Softball Falls to FSU -- Track & Field Posts Two ACC Champions -- Casey Madura Interview -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Falters in Loss to FSU

Louisville softball collapsed and a 3-0 lead turned into a 7-4 loss as the Cards bowed out of the second round of the ACC Tournament to Florida State.  The loss is their third in four games.

Sidney Melton led off the game with a solo shot over the left field wall for the early lead.  They added two runs in the second when a fielder's choice drove a run home and Melton walked with the bases loaded to add an easy RBI.  The only other run came in the sixth when Alison Szydlowski reached base on a fielder's choice and drove in a run, almost exactly like the second inning play.

The Seminoles scored all of their runs in the middle three innings, relying on four Louisville errors and a pair of home runs to ignite the offense.  Megan Hensley and Danielle Watson split time in the circle with three innings apiece.  The duo only surrendered six hits, but walked four and the defense had four infield errors.  Hensley (17-8) took the loss.

Coach Pearsall heavily emphasized the impact the errors had on a game where Louisville had an early shot at winning, "If we dont make those mistakes, we have a chance at winning that game, but the errors set us back and we just couldn't overcome that."

With a record of 33-20 and an RPI hovering around 44 the Cards are a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament.  Unfortunately, the ACC is weak at softball and FSU is the only school inside the Top 40 in RPI.  The Cards will need some help in receiving a bid to the "Big Dance" and hope the top seeds win their respective conference tournaments.

Track and Field Takes Home Two ACC Championships on Day One

Dorcas Wasike ran away with the gold in the women's 10,000 m, running a personal best and setting a new meet record.  Damar Robinson leapt his way to the podium with a personal best on the men's high jump.

The Championships are still young and there's plenty more Cardinals hoping to make their mark in history and bring home the gold.

Casey Madura Sits Down with Cardinal Couple

Casey Madura (left) and Emily Howell

The lacrosse alum will graduate from UofL this Saturday, but she found some time to sit down for an interview.  We were fortunate that she still has field access and made our way to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium to enjoy a beautiful day that was tortured by the pollen invasion.

Madura has battled injuries and a cancer scare in her career at Louisville and spent almost all of her time on the bench as a supporter, teammate, and helping coach.  The senior captain talked about what brought her to Louisville, her experiences and memories here, and future plans that involve a trip to the Big Apple.

We talked about what her walk-up song would be, a secondary sport she might play, and deciding the style of wave she will perform as she walks across stage at commencement.

You can view the entirety of the lengthy interview

here.

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Don't forget to tune in to your favorite knuckleheads this Saturday at 11 am on WCHQ 100.9 fm.  I will be "enjoying" my new role of putting in credit card and personal loan applications while also doing my normal breaking change.  With Case past his exam and having recovered for a few weeks there is a slight chance he may find his way back down to Melwood Ave.  We'll have to wait on the Vegas odds to come out before making our bets on that.  Either way, make sure to continue keeping him in your thoughts as he works his way back to 100%.




What Day is it?

Well, besides Friday it's also a day to celebrate a couple favorites, so kick back and Eat Whatever You Want while you watch The Twilight Zone, a personal favorite of mine in terms of throwback TV shows.

Make sure to take you medicine as allergy season is in full force in the second-worst allergen city in the United States only behind McAllen, TX, per Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Softball Wins Awards and Begins ACC Tournament -- Women's Golf Finishes up Regional Play -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Earns Three Conference Awards

Three Louisville softball players received recognition with ACC awards yesterday.  Pitcher Megan Hensley and shortstop Sidney Melton were named to the All-ACC first team and second baseman Maddy Newman was named to the All-ACC freshman team.

This is Hensley's second appearance on the All-ACC team after earning the honors in 2016.  She has played a crucial role on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.  However, she does prefer hitting over pitching and would step up to the plate if she could only choose one.  Melton makes her first appearance on the conference team.  She is perfect in stolen bases this year and has crossed the plate a team-high 19 times.  Newman filled in early in the season at second base and would not surrender that position.  She has had one of the top rookie

performances by a Louisville player since the university parted ways with the Big East.  All three players will be returning to Louisville's roster next season.

Florida State claimed a majority of the major awards by taking Player of the Year (Jessie Warren) Pitcher of the Year (Kylee Hanson), and Freshman of the Year (Sydney Sherrill).  Holly Aprile of Pittsburgh took home Coach of the Year.

Louisville Softball Begins ACC Tournament

Desperately needing something to draw the NCAA Tournament committee's eyes this direction the 8-seeded Louisville softball team hopes to make a run in the ACC Tournament.  The Cards bused to Atlanta yesterday and will face 9-seeded Syracuse in one of the play-in games.  The winner will face 1-seeded Florida State.

The Cards finished 10-12 in conference play this season, well below the coaches' preseason predictions of finishing fourth.  I thought they could finish as high as second or third, but the Cards never did piece everything together.

