Softball Goes 3-1 on Weekend; Faces Evansville Tonight -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Score 34 in Shortened Cardinal Classic

Louisville softball was busy over the weekend, but we had our hands full with WBB in the ACC Tournament. The Cards hosted the Cardinal Classic in their final home non-conference weekend of the season. Louisville will participate in one more non-conference weekend event in a couple of weeks when they play in The Ohio State Tournament. Holly Aprile's squad was scheduled to play five games over the weekend, but a rainout on Friday meant that the game against LIU got the axe.

The Cards still opened the event on Friday, playing the first of a pair of games against Ball State. In Cardinals vs Cardinals action, Louisville ultimately fell 5-7 in the opener, creating an inauspicious start to their home event. Ball State tagged Alyssa Zabala for four runs in the top of the first before she was pulled after just two-thirds of an inning. Louisville was unable to tie the game, so Zabala officially took the loss, marking her first of the season. The Cards made a late rally in the sixth, scoring three runs in the bottom half to make it close, but their charge stopped there. 

The two teams played a rematch to open Saturday morning's events with a 9am start. Ball State scored first again, but this time Jayden Gohs held them to just one run in the opening frame, and Louisville scored a pair in the bottom half to gain the lead. Ball State wouldn't score again and Louisville went on to score in each of the five innings played. Gohs pitched all five and Louisville won in an 8-1 run rule. 

After opening the day at 9am Saturday, Louisville also closed it with a first pitch at 7pm. This time, they were taking on Illinois, and the Cards scored eight runs for the second time that day. Zabala got the start against the Illini and struggled in the first again. She gave up three runs before Louisville was able to stop the bleeding. This time, though, Zabala recovered, and twirled four scoreless before Illinois scored again. The Cards struggled to score for the first three innings, but they exploded for six in the fourth and tagged on two more in the fifth. Zabala allowed a run in the sixth to make it 8-4 in favor of Louisville, and Aprile gave her an opportunity to close the game out in the seventh. After Zabala gave up a single to open the inning, she got the hook and Anna Wise came in to clean up. A strikeout preceded a steal and a liner to third made gave Louisville two outs and a runner on second. A homer to deep left made it 8-6 and things got a bit nervier. Wise stayed cool and induced a ground ball to end the game. 

Louisville closed the weekend with another game against Illinois. This time, Madi Reeves got the start. Brooke Gray was conspicuously absent from the circle over the weekend, but she's been struggling of late. We may see her tonight against Evansville. Reeves pitched a solid first two innings but gave up three runs in the third. After a scoreless first two innings, matching Illinois, Louisville responded to their third inning outburst with one of their own. The Cards scored four in the third, marking their first of three innings with four runs. Louisville put up four more in the fourth and one in the fifth to set up a run-rule with a 9-3 lead. Illinois scored a pair in the sixth to stay alive, but the Cards added their final four runs in the bottom half to end the game. Gohs was the winner after coming on in relief in the fourth. 

Offensively, 34 runs over four games is quite good. Defensively, giving up 19 in four games is less good. At the end of the day, though, they went 3-1, so it's hard to complain too much. Taylor Monroe got off to a good start going 3-3 with three RBI in the first game against Ball State but didn't play for the rest of the weekend. Addy O'Dell replaced Monroe at short and had a strong three games. Her best came in the Sunday game against Illinois, where she went 2-3, scored three runs, and had an RBI on her first collegiate home run. In that game, she had one of Louisville's six doubles. The big bats came against Ball State Saturday morning, when Louisville hit three home runs (Camryn Lookadoo, Madison Pickens, and Katie Thatcher). Lookadoo led the team with eight RBI on the weekend and tied with Easton Lotus and Chelsea Mack for the team lead in hits (7). 

The Cards will face Evansville this evening with first pitch scheduled for 6pm. Evansville is off to a tough start this season, as they're just 7-12. The two teams don't have a common opponent, as the Purple Aces' scheduled game against Ball State on 2/15 was canceled. The Aces are coming off their conference opening weekend, where they lost an extremely close series against Illinois State at home. The series was determined by just one total run with final scores of 2-3, 5-6 (9 innings), and 8-7. Louisville's 3-1 weekend brought their season record to 18-5. If they aren't receiving votes in this week's poll, a win tonight and a series win on the road against current #25 Clemson could get them there. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case