Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Cards will face Temple in AAC Softball Tourney today

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Louisville swept Owls two weekends ago at Ulmer

- If you are not busy...

The AAC Softball Tournament gets underway in Houston this morning at 11 a.m. when third seeded Louisville (33-20) will face Temple (15-29) in the opener.




The Tournament seedings:

#1  UCF                     #5 Rutgers
#2  USF                     #6 Temple
#3  Louisville             #7 Memphis
#4  Houston               #8 Connecticut

Cincinnati and SMU do not field softball teams.


If the Cards take care of business, they'll get the winner of the USF vs. Memphis game on Friday at 5 p.m. The Tournament final is scheduled to take place Saturday at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.

All of today and tomorrow's games will be shown at the American Digital Network.  It can be found at:

http://www.theamerican.org/DN


The Cards swept the home regular season finale against the Owls 14-6, 5-0 and 11-3 over April 26-27. They looked very impressive in doing so. Taner Fowler went 8-10 over the three games and the Cards got good pitching out of Caralisa Connell, Rachel Le Coq and Maryssa Becker. 

Louisville finished the remainder of the regular season 2-2...losing to UK but taking 2 out of 3 in Memphis on Derby weekend.


Some final regular season stats (Worldwide loves these!)

- Louisville batted .302 as a team. Leading the way was Katie Keller (go vote for her!) at .384. Five Cards batted over .300

- Kelsi Jones was the home run leader with 11. She also led the Cards in RBI's with 36. She also scored the most runs with 44. Rumors that the team is changing their nickname to the "Kelsi's" is unconfirmed.

We owe the University of Missouri a large "thank you" for letting her hone her skills there two years before transferring to "the Ville".

- Freshman pitcher Maryssa Becker went 12-7 on the season. Caralisa Connell finished 10-5. Rachel LeCoq was 11-8. Both are seniors.

The University of Louisville place five players on the American All-Conference Softball teams as announced at the league banquet Wednesday, May 7. Seniors Katie Keller and Taner Fowler earned first team honors while juniors Whitney Arion and Kayla Soles and freshman Maryssa Becker were named to the second team.

This award recognition is great for the five that got selected but it also provides indisputable evidence that the selection committee is dumber than a box of cereal. How do you leave Jones off the list?

One of the many reasons that make me sooooo very happy UofL is dropping an "A" and adding a "C" next season. ACC...we're on the way. AAC? Thanks for the invite...time to go now. Prosper in your mediocrity.

We'll have a full report on the action in the Friday edition of Cardinal Couple...plus a preview of The BIG EAST Lacrosse tournament. 

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         *


Lacrosse is headed to Evanston. This from the UofL SID office:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville women's lacrosse team is inviting the public to a send-off for the program's first NCAA Tournament in school history on Thursday just outside the Yum! Center, adjacent to the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, on Floyd Street at 10:20 a.m. ET.  The Cardinals will face Ohio State in a first-round game on May 9 in Evanston, Ill., with the winner playing No. 5-seed Northwestern on May 11 on the Wildcats' home field. The Buckeyes earned one of the 13 at-large bids.  Louisville (15-3) secured the BIG EAST's automatic berth after beating Georgetown on Saturday for the first conference tournament title in school history. Winners of 11 straight, Louisville rolled its way also to the school's first regular-season crown

paulie
                 

Monday Cardinal Couple --- Softball completes the sweep...Cards 11 - Owls 3

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards improve to 12-6 in AAC with Temple win

- Vote for Katie!

The Louisville Softball team has found their bats and used them to bombard the Owls again Sunday. Spotting the Owls an early 3-0 advanage...Louisville proceeded to score the final 11 runs of the contest and sweeps the series on Senior Day at Ulmer Stadium.

The fans said an official goodbye to Taner Fowler, Hannah Kiyohara, Caralisa Connell, Katie Keller, Maggie Ruckenbrod and Rachel LeCoq yesterday (they actually will have one more home game Wednesday when they host UK) and then proceeded to say goodbye to several softballs and Owl pitchers.

After a three run homer in the top of the first put the Cards and Caralisa Connell behind, UofL wasted no time in putting some numbers on the left field scoreboard. The Cards got one back in the bottom of the first when Kelsi Jones doubled and scored on a Brittany Duncan sac fly.

The fourth inning proved to be fruitful for the Cards offense...five runs on five hits...and Louisville led 6-3.

Maryssa Becker went fence with Brittany Duncan onboard in the fifth to increase the lead to five at 8-3. By then, Caralisa had given away to Becker in the circle.

The Cards ended it in the sixth when Jones led off the inning with her team-best ninth home run of the season. Four singles from Jordan McNary, Kristina Dillard, Autumn McDuffie and Taner Fowler produced the final two runs to stop the game at 11-3.

Cats Wednesday. This one will cost you $5 to watch inside Ulmer, but free seating will be available on the outfield berm.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Vote for Katie Keller! The senior and nine other softball players are in competition for college Player of the Year. You can vote once a day and Katie could use your help for the Senior Class Award title.

Link below:

VOTE FOR KATIE EVERY DAY!

