Softball Cats dump Cards 12-8 in 10 innings -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FOUR RUN 10TH INNING GIVE CATS WIN IN ULMER.

I don't normally talk a whole lot about a Louisville Softball loss and that'll be the case again for this article. In a hit-fest, especially for the Cats...Kentucky gets the 12-8 win in Louisville on a Wednesday night in Ulmer Stadium.. 

Louisville had this one in hand early, with a 7-2 lead after two innings but could only muster one more run in the next eight innings...and nothing seemed to go right for the Cards in the 10th inning. 

UK was a hit machine in Ulmer Wednesday, with 25 of them...and had two homers against five different Louisville pitchers. Alyssa Zabala got tagged with the loss, she actually made two appearances in the game...starting and relieving late....and UK gets over .500 at 26-25.

Louisville led 8-7 after six innings, but the Cats were able to tie it up to force the bonus softball. 

The Cards had 12 hits to go with their eight runs, and will now wait for their weekend series with Syracuse in Ulmer before ending the season with a series at NC State.

Paulie

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Softball Cards move to 25th in D1 poll -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL MOVES TO 25TH IN D1 SOFTBALL POLL

Louisville softball (38-9) has reach a new pinnacle this season. The Cards are 25th in the NCAA D1 poll. It is their first top 25 ranking of the season. 

Louisville is one of five ACC schools in the top 25. Duke comes in at 13th, Virginia Tech is 16th, Stanford is 20th and  Clemson is 24th .

The Cards step out of conference play today with a game against in-state rival Kentucky. The Cats are 25-25 on the season and a dismal 1-20 in the SEC this season. The two played earlier in the season, at Lexington, and Louisville won a 8-7 thriller over the Cats. 

Game time is Ulmer is 6 p.m.it's at Ulmer Stadium and it will be shown on the ACC Network. 

The Cards swept their series with Pitt last time out and set a few records in the process. 

-- Chelsea Mack became the new record holder for most stolen bases by a Cardinals softball player with 37. Wise advice for any opposing catchers might be.."Don't turn your back on Chelsea Mack" 

-- Crossing Jordan? Not lately. Jordan Williams has hit safely in the last 19 games. That's also a Cardinals team record. 

-- Who's that girl on base? Why it's Easton Lotus! She has reached base safely in her last 40 games. She sets a new Cardinals record each time she gets on. 

We'll be following on the ACCNX and have a full report on it tomorrow. 

Today is Earth Day. Do something nice for our planet today.  It's also Jelly Bean Day. Have some jelly beans while you're dong that nice thing. 

paulie

Softball Cards rally late to down UK in Lexington 8-7 in nine innings -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

 LOUISVILLE'S LATE INNING HEROICS BEAT UK SOFTBALL IN LEXINGTON. 

The Cards were looking at a 6-3 deficit going into the top of the seventh inning, found a way to tie it and then push ahead for the win two innings later. 

Tied at 2-2 after two innings after  UK and UofL traded two run homers...the Cards getting theirs from Taylor Monroe...Louisville pushed ahead 3-2 in the top of the third but then let UK take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the inning.

The Cats would score in the third and sixth and Louisville went into the top of the seventh three outs away from another loss in Lexington to the Cats. This Louisville squad wasn't ready to head I-64 West yet, though, and Chelsea Mack and easton Lotus began the uinning with back-to-back singles. and Bri Despains cleared the bags with a three bagger. It was 6-5 and the Cards were making late noise in Wildcat Country. Camryn Lookadoo singled home Despains and the Cards had tied it a 6-6. 

Extra innings ensued and Brooke Gray went to the circle for the visitors to John Cropp Stadium. She pitched her way out of a base loaded jam in the eight and the Cards put the winning two runs on the scoreboard in the ninth when, after Despines walked and Lookaoo double...a Pickens single plated both and the Cards had regained a 8-9 lead. U would get a two out fence clearer in the bottom of the ninth. but the Cards got the final out andd the "W" in Lexington. 

he Cards host Georgia Tech next for three games and will play the first one at 5 p.m. Friday. 

paulie

Louisville Softball to face UK in Lexington --WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS AND CATS WILL PLAY TWICE THIS SEASON AGAINST EACH OTHER

Another rivalry in the state's biggest rivalry in collegiate sports...Louisville vs Kentucky will take place tonight when Louisville and Kentucky face each other in softball at John Cropp Stadium at 5:30 p.m. and will be shown on the SEC Network. The Cats are 20-12 on the season and won the meeting between the two last year 8-3 at the the Cards Ulmer Stadium. 

