Softball Wins and Winning, Lax, and WBB

 Softball Wins and Is Winning

That's not a typical headline we get to write, but it is the case on this opening weekend of Softball.

In the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida in the Tampa/St. Pete area, the Softball Cards are in the middle of a game against Missouri after it got rain and lightning delayed yesterday.  That means the Sunday schedule will have Louisville vs Howard at 10am, Missouri vs Prairie View A&M at 12:30(ish), and then hopefully the conclusion of the Louisville vs Missouri game.

Hey, it's an outdoor sport, you do whatcha gotta do to get as many of the games in as you can.

The game stands at a score of 2-0 with the Cards leading 23rd-ranked Missouri in the bottom of the 3rd with 2 outs.  The Cards are (or will be?) batting.  Taylor Roby is on 2nd, and Korbe Otis is on 1st with Sarah Gordon coming to the plate to bat.  The scores came all in the bottom of the 3rd: Easton Lotus singled, then advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch.  Daisy Hess doubled to right, scoring Lotus, then Roby doubled to right, scoring Hess.  Otis then drew a walk to get on base and that's where the game stands.

The Cards did have an earlier game in the day against Southern, with Sam Booe in the circle for the whole thing.  In five innings of pitching, Booe only allowed a single hit, while the Cards rounded 10 to take advantage of the college run-rule to end the game after just four and a half innings.  Taylor Roby went 2-for-2 at the plate with a two run homer in the mix.  Vanessa Miller and Paige Geraghty both had triples in solid performances at the plate as well.

Booe's no-hitter was going strong until the top of the fifth inning, and I want to know what commentator said something to jinx it.  She retired the first 10 hitters she faced and never faced more than three batters in any inning of the game thanks to a solid defense backing her up.

As mentioned, the Cards will face Howard today at 10:00 am and will hope to finish the Missouri game in the afternoon, depending on the lengths of games, and team travel schedules.

Colorado Visits Lacrosse

After a tough battle against Denver on Friday, the Colorado Buffs come to visit the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium starting at noon.

CU makes the drive up I-65 from Nashville where they tangled with Vanderbilt on Friday, going down to a 10-11 loss in overtime.

Charlie Rudy and Morgan Pence are the main attackers for the Buffs, and there seems to be some early uncertainty between the pipes with Danielle Heintz and Grace Donnelly spending time in goal.

With Louisville hosting, you can catch it on ACC Network Extra streaming.

Clemson Comes to Town

Oh yeah, there's a basketball game as well.  The Clemson Tigers will match up against a UofL team scrabbling to get back into the national rankings in the chaotic ACC.

The Tigers are in the lower ranks of the conference, at 5-9, but that has proven to not be a solid determining factor on who wins games in the ACC this year.  And one of the prime examples is from the end of December when Clemson knocked off a very good Virginia Tech team.

Louisville will be looking to climb out of the quagmire of teams all at 9-4, tied for third in the league.  This, of course, has particular relevance when it comes to ACC tourney time to get the double-bye.  Of course there are four more games past this one to help determine that, including one against Miami, another participant in the 9-4 mosh pit.

Amari Robinson, a name I feel like we've been calling for a decade, leads the Tigers.  She hails from Douglasville, GA, which, you know, has a penchant for producing some pretty good hoopsters.  Robinson averages over 13 points per game.  Ruby Whitehorn is the only other player to average in double-digits.

Will Walz continue the Konno, Kasa, Harris version of the starting lineup?  Or has Chrislyn Carr's recent high scoring efforts earned her a place back in the opening look?  Your guess is as good as mine, but if you can't be at the KFC Yum! Center for the game, it can be found on ACC Network Extra, and you should be able to make it a nice double-header with Lacrosse which should finish up right around in time for the 2:00 pm tip-off.

Do note that 2:00 pm is a changed gametime, with the original tip scheduled for 6:00 pm, but moved because...well, apparently there's a big football game, or something like that.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Even Louie is fed up with the officiating

Case, Jared, Paul, and myself had a lot on our plates as we dive headlong into the overlap between winter and spring sports.  Basketball, Softball, Lacrosse, and plenty more discussion happened.

