Megan's. The Cards' Megan Hensley FSU's Megan King kept the zeroes piling up until Louisville broke through in the bottom of the sixth. Singles by Meyer and Jordan McNary and an error that allowed Caitlin Ferguson to reach first loaded the bases for Becker. She responded with a 2 RBI single to give Louisville the lead. 

FSU would not be denied and countered with two in the top of the seventh. Louisville went down in order to bring on bonus softball. After a scoreless eighth, the Noles Carsyn Gordon blasted a shot to left center to make it 3-2. The Cards used a double play to get out of danger and tied it back up in the bottom of the ninth when Nicole Pufahl singled and eventually scored on an Alison "Mike, Mike, Mike" Szydlowski single.

Louisville was in a great position to win the contest as the inning went on when Meyer reached on a two-out error to seemingly load the bases...but Szydlowski was caught in a rundown between third and home and the final out was recorded when she tried to slide into home. 


The Noles put together two hits to regain the lead at 4-3 in the top of the tenth. Louisville would counter with runners at first and third with two outs but could not push across the tying run. 

Sandy Pearsall was proud of Hensley's effort: 

" This was Megan's best effort since she returned from her injury. I was pleased that she was able to throw that many innings today and thought she did a good job. The outcome was not what we wanted...but we fought and dug and kept coming back." 

The two squads will complete the series tonight at Ulmer with a first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. ESPNU will provide coverage. 


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CARDINAL TRANSFERS 

We've received a lot of e-mails, messages and phone calls about the three transfers from the Louisville women's basketball squad over the weekend. People wanting to know "What's the real story behind Mariya Moore leaving?"... "Why would she want to go with one year left?"..."Why is Ciera Johnson going when it looked like she was going to be the starting center for next year?..."Will there be more transfers?" 

And so on and so forth...

Most everyone seemed to think that it was a good move for Brianna Jones "Jonesey" to go to a place where she could get more playing time. Cardinal fans will miss that bright smile and she seemed to be a great teammate to all. Here's hoping she can find the time she desires at Georgetown and she lights up the Big East. She goes to a roster that currently listed eight players for 2017-18 and five of them are seniors. So, after sitting a year, she'll have a shot to compete for a starting role on a squad that just might need some quality, experienced players. 


The Ciera Johnson situation stemmed from her desire to play closer to her family after trying a season away from them. She's has a great family and will be missed...but players make decisions and hers was to try her fortunes hopefully somewhere in the Lone Star State. The Duncanville, TX center had some bright moments for the Cards...in my personal opinion, though...and mirroring what some of you have mentioned to me...she could stand to lose a few pounds and develop better hands. We're not exactly sure which schools Ciera will be contacted by or will contact. If she's is Big 12 bound...she'll need to use that season of sitting to get ready for some very tough post-players in the conference. 

Mariya Moore was the first to announce and was the one who, by far, caught the vast majority by surprise. Mariya expressed a desire to play her final season closer to her home in Hercules, California (a suburb of San Francisco) where her parents could make more games.  The decision to leave after three successful seasons as a Cardinal had to be a hard one...but college is a time where a student-athlete has a limited window to acquire a degree and perform. Moore's decision also coincides with her younger sister (Minyan) and her decision to leave USC. Is there a plan for them to play together somewhere? Is it because of the coaching change at USC? California or maybe even the University of San Francisco would appear to be logical possibilities if this was the motive and driving factor. As far as any other reasons for Mariya leaving...we won't play conspiracy theorists here. 

As we have stated before, the success of a unit depends on its core and unity. The Cards will have plenty of strengths on their (as of now) 12 player roster. Some of you have even started discussing starting line-ups for 2017-18. We won't go there just yet. Coach Walz and staff still have Hines-Allen, Durr, Shook, Jazz Jones, Fuehring, Carter, Zambrotta, Dunham and Laemmle on the roster and add Duvall, Evans and Kakala. That's a very strong roster of 12.

Will there be more attrition? Any add-ons? Not that we know of as of this morning. Anything, of course, is possible in the world of college basketball. Everyone was ready to hand UConn the 2017 NCAA women's basketball crown. Transfers much large than the trio of Cards leaving have already occurred this spring. 

We will follow women's college basketball with a dutiful interest the rest of the spring, through the summer and the rest of the year. But, we will also explore the end of softball, lacrosse and the other spring sports currently taking place on campus. 

There's a lot of joy and excitement still to report. We're on it!!

paulie
xxxxx






24 comments:

  1. Good summary, Paulie. I admire you for sticking to the facts and staying away from the rumor mill.

    I totally understand the Jones transfer and I also understand C. Johnson's wish to play closer to home. The Moore transfer is obviously more puzzling but, as you said, let's move forward and focus on what's happening now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maybe it's just me but Moore was christened as the second coming of Angel and Shoni from pretty much day one and I was on board with it after her freshman season, in spite of her cheap shots vs BYU. I even defended her on this blog when a ESPNW writer likened her to her Angel & Shoni if she continued to perform.

    Of course she didn't and the rest is history...in spite of her stats she never really seemed like she wanted to take the club on her shoulders and run with it. She was never clutch but always seemed to try. California Kid. I think it's good she's going home. That entire M & M thing didn't really get off the ground when they were juniors and they didn't have a strong core to support them. Good follower not so good at leading. I hope others will step up now. If she wasn't on board she needed to go back to Cali...Cali...Cali.