Louisville comes into the game on a five-game win streak...defeating Indiana St., WKU, Campbell, and Ohio St. Several Cards are having exemplary seasons so far....including Bri Despines, who hit .531 last week and hd two home runs, two doubles and eight RBI's of the Cards 51. Chelsea Mack is hitting .431 on the season for the Cards and has scored 36 runs, stolen 27 bases and 6 RBI's. She leads the nation in stolen bases. 

The Cards are running into a UK pitching staff that has tossed seven shutouts this season.In the circle, Kentucky carries a 3.63 team ERA with 174 strikeouts across 202.1 innings pitched. Sarah Haendiges is the staff leader with an 8-4 record, 3.21 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 72.0 innings, while Hailey Nutter is 7-4 with a 3.40 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 55.2 innings. McKenzie Oslanzi has been the most efficient arm, posting a 2.43 ERA over 49.0 innings.

Kentucky is 14th in the SEC at 1-8. 

paul

  

Cards SB fall to #16 UK 7-4 -- Chrislyn Carr invited to 3-Point Championship -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

UK SOFTBALL TAKES ONE FROM CARDS 7-4

Hi readers, Daryl here..

It worked out for Jared and I to switch days this week as he covered the Cardinals in Lexington on Wednesday and I have something going on in the evening.  So I get to recap the rivalry on the softball diamond!  

Softball

Photos from Jared Anderson 

Louisville falls to #16 Kentucky  4-7 

Unfortunately, it's another loss to that blue team down the road, the second time this season and the 4th time in a row.  The last UofL win was in 2019... where the Cards walked it off when Taylor Roby's two-out single in the seventh plated junior Celene Funke for an 8-7 win over #23 Kentucky... 

The 2023 meeting in Lexington started off with the Cards showing life on offense scoring a run against Kentucky's second-in-line Alexia Lacatena in the circle.  But UK responded to that opening half inning of the game with three runs in the bottom of the first. UK plated a run in the third and three runs in the fourth, in addition. 

Louisville had 4 pitching changes  in the game and gave up 12 hits and committed two errors, including one huge one that allowed UK to score 3 runs in the 4th.  

It wasn't close after that until UK starter Lacatena, who had thrown over 100 pitches, started to get tired.  She gave up a fielding error and a hit and a homer from the top of the UofL lineup to give Louisville some life and pull it within 7-4 in the top of the 7th.  UK then decided it was time to put in a new pitcher and successfully sat the Cards down 1, 2, 3 after that.

Louisville showed some offensive ability to start and to finish but not the entire      way through, which Kentucky has found a way to dominate the Cardinals in recent meetings between the two programs.  UofL needs to lick their wounds from this one and come back stronger for the second half of the season.  

Top of 1st-  Cards draw a walk on the first at bat and then Sarah Gordon takes first pitch for a left center single and move Korbe Otis to third.  Taylor Roby walks to load the bases.  Daisy Hess takes an RBI- SAC fly to LF to put the Cards on the board.  

Bottom of 1st - Freshman RHP Alyssa Zabala starting in the circle for the Cards.  She gives up a single to the lead off hitter and the Cardinal defense commits an error to allow 2 runners on and nobody out.   The Cards put Coffel on to load the bases with no outs...  Cats Cleanup hitter hits it back up the middle for an RBI single where the Cards finally get an out. But UK able to connect for another RBI single before Zabala strikes out the 7th batter of the inning.

LOU Inning Summary: 1 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 2 LOB
UK Inning Summary: 3 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Errors, 1 LOB

Top of 2nd - Ally Alexander flies out to LF, Pickle Winkler drops it behind SS to get on base, Geraghty slaps it over the pitcher and everybody is safe.  A flyout to RF by Otis and foul out from Gordon ends the inning with 2 left on and this is where their offense went pretty cold after that.   

Bottom of 2nd - the Cardinal infield gets their rotation of outs to leave 1 Wildcat stranded. Cards #B Alexander scoops the bunt for the out at 1B.   Hess secures the following hit for out #2 of the inning.  Lead off for UK comes in to put the next pitch in play for the single.

LOU Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors, 2 LOB
UK Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

Top of 3rd - Louisville goes 1, 2, 3 in fly-outs in the top of the third to keep it 3-1. 