Check it out at anchor.fm:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Spring-Sports-Underway-e1uqeb5

and it can also be found in any quality podcast directory.

-- JMcA

Recapping Sunday Action for WBB, Lacrosse & Softball -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

TWO "L"'s and a "W" 

The three sports we give most of our coverage to in the spring were all in action yesterday. None of them were in Louisville but Jared and Paulie were in neighboring Cincinnati for Lacrosse to view their win over the Bearcats. In Syracuse, things didn't go as planned for the UofL WBB squad and the Softball Cards closed out their action in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, FL. Here's the recaps....


LACROSSE STARTS SEASON WITH A WIN

Let's start with the good news. Louisville Lacrosse began their 2020 campaign with a 16-11 win over the UC Bearcats yesterday afternoon, getting off to a 8-4 halftime lead and closing out the home team on a day that took a couple of weather turns as the contest progressed. 

Louisville got four goals in the contest from junior Ally Hall to lead Louisville to their 13th. consecutive win over Cincinnati. Falling behind 1-0 to start, the Cards never trailed again...putting up four straight goals, from four different players, to counter the Bearcats early score. Louisville never looked back and three Cards (Hall, freshman Allegra Catalano and junior Caroline Blalock) each had two scores on the sheet as the half ended.

Rachel Florek made some spectacular saves for Louisville in goal-keep. The red-shirt junior totaled nine saves in the match and the rest of the defense was efficiently active early, limiting UC to just one shot in the first half of the first half. 

A overcast, chilly day at start got a bit crazy as the first half ended. Big snow flakes blanketed the field, making the final six minutes a winter wonderland. You could barely see the players leave the field for the locker room at halftime, The Cards picked up two goals in the "whiteness" to creat the four-goal halftime edge. 

Jared Anderson and I headed for the UC press box during the mini-blizzard, after watching the game from the field for most of the opening half. 

Hannah Morris drove home all of her three goals in the second half and the Cards got back-to-back goals from Hall to forge a 12-4 advantage with 16:52 left in action after Morris's second score. From there, UC picked up the pace a bit on the "now clear of snow" field and actually out-scored the Cards 7-4 the rest of the way. 

"I don't think the heavy stuff is going to come out for
quite some time..." 

Morris put her final score in the net with about nine minutes to play and sophomore  Kristen Parker closed out Cardinal scoring at the 2:32 mark. 16-11 the final. CARDS WIN! 

In a post-game interview recap with Paulie, Coach Scott Teeter indicated that he was pretty happy with the overall effort Sunday and he thought they competed for 60 minutes. He knows the Cards have a lot of players who can put the ball in the back of the net and they just have to find them and spread the ball around. Much more with Teeter below: 


LINK TO INTERVIEW:  SCOTT TEETER POST GAME COMMENTS

Great helmet !! 

A nice win on the road to start the season that indicated Louisville has multiple options on the attack, some mid-fielders who are excellent on both ends of the field and create havoc for opposing offenses and a goal-keeper in Florek who blocks shot attempts. All good things. 

We received word that the audio was poor and why the Go Cards website failed to post our post-game interview with Coach Teeter on their Go CARDS site. 

You decide. SID Nick Evans was in Syracuse with WBB, he covers both sports in the spring. I guess we're not ready from prime time, in the eyes of the staffers he sent to the Queen City. 

Nice contributions from the freshman Sunday. Izzy Holmes had three assists, Catalano scored the "hat-trick" with three goals and first-year players Maggie Foster, Megan Mangines, Maddie McDonough and Louisville Eastern High School product Ashley Osbourne drew the starts. 

The Cards host Denver at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday for the home opener. Admission is free. 

(LACROSSE PHOTOS AND POST GAME INTERVIEW FOOTAGE BY JARED ANDERSON) 



WBB HOOPS TAKES SECOND STRAIGHT LOSS 59-51

We were able to follow Louisville Women's Basketball in bits and pieces from Tweets while in Cincinnati....and caught the fourth quarter in the car while heading back to Louisville. 