    This whole praising her when she's walking out on a program that supported and depended upon her to be there when she was a senior is a bit tough to swallow.

    The bottom line is she walked out on the program when she knew it was depending on her. That's fine, but she's no Joan of Arc. Please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it might have been a thing where Mariya stayed about the same talent wise for three years and the players around her...(Myisha, Asia) got better. Nevertheless, off she goes and hope she finds success. The unit will survive.

      Paulie

      Delete
  3. What ashame! I was very surprised and have been following her and Myisha from day one. Maybe with the new girls coming in she may have seen the writing on the wall.... Its unfortunate but to be honest she has not progressed like the others. She was getting 5 assist here and there but hitting the three was a struggle for her this year. Good luck to her and her family.Hopefully she has made the correct decision for her.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What ashame! I was very surprised and have been following her and Myisha from day one. Maybe with the new girls coming in she may have seen the writing on the wall.... Its unfortunate but to be honest she has not progressed like the others. She was getting 5 assist here and there but hitting the three was a struggle for her this year. Good luck to her and her family.Hopefully she has made the correct decision for her.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Long shot theory on Mariya Moore maybe she's taking a year to improve her game to make the WNBA.

    MLW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love Mariya's game her court vision is off the charts.
      A high basketball IQ she also has good range.
      But she has to improve to make the WNBA.

      Delete
  6. Wow alot of shots on the way out the door...thought we were classier fans. A player doesn't do what we want and all the sudden they never were and never will be. A shame...

    Enjoyed Mariya while she was here. Wish she stayed, but it is what it is. Good luck and god bless

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mariya will not make the WNBA. She did make us a better team which ain't bad to be known for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neither will you, so I guess you two are even then right? 🙄
      Get a life and stop the negativity about these ladies. If she doesn't make the W, she'll play pro somewhere, travel the world, graduate college debt free, more than a lot of people can say.

      Delete
    2. Listen...I think the world of Paulie and his efforts here but this idea that people can't post the obvious without being bazooka'd is insane.

      Moore was treated with kit gloves from Day One and that was fine as far as it went. Walz "bet the farm" on her from the day she walked in the door to his and her involvement in USA Basketball to supporting her unwaveringly when she couldn't buy a basket. We all understand that.

      There were times when Shoni couldn't buy a basket too and Walz supported her. The difference is that Shoni didn't walk away before her senior year when the program was obviously most dependent on her maturity and leadership. Moore did. It's actually kind of a big deal. Kinda unprecedented for ULWBB. If it isn't feel free to give me another example of the program being let down in such a significant way. I'm all ears.

      Quit trying to hammer people for stating the obvious. It gets old. By the way Wade is right and he's a West Coast guy that understands ballers out there.

      Give it a rest. Burn

      Delete
    3. It seems, again, that Mariya didn't really improve her game a whole lot while Asia and Myisha have since they have been here. Whereas Shoni never gave up being a part of "the unit"...some will say that Mariya did by the act of tranferring.

      Megan Deines, a one-time starter in her freshman year, is another example of a player who never got any better during her career at Louisville and saw her playing time diminish during her time at Louisville. She chose to seek more playing time elsewhere. She got it at K-State.

      paulie
      xxxxxx

      Delete
  8. Once a Card, always a Card. Good luck and I'll still keep up with them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I couldn't agree more with the Burn comments! Let's be real Mariya didn't transfer to be closer to home to play if that were the case why stay for three years and now transfer the state didn't move from freshman year, who wouldn't want to finish your career with the ladies you started with?. And IMHO she did let her teammates​ down! And I like all the ANONYMOUS comments. No one is being disrespectful. Just stating the obvious. You left your teammates..😑 I for one am disappointed. Sorry

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    Replies
    1. You get a life too and stop being disappointed in 19-20 year old young women who are finding their way in the world. Life will be much better when you do.

      Delete
    2. I have a wonderful life and that's my opinion. Sorry to have upset you..FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED and DONT BE A QUITTER is a valuable lesson to be learned.

      Delete
    3. I have a wonderful life and that's my opinion. Sorry to have upset you..FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED and DONT BE A QUITTER is a valuable lesson to be learned.

      Delete
    4. Yep. I had a long & brutal response to our anonymous friend but didn't send out of respect for Paulie. That said part of it was about how happy I am with my life and based on Denise's contributions here over the years her's looks pretty cool too from the outside. I also had a blurb about being a Quitter. Thank You Denise. Great Minds. Life Lesson Time. Burn

      Delete
  10. I'm disappointed but I unstand she was not happy @ UofL.
    Really gone to Miss her.
    Go Cards

    MLW

    ReplyDelete
  11. The thing we all need to remember here is that what is done is done. The roster next year will be what it is. You can rest assured that if the players and coaches are happy with what it consists of (and they are) than we as fans should embrace that same excitement. A ton of talent, some very promising newcomers, a veteran squad returning and a chance to do great things. The players will work hard in the off-season...let's be ready to give them ALL of our support when it starts up again.

    Paulie

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm happy for Mariya and I'm happy for the team. Both will benefit and do just fine!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Wade - Glad to see you're back. Seems you're going to have a chance to see the Moore Sister Act out there on the West Coast somewhere.

      Keep us in the loop. Burn

      Delete

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