Bottom of 3rd - A leadoff walk by Zabala followed by a slap to Lotus at 2B and the quick decision to go to first gets the out just in time.   A pop up to RF and throw to third would get the runner to stay on second but she would be more aggressive in the next opportunity as UK scores on the single through the SS and 3B gap.  

LOU Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB
UK Inning Summary: 1 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

Top of 4th - Back to back 1,2 3 outs for the Cardinals on offense. 

Bottom of 4th - Gabby Holloway comes in for the Cards to relieve Zabala.   At the top of the lineup two Kentucky hits and strong base running to beat the throws put runners on the corners in the bottom of the 4th.   Hannah File had the opportunity to end the threat with a manageable foul hit out of bounds that bounced off the palm of her glove. Like it usually does when you make those kind of errors, it comes back to bite ya and one of the top Cats' offensive threats takes advantage and smacks a line drive up the middle for the RBI single and UK now scored 6 unanswered to make it 6-1.   The Cards make a pitching change to put Roby in but she gives up a line drive on the LF line to score another and make it 7-1 before Lotus secures the pop up to end the inning.

LOU Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB
UK Inning Summary: 3 Runs, 5 Hits, 1 Errors, 2 LOB

Top of 5th- Geraghty gets on with a  left field line-drive single to start the fifth but the Cards fly out on the next 3 to come up scoreless again..  It's looking like another possible run rule for UK??

Bottom of 5th-   Roby handled the pitching duties in the 5th giving up a single before retiring the next 3 UK batters.  

LOU Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB
UK Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

Top of 6th - Cards in scoring position in the top of the 6th but Pickle cant get the slap through the UK defense and UK gets third out at 1B to end the possible threat by the Cards.  

Bottom of 6th - UK back towards the top of the lineup where the offensive leaders will lead off the bottom of the 6th and batters 2 and 3 both get on base with a single to 3B and a walk before Holly Aprile calls Cassie Grizzard's number for the 4th pitcher of the night for Louisville.   She picks up the Cards' second strikeout of the game and a tall bounce out to 1B when File climbed the ladder for the grab and beat the runner to end the inning.  

LOU Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 2 LOB
UK Inning Summary: 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 2 LOB

Top of 7th - Geraghty again gives the Louisville offense a spark as she connects and moves to 2B on an error by UK.  Otis follows up with a line drive to right center to finally put another tally on the scorecard for UofL.  Sarah Gordon then steps up to homer one in the same direction as Otis' hit to pull the Cards within a 7-4 striking distance.  Cats call it a night for their starting pitcher at 119 pitches on the evening.  A UK error on 1B would give File the base followed by a pop up from Roby, Hess and Lotus go down to end the rally and game.

LOU Inning Summary: 3 Runs, 2 Hits, 2 Errors, 1 LOB

Cardinals Softball will continue their road trip to Syracuse, NY for an ACC tilt with the Orange on the ACCNX starting Friday-Sunday.  

WBB 

Photo from Jared Anderson

University of Louisville guard Chrislyn Carr has been selected to the Celsius Women's 3-Point Championship roster for the 34th annual State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships at the Bayou Music Center in downtown Houston on Thursday, March 30. Carr is one of eight players selected for the event that will air live on ESPN2 at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Good luck in the contest, C.C.!  We know you will represent the Cardinals well.

As Always, 

Go Cards!

~Daryl 

Lacrosse Falls to Buckeyes -- Softball at UK Today -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 BUCKEYES BEST LOUISVILLE LACROSSE 16-6

Tough afternoon in Columbus for the Louisville Lacrosse squad, as the Ohio State women's lacrosse squad took down the Cards 16-6.

Ohio State started hot and put the first five goals of the match on the board before UofL could counter. The Cards were able to make it a 5-2 first quarter, thanks to scores by Kylea Dobson and Allegra Catalano. 

The Buckeyes played the Cards to a 2-2 tie in the second quarter. 

Louisville benefitted from a Nicole Perroni score and a goal from Kokoro Nakazawa.  OSU went into the halftime with a 7-4 edge. The Buckeyes held a 18-14 shot advantage and Nicole Ferrara and Jamie Lasda both had two goals for the Buckeyes. 

The third quarter was when OSU slammed the door on the visiting Cards. Five straight goals pushed the home team's lead to 12-4. Hannah Morris finally got a goal for the Cards, but OSU closed the quarter with two more goals and had built a 14-5 lead after three quarters. 

The Buckeyes scored with about nine minutes to go in the game to establish the running clock and Louisville never got the lO.S.U. lead back below 10 goals the rest of the way, getting an Izzy Seikel score with about two minutes left in the contest. A 16-6 final. 