 Louisville put up just 35.2% shooting, had 22 turnovers and lost the second quarter to Syracuse 15-8 Sunday, to take their second straight loss in the ACC. 

After a firs quarter that saw the Orange in the lead 15-12, Dana Evans connected on the three to tie the contest up. After that,though, Syracuse went on a 15-5 run to close the quarter and hold a 30-20 lead. 

Two threes (from Evans and Jess Laemmle) early in the third session got the Cards close but Syracuse was able to get five points from guard Kiara Lewis to close the quarter and hold the 41-32 lead after three. 

The 'Cuse extended the edge out to double digits several times in the final quarter. It was the lowest point-production of the season for the Cards. The Cards did rally to get within six near the end, shooting a improved 7-11 from the floor (63%) in the final period, but the Syracuse lead was just too much to overcome. 

Jones and Evans combined for 28 of Louisville's 51 points, but were 10-31 from the floor in doing so (32%). 

This lack-of-successful shooting comes after Jeff Walz has indicated he has tried to simplify the offense so better production can occur. Louisville had the highest shooting percentage in the ACC (45.7%) going into the game, but the last two Cardinal efforts have not mirrored that. The Cards are now 21-3 on the year and 10-2 in conference, one game back of league leading NC State. These two will match up Thursday in Raleigh at 8 p.m.

Jess Three? Write it down as... Good! She
hit two bombs against the Orange for six points. 

Another game where neither team shot 40%.  Counting the Team USA Exhibition, the Cards have failed to reach 60 points in three straight outing now, after two 80+ point totals against Pitt and Notre Dame. 

Speculation will run rampant about the loss. NLet's not forget, though, that Syracuse was here earlier this year and the Cards survived a late Syracuse run to win 62-58. 

Orange fans were looking to celebrate coach Quentin Hillsman's 300th. win in his career and they got want they came for. 

"Q" talks about it in the link below: 

COACH QUENTIN HILLSMAN POST GAME LOUISVILLE

I don't have much more to say about this one, so we'll go the Fred Report and summation.




THE FRED REPORT

"What's the matter, Fred?  We lost at Syracuse."  

FREE THROWS -- The Cards got 12 free throws chances and hit eight of them for 66.7%. Four Cardinals attempted them, Jaz leading the way...going 3 for 7. Not quite up to our 70% standards for earning a letter, so we won't assign one. 

REBOUNDING  -- Syracuse out-grabbed the Cards 40-37, despite Kylee Shook's 13 and Jaz's seven. Our standards are if you win the rebounding numbers, you get a letter. Louisville did not. No letter here. 

EFFICIENCY/EXECUTION -- The numbers indicate a sloppy performance in the "E-Stats" 22 turnovers way too many against a team that was 11-11 going into this one and 5-6 in the ACC. The Cards also lost the points-in-paint battle again and Kylee got only six shot attempts in 32 minutes, Liz Dixon none in 18 minutes and Bionca played 26 minutes and went 1-5. Louisville looked unmotivated and listless from parts of this one I saw. I can't assign a letter for 51 points-produced and 5-17 three-point execution.

DEFENSE -- in the scheme of the entire game, the Cards held Syracuse to just 59 points and 35.3% shooting. It's the first time this year the Cards have loss despite holding the foe to under 60. 10 steals is a encouraging defensive number and 18 Syracuse turnovers indicate to me that defense wasn't a major problem for the Cards, expect for they allowed more points than they were able to produce. I'll compromise and go with a small case "d" here. 

FINAL FRED REPORT TALLY:   _-_-_-d


SUMMING IT UP 

You have to score more points than the opponent to win. That involves shooting the ball better than the foe. Let's hope the Cards can solve the recent lack of production on offense in their next outing against league-leading NC State (who was idle Sunday) at Raleigh on Thursday. Elizabeth Balogun should be back in the lineup by then, but, the problems go deeper than just missing one starter for two games.