The Cards lead the all-time series with Syracuse 21-10 with most of those games being played when the two teams were conference rivals in the Big East.  This season the teams are 1-1 against each other this year after the third game of the series was canceled due to inclement weather.

Today's game is set for 1:00 p.m., and can be viewed online on Watch ESPN.  Hopefully we might see a local station such as Fox Sports South pick it up for tv viewing.

Women's Golf Enters Final Day of Play in Seventh

Enjoying the sun and beautiful weather out in San Francisco the women's golf team is sitting in a tie for seventh place and just one stroke out of sixth.  The Cards shot a 6-over-par 294 yesterday and are 5-over-par 581 throughout the whole event so far.

Lauren Hartlage and Delaney Shah both shot an even-par of 72 yesterday to lead the way.  Hartlage is tied for 12th overall and Shah sits in a tie for 38th.  Olivia Cason is tied for 29th after struggling in the second round.

The top six teams from each region advance to the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, O.K., so the Cards do have a little bit of work cut out for them.  Louisville will need to make up their one-stroke deficit and hopefully will pull ahead further from their own success or have North Carolina and Oklahoma State struggle on the final day of events.

A trip to the NCAA Championships would mark the program's second trip with the other coming in 2008.

What is Today?

Picture from the Hitchcock
classic "VERTIGO". 

If your kids are feeling energetic they can bike to school today.  It is also national school nurse day, and believe me, with what they deal with they deserve at least a week of recognition, especially with the Hep A outbreak going on around town.  For you film critics Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo premiered on this day in 1958.  We can also wish Billy Joel a happy birthday today.  I saw him start a fire one time, but I know no one will believe me.

With Minout "Minnie" Mink leaving UofL for good and returning home I was hoping to get a video interview with her before she left, but the filed hockey star procrastinated on packing a wee bit too much so we are in the works of an alternative.  Be on the lookouts to see what the Mink has to say about her time as a Cardinal and her time in the states as well as what her "walk-up" song would be. Probably not anything Billy Joel sang or wrote?

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Basketball Stuff... Pick Em Update... WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Receive Late Game Time Slot

Pack your sleeping bags and coffee, it's a late one!  The women's basketball team will be playing the late game Friday evening in the Sweet Sixteen.  A 9:00 tip-off time is just a rough estimate, especially if game one goes long.  If you are traveling to the game expect to get home well after midnight. Knowing ESPN, expect action around 9:30.

The Cardinals will play the Cardinal (no "S") of Stanford.  The two teams have never faced each other before meaning that Louisville has zero blemishes on their record against Stanford.

Stanford finished 2nd in the PAC-12, finishing one and a half games behind Oregon.  Their 24-10 record is highlighted by wins against UCLA, Arizona State, Oregon State, and Oregon.  The Cardinal is 4-8 against ranked opponents including a 25-point loss at UConn in November.  Be on the lookout for a Louisville-Stanford review later this week.

Paulie and I plan to be at the game(s) this weekend.  Your wonderful co-owner will be covering both games Friday and may be there Sunday win or lose.  I will head to Lex after work Friday to take some pictures of the important game and will only be returning on Sunday following a Louisville victory.

Coach Walz held a press conference Tuesday to discuss the game. He also talks about the start time. His displeasure, mostly for the fan's sake, is evident:  LINK BELOW

https://soundcloud.com/user-748907999/dr0000_1366mp3

Men's Basketball's Struggling Season Concludes

For those of you that check out the other site I contribute to, River City Cards, I wrote an open letter to David Padgett praising him for what he has done.  However, it appears his time as head coach of the Louisville men's basketball time has come to a close.  It is expected that Xavier's Chris Mack will be named the new head coach starting Thursday, but this is unconfirmed.

The Cards fell in the third round of the NIT to Mississippi State 79-56.  It was the final game for seniors Quentin Snider and Anas Mahmoud, while fans speculate Deng Adel and Ray Spalding will go pro. Rumors of player transfers are also out there.

Fans will probably suffer a couple more rough seasons before the once proud program restores its glory and dominance in the college basketball world.

Softball Cancels Indiana Game

A "small snowstorm" turned into nasty weather quickly.  If you were outside late last night snow was blowing sideways at it fell from the sky.  Roads were bad.  Due to the weather the Louisville vs Indiana softball game was cancelled.  The GoCards schedule has it listed as postponed, but the game will not be rescheduled as of right now.

UofL returns to action Friday at Duke.  This one should be on ACC Network.  Unfortunately, when the Cards play on the road we are not blessed with the voice of former ace Maryssa Becker.

Case Lives

Not that the surgery was a matter of life and death, but Case's surgery was a success.  Thank you to everyone who sent him positive wishes.  The recovery time will take a while and his date of return to the studio is unknown.  Rest that achilles, superstar!

One thing we know, he won't be trying any points after touchdown or crossovers on the soccer field for awhile. We'll have a rotating list of fill in's on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour and may try to hook up with him via phone for updates and commentary.