Sara Addeche saw the majority on the minutes in goal for the Cards with 45. J Pleck (9:41) and Aubrey Bagenstone (5:19) split net-tending duties in the fourth quarter.

Scott Teeter on the match: 

"Unfortunately, we didn't come out of the locker room ready to start the first half. We fell behind, and when you're playing from behind...it's an uphill battle." 

The loss drops Louisville to 4-7 on the season and the Cards are 1-4 in ACC play. They'll travel to South Carolina to take on ACC opponent Clemson next on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match. 

SOFTBALL VISITS UK TODAY

Cats and Cards tonight at 6:30 in softball and the match is scheduled to be seen on ESPNU. 

It'll be the second meeting of the year for the two squads, UK took an 8-0 five-inning win back on Feb. 10th in Clearwater, FL in the NFCA Leadoff Classic. 

Louisville has complied a 22-9 record so far this season and is currently on a seven-game win streak. The Cards swept the ACC series with NC State in Ulmer last out. 

The Cards are batting .323 as a team.  Korbe Otis (.417) and Sarah Gordon (.405) are leading the way at the plate with batting averages. Taylor Roby has 11 home runs for the Cards this season and Otis leads the squad with five triples. Gordon is atop the Cards batting stats with nine doubles. 

In the circle, freshman Alyssa Zabala is 10-3 on the season and Taylor Roby is 6-4. Sam Booe has a 3-0 record and Taja Felder, Cassie Grizzard and Gabby Holloway have one win each. 

UK is 20-7-1 on the season and Vanessa Nesby bats .470  for the Cats. Erin Coffel has 12 "touch 'em alls" for UK. Stephanie Schoonover is the work-horse of the circle and is 12-1 on the season. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

-- Holly Aprile and UK head coach Rachel Lawson were teammates at UMass and went to the college World Series in 1992. 

-- The Cards have only four players on the roster who are from Kentucky. UK has just three native Kentuckians. 

-- Korbe Otis was named Co-Player of the Week last week in ACC Softball. It's the second time this season she's received the award. Otis went 8-16 at the plate and stole four bases. 

Let's hope the skies stay dry for this one !  Our Jared Anderson is headed east on I-64 for this one and he'll have pictures for us. Daryl Foust will be watching the contest and have the report in the Thursday edition of Cardinal Couple...don't miss it !! 

paulie

Cats blank Louisville Softball -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

UK 9 -- LOUISVILLE 0 

Tuesday night was a beautiful night -- weather wise -- out at Ulmer Stadium. 

The result of the contest wasn't so great for the Cards, though. They ran into a buzz-saw in UK pitcher Stephanie Schoonover in the circle, and #8/12 UK got a five-inning win over the Cards 9-0. She held UofL hitless in the five innings. 

The Cats were "on" with their bats from the jump, touching UofL staring pitcher Taylor Roby for five runs and two home runs in the top of the first inning. UK stayed hot at the plate in the visitor half of the second inning and the book was closed on Roby after two innings and a 7-0 Wildcat lead. 

Freshman Sam Booe was given the assignment to try and shut the Cats down next and she did a little better, allowing just two runs over the next three innings on three hits, but it was a night where the Cards could not generate any offense and they fell to UK -- generating just two base-runners...Carmyn Greenwood and Vanessa each drawing a base on balls. 

Tough to watch for the 90 minutes the two squads were on the field, if you're a Louisville fan. The Cards also had two fielding errors in front of a Ulmer Stadium crowd of 1,130 and those who caught the ACCNX stream on it. 

Time to tear off the rear view mirror on that one and not look back. ACC foe Syracuse comes in for a three-game weekend series and Louisville (21-17) will look to move up the ACC standings from eighth place against the 11th place Orange. The top ten teams qualify for the ACC Tournament, so Louisville needs to try and get a sweep here to move closer to seventh place Georgia Tech, who is 8-10 in conference play.  Louisville is 5-7. 

(photos by Jared Anderson)

FIVE WBB CARDS NAMED TO ALL ACC ACADEMIC TEAM

They not only get it done on the hardwood, but also in the classroom, these Louisville women's basketball players. 

Emily Engstler, Chelsie Hall, Kianna Smith, Haley Van Lith and Kasa Robinson have been named to the prestigious All-ACC Academic Team. 

To make this team, a student-athlete needs to earn a 3.0 for the previous semester and have a 3.0 or better cumulative GPA during one's academic career. 