SOFTBALL FALLS TO MISSOURI 5-1

Louisville Softball closed out their trip to Clearwater with a 5-1 loss to yet another SEC opponent in Missouri Sunday. The Cards faced SEC squads, Mississippi, Mississippi State and the Tigers in the three-day trip. 

Missouri struck early with two runs in the bottom of the second inning with three hits. Louisville cut that lead in half when Taylor Roby went "grass, track and wall" in the top of the third with her team co-leading second home run of the season, but it was Louisville's only score of the morning. 

Chardonnay Harris (0-3) drew the start in the circle for the Cards, allowing three runs in 2.2 innings Taylor Roby finished the Cards pitching duties, allowing two runs, unearned, in the sixth inning. Roby was 2-2 from the plate and freshman third-base starter Jenna Servi went 2-3 at bat, with a double. 

Louisville next go to Chapel Hill next, for the ACC vs. Big Ten Classic. They'll face Michigan and Wisconsin on the UNC Field. 

Have a meaningful Monday! 


paulie
xxxxx

Softball goes 1-1 in Dot Richardson, Radio Today -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

Softball Downs UMKC...Falls to Missouri

Louisville Softball has escaped the arctic blast that has enveloped these parts...travelling to Orlando, FL. and participating in the Dot Richardson National Collegiate Softball Invitational. 

In case you wondered, Dot Richardson was a key part of the United States national team that won the gold medal during the sport's Olympic debut in 1996 hitting the home run that won the title game. After her win at the Olympics, she continued with her career as an orthopedic surgeon. She's also currently the head coach at Liberty University. Born and raised in Orlando...she's considered one of the greatest softball players of all-time and was a superstar at UCLA.

Missouri 5 - Louisville 1

The Cards faced Missouri...who was opening their 2015

campaign...in the first game of the invitational and fell 5-1 to the Tigers. Mizzou jumped on Louisville and Shelby McCombs early in this one...with two runs in the first inning and three more in the second inning.

The Cards had an excellent opportunity to score in the bottom of the second with bases loaded and one out after Whitney Arion was hit by a pitch, Sydney Benz doubled and Kelsi Jones drew a walk...but a strikeout and groundout got the Tigers out of the inning 

Louisville got on the scoreboard in the fourth when Nicole Pufahl singled and came around to score on a Kelsi Jones double. Jones transferred to Louisville from Missouri last season...so a bit of poetic justice there in breaking up Missouri pitcher Toni Finucane's shut out. 

Jones had two of Louisville's six hits in the loss. Shelby McCombs takes the loss (2-1) going three innings. Fellow freshman Madi Norman finished it up for UofL...hurling the final four in shutout relief. 

Louisville 3 - UMKC 2

The Cards got a two-run homer from Arion and RBI single from Maryssa Becker in the top of the third against Missouri-Kansas City to take a 3-1 lead and held on to win the Cards second game.

Madi Norman (1-3) notched her first win of the season...coming in to relieve starter Becker, who allowed two runs in three innings. 

The Cards (3-4) face Florida A&M and Arkansas today. 

So far in this early part of the season...the Cards seem to do better against the hyphenated and initial schools...more of those, please... and less Washington's, Minnesota's and Arkansas's  

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Radio this morning at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and

streaming live on the internet at crescenthillradio.com

Worldwide and I will wrestle a grizzly bear live on the air, race an ostrich, perform with Snoop Dogg, interview Barack Obama and witness a live wedding on the air in our Valentine's Day broadcast.

(OK...just kidding...none of that is going to happen)

We will discuss Louisville women's sports from a fan's perspective, though...and basketball, softball, lacrosse and other UofL women's sports are on the docket. 

"Turn that damn thing OFF !!!" 

We might even throw a Valentine's Day Quiz at Worldwide and see how he does.

We've got words from Walz after the win over Pitt and post-game player interviews...plus an exclusive with former Cardinal great Dez Byrd. 

It's radio that ends your Saturday morning each week. Join us, won't you?

paulie