NCAA Pick 'Em Update

There were 21 entries this year.  After eight games into the tournament there were no perfect brackets remaining.  The first round saw records of 26-6 down to 18-14.  Round two was going well for most folks until FGCU and Central Michigan had a say.  Everyone still has a winning record.

Ken S sits at 38-10 to lead the way.  The Real Joe Hill is a game behind at 37-11.  Paulie, Arthur, and myself are a bit behind that at 36-12.  Things continue all the way down to 28-20.

Everyone enjoy your Wednesday and don't forget that we have a 2018, and back-to-back, national champion in all star swimmer Mallory Comerford!

Just another day on the court...

Coach Walz has skills. Watch the link.

http://www.wave3.com/clip/14213499/uofls-walz-hits-from-half-court

Just walkin' off like it's no big thing.



Jared

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

A few things we'd like to see for 2015

As 2014 comes to an end, we've come up with a few things we'd like to see for 2015 when it comes to University of Louisville women's athletics. And...a few memories from 2014.  As the first line of the song Auld Lang Syne goes...Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot...a few things we'd like to forget from 2014 would include:

-- The beatings UConn WBB put on Louisville. A new conference, new hopes and aspirations. We say "bye-bye" to a few longstanding foes in Geno, USF, Rutgers and Cincy but expect that the UofL sports teams will run into them from time to time down the road. 


-- Watching Louisville softball pitching die on the vine at

the end of the season/start of the NCAA Tournament. Beating USF to take the AAC Tournament was special. Getting romped by LSU and Boston College...definitely forgettable. Coach P. has a few new arms. We hope they are strong and accurate ones.

-- Losing to Kentucky in women's soccer, volleyball, basketball and softball. We're glad they don't field teams in field hockey and lacrosse. We'll leave those disappointments in the past and hope for better results in 2015. . 

THINGS WE'D LIKE TO SEE IN 2015

-- A return to the Final Four for women's basketball. If you close your eyes and think about it...it's not that difficult of a wish to imagine. A strong conference run will be needed...but Duke, UNC and Florida State have all shown vulnerabilities and are beatable. Notre Dame is all that was expected...and Louisville must go there to play...but they have their weaknesses.  Walz warns that Louisville will take a few losses in the ACC. Looking at the schedule, I can see four...maybe five. 12-4 headed into ACC Tournament play would be very doable. 

-- Lacrosse continuing the upward climb. 2014 was a stellar season for Kellie Young's crew...the best in lacrosse history. There will be new challenges in the ACC. Tougher opponents and new venues...but this is a very solid, experienced and deep group of stick-holders that will toss that ball into the net. Turn loose the pocket book, Mr. Jurich and build a decent press box and a concession stand out there. Or move the games to the soccer stadium across the street. These girls deserve the best. 

-- Volleyball finding that passer or two and return to conference domination. If there's one sport that felt the lumps in moving to the ACC...it was Anne Kordes' netters. We've touched on it time and time again...giving Katie George a chance to perform her magic as the setter starts by getting her the ball without having her do a 100 yd. dash to obtain it. A lot of the wide net girls are back, though...and a promising class comes in. We may never see the likes of a Caitlin Welch again in passing excellence...but we'd settle for a 90% duplicate.

We wish all sports at Louisville the best of the 2015 seasons that await. We could spend January watching Louisville go 8-0 in hoops. February would be fun if the wins continue and softball gets off to a strong start with lacrosse. March would be marvelous with WBB winning in the ACC Tournament and a strong strut through the NCAA Tournament. April would have the Cards celebrating another Final Four trip and softball and lacrosse atop the ACC. 

We'll stop at April. If Louisville can turn in that strong of a four month performance, we may be in need of smelling salts or a ammonia snap.


Whatever the outcome, it's a great time to be a Cardinal fan. It always is, you know...We look forward to hearing the crowd roar as another ACC opponent falls in the KFC YUM! Center. The celebrations on the lacrosse field after another LAX score. The ping of the bat and watching a Cardinal trot around the bases while we duck for cover behind the left field fence. We also wish soccer, field hockey, golf, tennis, rowing, track and field, cross country and swimming unparalleled successes in 2015. 

From Albiero to Walz...from Arica to Young...and all points in between, L1C4...Cardinal fans... and keep Al Greener's pep band busy playing the fight song after each score in 2015.



"You are a Cardinal. You became one on your own accord. Emulate the Cardinal Bird. A fierce and fearless protector that runs off bigger foes from its territory. Protect your turf. Be the one that they would like to be. Be the one that they fear.The C is for Champions Play like one anytime you take that field of honor. The A is for Academics. You are a student-athlete. The student comes first for a reason. The R is for Respect. Respect the game, the opponent and earn the oppositions' respect.  The D is for Dedication. 110% is what you strive for. The S stands for Success. Anytime you raise that "L" with your thumb and two fingers...remember what it means, and signifies...the proud tradition behind it and your duty to continue it. You are a Cardinal. "

(Author unknown) 

paulie