It is the second straight season all five have earned the award. 

This past fall, the Cards WBB squad had an collective 3.326 GPA. That's hitting the books hard, in addition to making the Final Four. 

I used to brag that I reached a 4.0 in my college years...I'd add the 2.0 GPA I'd get in the fall to the 2.0 GPA I'd get in the spring semester and -- voila! -- a 4.0 !!

Congratulations to Hailey, Kianna, Kasa, Emily, Chelsie and all the hard-working athletes on the Louisville campus. Making the grade -- on the field of competition and in the classroom 

paulie

LAX Defeats Vandy -- Louisville Softball vs. UK Today -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 STRONG SECOND HALF GETS LACROSSE PAST COMMODORES 15-6

Louisville Lacrosse outscored the visiting Vanderbilt Commodores 7-1 in the second half and gained their sixth victory of the season Tuesday afternoon at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium by a score of 15-6. 

Another outstanding scoring performance from Hannah Morris with four goals.  Four Cardinals recorded two goals each in the win (Kokoro Nakazawa, Kylea Dobson, Caroline Blalock and Allegra Catalano). Nicole Perroni also scored for Louisville to extend her scoring streak to 15 games. 

Scott Teeter stayed with the "two goalies are better than one" philosophy and it paid dividends yesterday . Sara Addeche handled first half "keeper" duties and J. Pleck drew the second half start. 

It was a game of runs. The Cards jumped out to a 4-0 lead to begin the contest and were ahead 7-2 early in the second quarter. Vandy put three of the final scores on the board to end the half, though, to create a 8-5 UofL lead at half time. 

The "Dores" did not respond at all in the second half, a strong Cardinals defensive effort proved to be the story in the final 30 minutes and the Cards did a lot of substituting at the end and still got the nine-goal win. 

So, at 6-7 and with four games to go, can Teeter's bunch get to the NCAA Tournament? 

You'd have to think the Cards would need to win three of the four to get a record above .500 and keep their RPI in the thirties. 29 teams will play in the 2022 tournament , which will be played in Baltimore in late May . 29 is a ridiculous number. Why can't they just make it 32, or, if they insist on "play in games" 40 teams? I'm sure some NCAA Lacrosse bigwig has an answer that makes perfect sense to him or her, but would baffle and make no sense to the average Lacrosse fan . another swipe at women's sports, if you ask me. 

Three of the final four are on the road, with stops at Pittsburgh, Niagara and Syracuse. Pitt, in their first season of Lacrosse at the D1 level and ACC, is 6-7 and 0-6 in the ACC and they'll be the Cards first stop of the road trip on Saturday. The Saturday after that the Cards go to Syracuse, who is 10-2 currently. Then, the trip to Niagara and finally back home for the season ender against Notre Dame. 

Notre Dame also hosts the ACC WLAX Tournament this year. 

My guess is that a win in the ACC Tournament will get Louisville in the NCAA Tournament, providing they don't fall apart the rest of the season and lose three or all four of their final games. I can see them downing Pitt and Niagara, at Syracuse will be rough and the Notre Dame game appears to be a evenly matched affair -- it'll be played under the lights at  Cardinal Stadium. 

We'll see. 

SOFTBALL TO HOST UK 

It's rivalry day tomorrow for Louisville Softball (providing Mother Nature cooperates) and the Cards face in-state rival Kentucky in Ulmer Stadium. 

A 7 p.m. first pitch and, if you can't make it out to Ulmer, the game will be shown on ESPNU.. 

The Cards come into the game at 19-15 on the season and are led offensively by Carmyn Greenwood and Taylor Roby/ Greenwood is batting .419. She leads the ACC in hits with 49. Greenwood has 11 home runs and 39 RBI's 

Roby has 12 home runs and 36 RBI's. She's also the main pitcher for UofL with 100 innings of work and 82 strikeouts. 

UK is 25-8 on the season and currently ranked 8th in the nation and bat .342 as a team. 

The Cats won last year's match up 6-5 last year in Lexington 

paulie   

Tennis Advances in ACC Tournament -- Softball Falls to UK -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Women's Tennis Defeats Boston College in ACC First Round

It was a great day for Louisville women's tennis. The 12-seed Cards handled 13-seed Boston College 4-1 in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.

Louisville took the doubles point to start the match. The duo of Dina Chaika and Tatiana Simova took down Reagan Posorke and Loren Haukova 6-2. Rhea Verma and Andrea Di Palma had a tough battle against Yufei Long and Kylie Wilcox but prevailed 7-5.

The foes then proceeded to the singles portion where each team has six members compete. In this case, only four of those six finished before it was a guaranteed victory for Louisville.

Jelena Vujanic was first to finish as she defeated Maria Ross 6-3, 6-1.

The next singles court to finish was Raven Neely vs Kylie Wilcox. The Eagles got their only point here with a 6-3, 7-5 win. Rhea Verma checked in next as she downed Laura Lopez 6-1, 7-5. Dina Chaika took Reagan Posorke to three sets but claimed the win 6-0, 3-6, 6-0, securing the Louisville victory.

Chelsea Sawyer and Marice Aguiar were in the third set when the match ended. Andrea Di Palma was just about to defeat Yufei Long when the match ended.

Louisville advances to play 5-seed Duke today at 10:00 a.m. The entire tournament is taking place at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga.

Louisville Falls to Kentucky in Nine Innings

It may have been a bit chilly and the day may have started with snow on the ground, but Louisville and Kentucky were not going to cancel their only other scheduled game. The Cards traveled to Lexington for a 7:00 start time last night to face the #14-ranked Wildcats.

It was Louisville who was first to put a run on the board. Makayla Hurst drove a pitch over the right field wall for the 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Kentucky would respond immediately with a home run of their own to even the score.

The Cards did some damage with the bases loaded in the next inning. Taylor Roby hit into a fielder's choice with the out at third, but plated a run for the Cards. Rebecca Chung walked to reload the bases and Hurst hit a high fly ball to the outfield for a sacrifice fly for the 3-1 lead. Kentucky would play small ball before a sac fly brought the score to 3-2.

Celene Funke would make contact and send a fly ball to the outfield as her sac fly sent Charley Butler home and Louisville went up 4-2.

A leadoff double with the addition of a couple other hits and a defensive miscue allowed Kentucky to post two runs in the fifth inning to even the score at 4-4.

Rebecca Chung, the hero from two years ago, lined a ball to the right field gap in the seventh inning to score Carmyn Greenwood and give Louisville a 5-4 edge.

With one out and a runner on second base, Louisville made a pitching change. After 6 1/3 innings, Coach Holly Aprile retired Roby from the circle and called upon graduate transfer Jennifer Leonhardt. A blooper to left field that then spun and bounced away from all Louisville players allowed Kentucky to score a run and even the score at 5-5. Leonhardt would then strike out the next two batters to go into extra innings.

We would see the game go to nine innings. Kentucky would get their first two runners on. A sac fly advanced them to second and third before a sac fly to right field walked it off for Kentucky, 6-5.

Louisville falls to 16-21 on the year. They are 2-15 against ranked opponents this season.

The Cards return home this weekend for a four-game series against #7 Florida State. It will be Senior Weekend. Nine players are listed as grad students or seniors on the roster. A few players have confirmed with me that they will not be returning next year and at least one plans to return. I do not have an exact number on how many will be participating in the Senior Day festivities but an educated guess tells me seven.

With a rainy forecast for Saturday stay tuned for schedule changes. Oh yeah, they're back to selling alcohol at softball games if that entices you to head out to Ulmer Stadium this weekend!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared

Alexia Mobley Interview -- Cards vs Cats Softball tonight -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 THE ALEXIA MOBLEY INTERVIEW

I had the great opportunity to interview 2022 Louisville WBB verbal Alexia Mobley this morning. 

The 6'2" forward/wing out of Reynoldsburg High School  (Reynoldsburg, OH) is an athletic performer with next-level impact. She plays for AAU powerhouse Cincinnati Angels. She has a great combination of length and athleticism and is a shot blocker. Can dunk. She's a strong rebounder and runs the floor well She can create for herself and others. Has both high and low offensive skills and is a proven defender in the low post. 

LINK to interview:  ALEXIA MOBLEY INTERVIEW 4/21/21

CARDS VS CATS SOFTBALL TONIGHT 

Yes, there is snow on the ground this morning in Louisville, KY -- very rare for April 21st, but the action will heat up in Lexington this evening when Louisville and Kentucky face off in a mid-week softball game.

The Cats cone into the Wednesday night contest with a overall record of 30-10 . In their last outing against Auburn, the visiting Wildcats went 1-2 against the Tigers. Then Cats have bats. They hit .345 as a team and are led by Kayla Kowalik, who has a pretty incredible .532 batting average. she's pounded 11 home runs and has 54 RBI's. 

Tatum Spangler is another UK power hitter and has made Mr. Spalding disappear 15 time this season. 

In the circle, Autumn Hines is the primary starter and has a 14-5 record. 

The Cards went 1-4 against Duke in their last outing. Louisville is 16-20 overall and was involved in two one-run losses against the Blue Devils in the final two games of the last series. 

With this being a non-conference, mid-week game, it's tough to predict just who will start in the circle for both teams. The Cards have an important ACC series against FSU this weekend, so, we might see one of the Cardinal reserve pitchers get a chance to see what they can do against the Cats. 

This one will be nationally televised on ESPNU and game time is se=t for 7 p.m. It will be a chilly one, with a high of just 46 degrees expected in Lexington for Wednesday and winds at 10-20 mph. 

Best of luck to our Cardinals softball squad tonight !! 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

paulie   

Lax Tonight -- Softball Postponed -- Swim News -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Lacrosse Hosts Duke

For the second time this season, Louisville Lacrosse will play a match under the lights of Cardinal Stadium. Another blue team from the state of North Carolina ranked in the Top 10 will take on the Cards at Louisville's football stadium.

#8 Duke will square off against Louisville at 7:00 p.m. The Blue Devils are 6-5 on the year with a 2-5 conference record. They ride a three-match losing streak into tonight with all losses coming against Top 10 ACC opponents.

Their conference wins have come against #18 Virginia Tech and #9 Virginia. Duke is averaging 13.7 goals per match on the year while they allow just under 11 goals per match.

Senior Katie Cronin has led Duke with 23 goals and is second on the team with eight assists. Fifth-year Catherine Cordrey has 20 goals. Grad transfer Gabby Rosenzweig has a team-high 18 assists to go along with 17 goals. Rosenzweig played four years at Penn where she set the school record for career points and single season assists.

Duke has rotated their goalkeepers with a trial and error basis. Sophia LeRose has appeared in nine matches and started seven while allowing 78 goals to go along with 58 saves. Chase Henriquez has played in eight matches and started four while allowing 41 goals to go with 20 saves. Stephanie Zempolich has filled in in a couple matches to record two saves while allowing one goal.

For the Cards, Ally Hall leads the way with 27 goals. That mark is also fifth-best in the ACC. Hannah Morris has scored 21 times while Carolina Blalock has added 20 goals. Blalock also has a team high 10 assists.

Rachel Florek has allowed 125 goals while recording 103 saves per GoCards.com. The NCAA only has the senior with 102 saves, putting her seventh in the country. If credited with 103, she would be in a tie for fifth. Florek ranks 27th in saves per game.

Louisville hopes to get their second ever win against Duke. You can catch this one on ACC Network starting at 7:00 p.m.

Softball News

Louisville was all geared up to host rival Kentucky last night for a match-up that was circled on the schedule from day one. Mother Nature had other plans.

The game was set to start at 7:00. Thunderstorms rolled in shortly before 6:30 and a tarp was placed on the field. Then came the downpour. Fans were sent to their cars or the Student Activities Center for safety measures as lightning struck overhead.

Things looked promising around 7:45 as the sun reappeared and the rain died down, but a quick meeting between the coaches and facilities crew left fans disappointed. With more storms quickly approaching and the Cards preparing for an early morning bus ride to Atlanta it was decided to postpone the game to an unspecified date.

There is speculation the two foes will play a double header on April 21 when the Cards were already scheduled to travel to Lexington. Many fans would prefer to still see one of these games hosted at Ulmer Stadium due to the limited seating from social distancing guidelines.

Softball did see some good news in Carmyn Greenwood. The elder Greenwood sister was named ACC Player of the Week.

Greenwood went off during Louisville's series victory at Pitt. She went 11-15 at the plate with six doubles. She also had five RBI's and five runs scored. Her on-base percentage was an incredible .750. Greenwood leads the team with a .437 batting average, eight doubles, 17 runs scored, and seven stolen bases.

Swim News

Both Arthur Albiero and Nick Albiero received ACC accolades. Coach Albiero was named ACC Men's Coach of the Year while his some was named ACC Swimmer of the Year.

The Louisville's men's swim team won their first ever ACC Championship this year. The men also recorded two NCAA Championships including Nick Albiero's 200 butterfly.

The fall season should pick up around November and the father-son duo shall return.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cats vs. Cards in SB tonight -- Pastor Named ACC FH Co-Player of Week -- Balogun? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL CPUPLE

 

CATS AND CARDS IN SOFTBALL TONIGHT AT ULMER

The Louisville and Kentucky softball squads go to battle tonight in Ulmer Stadium at 7 p.m. this evening. It'll be shown on ACCNX and a limited free walk-up tickets wiil be made available for those who want to attend. The berm, of course, is open --we've heard about some restrictions and distancing policies being implemented out there as well. 

Of note, in pregame ceremonies, the Cards will honor 2020 senior Caitlin Ferguson. The former Cards shortstop will go through her delayed senior Night honors at 6:45 p.m. Caitlin played in 175 games in her time at Louisville, scoring 89 runs and driving in 94. She started at short all four years she played at Louisville, and was on the 2017 ACC All-Freshmen team and 2018 All-Southeastern Regional second team.  

The Cards are 13-15 coming into tonight's contest and have won three of their last four games. Louisville rediscovered the bats at Pittsburgh and exploded for 29 runs in the four game series against Panther pitching. A big part of that has been from Carrmyn Greenwood, who leads the team with a .437 batting average....which is second-highest in the ACC.  Taylor Roby has been hitting the ball well also and leads UofL with 29 runs-batted-in. She's also pounded nine home runs this season, tops on the squad.  

Makayla Hurst is currently on a seven-game hitting streak for Louisville. 

Looking at the Cats, they come in as the #10 ranked team in the USA Today/NFCA poll. 

UK has built a 27-6 record and most recently took one out of three at Tennessee.  UK has seven players averaging .300 or better at the plate and Kayla Kowalik carries an impressive .482 average. Erin Coffel is the long ball threat for the Wildcats -- she's sent 14 Spaldings over the fence this season.

Louisville won the last time these two met 8-7. Taylor Roby belted a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning that scored Celene Funke for the "W". 

PASTOR NAMED ACC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Mercedes "Meche" Pastor has been named the ACC Co-Player Of the Week.

It's the fourth time she's gotten the honor in the 2020-21 Field Hockey season. Pastor was responsible for the only goal -- in overtime -- in Louisville's 1-0 win over Syracuse on Sunday at Trager Stadium. 

Pastor leads the Cards in goals scored this season with 11 and has knocked in five game winners for the 12-4 Cards. 

Also, Louisville Field Hockey has moved up a couple of spots to #3 in the NFHCA rankings this week, behind North Carolina and Iowa. The ACC continues their strong showing in the rankings, with four of the top 10 and seven of the top 20 in the weekly rankings.  

Louisville Field Hockey takes to the road nest -- to play #15 Duke on Saturday 

BALOGUN

Elizabeth came to Louisville as a 
transfer from Ga.Tech with Liz Dixon

At the time of this article (early Wednesday morning) there has been no official UofL WBB announcement on whether Elizabeth Balogun has entered the transfer portal or not. Balogun has released nothing on social media, either. 

I know that several sites and publications are reporting she's in the transfer portal. That might be. I also remember several sites reporting Jeff Walz was leaving Louisville last year. Give me the, facts, just the facts, as Joe Friday used to say...

I've received a lot of inquiries about this from our readers and have made inquiries within the program to get a confirmation or denial of the Balogun transfer/portal status but have received nothing official yet from Louisville WBB. . 

A source close to the program indicated to me that she would "most likely be leaving" but we deal with the facts and official statements when it comes to player movement here at Cardinal Couple, so we won't come out and confirm her status until we hear something from her or Walz or the program. 

Balogun was 24-75 from the floor in the 2020-21 season for Louisville (a 32% rate from the floor) and appeared in 29 games for the Cards, starting 16 of them.

Balogun led Louisville in blocks with 43 for the season and had a season high of 14 points twice -- against Miami (FL) and Clemson. 

When, and if,  further and official information becomes available on her future, we'll bring it to you here at Cardinal Couple. 

                                         *******************

(On a personal note, I received my second COVID 19 vaccination on Tuesday. i used the drive-thru operation UofL is running off Brook Street downtown and have received the Pfizer doses.  No side effects except a slightly sore left arm and I went to bed early last night -- that might have been because I was tired of watching UK Baseball pound Louisville pitching on TV) If an old fart like me can go through it, you can too.) 

I've never been one for flu shots, but, I would encourage you to get this shot. The more people that get vaccinated, the less cases there will be. If you want to talk to me about the procedure, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at:  

cardinalcouple@twc.com 

It doesn't hurt, and that was especially important to me, because I HATE needles,  so go get the shots. 

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

paulie