( UNFORTUNATELY, YOU'LL NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THE LINK WHEN YOU GET OVER THERE . I VOTED OFF THE LINK ABOVE EARLIER AND IT WOULDN'T LET ME VOTE AGAIN WHEN I WENT BACK A FEW MINUTES LATER TO TEST IT)

Katie Keller

School

Louisville

Position

Second Base

Major

Communications

 

Classroom

Katie Keller currently carries a 3.118 overall GPA and has had solid performances in the classroom throughout her career. The communications major has been named to the Athletic Director’s honor roll (3.0 or higher for the semester)three times and was a member of the Dean’s List. Following her junior season, when she earned All-America honor on the field, she was also selected to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team.

Character

Katie Keller is a leader both on and off the field. As a freshman, she stepped into a starting role at second base and gained the respect of her teammates and coaches with her communication skills. Her work ethic has never been called into question. She is dedicated and determined to improve herself and her teammates. Over the years, she has grown into a leader off the field as well, giving encouragement to teammates. Katie is always able to lighten up a tense moment with her sense of humor, but knows when to be serious. She is an intense competitor and a great teammate. We are fortunate to have Katie as a member of our team.

Community

Katie Keller has dedicated community service hours to several organizations including: Dreams with Wings, the Down Syndrome Buddy Walk, the Humane Society, and the Hunger Walk. She has donated her time to help carve pumpkins with special needs children and assisted with a dance for people with disabilities who are residents of the Douglas Community Center in Louisville. Keller has also spent hours working with the Fit4Me program, in which UofL female athletes work with middle-school girls to improve their nutrition and fitness and encourage healthy habits,

Competition

Katie Kopeeller was recently named to the Top 50 Watch List for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. She earned NFCA All-America second team honors in 2013 after registering a .402 batting average and 54 RBIs and belting out a team-best 12 home runs. She was also named to the All-Great Lakes Region and All-BIG EAST first teams as a junior. In 2013, Keller was one of the Top 25 Finalists for the 2013 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

The three-year starter and three-time All-BIG EAST selection became the first player in program history to sweep Louisville Slugger/NFCA and USA Softball National Player of the Week honors on March 5, 2013. She is also two-time All-Great Lakes Region selection. She has an innate knowledge of the game and performs well under pressure.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Our latest broadcast on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is now available on the SoundCloud. Several of you have e-mailed me about not being able to find the archived broadcasts. I hope the link below helps:

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO 04-26-14

Let us know...

WE will be out of the studio Derby Day...and back live again on 5/10/14.

We have (5) different Lacrosse interviews to hear on the 4/26/14 broadcast...two with Coach Kellie Young, two with Faye Brust and one with Kay Morissette. 

paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Softball Cards fly past Owls 14-6 and 5-0

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards improve to 11-6 in AAC with sweep

-  Downs After Dark 


Softball the way we're used to it at Ulmer Saturday. Louisville unleashed the bats against the Owls and Carl
found her groove again in the sweep against Temple.

Cards 14 - Temple 6  (five innings)

Louisville put together 14 runs and 13 hits in the opener...three from Taner Fowler in the drubbing of Temple. After a scoreless first inning, Louisville went to work in the second frame...a two RBI single from Kelsi Jones and two run double by Fowler doing the major damage.

Maybe just as impressive...Brittany Duncan scoring from first on a Kayla Soles two RBI double. Make it 6-0 Cards after two. Call her "wheels"?

After Temple went fence on Rachel LeCoq in the third, Fowler returned the favor...pounding one over the left field fence and doing irreparable harm to the maple tree on the berm. Louisville added two more runs to make it 9-1 after three.

Temple countered with three runs off of LeCoq and Tierra Sanabria in the fourth to make it a five run Cardinal lead...but Louisville responded with four runs...on four singles to give Temple a 13-4 deficit to overcome. The Owls did score twice in the top of the fifth...forcing Louisville to bat in the bottom of the inning...but walks to Soles and Maryssa Becker and a double from Fowler ended the game.

LOUISVILLE 5 - TEMPLE 0

Good Carl is back.

The nightcap belonged to Caralisa Connell. 12 strikeouts and just two hits allowed gave the senior her eighth win of the year.  We got to see the pitcher that we knew from last year and 2012...mowing down batters like a weed-eater attacks clumps of grass.

And, in a rarity for the second game of a UofL double-header, the bats backed her up.

The Cards scored three in the second inning...singles from Soles, Fowler, Maggie Ruckenbrod and Hannah Kiyohara doing the damage and added two in the third inning. Becker's double off the centerfield fence drove in Whitney Arion and Keller to give Connell a five run lead to work with. 

Tomorrow is Senior Day and the Cards will honor Fowler, Keller, Kiyohara, LeCoq, Connell and Ruckenbrod. They've won 170 games as Cardinals, played in two conference title games and played in three NCAA Tournaments.

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

I've posted the second of my articles about Derby Week over at paulsykes.com

This one isn't roses and champagne toasts. Yeah, I'm a little edgy about the $hur$hill Down$ gouging.

This piece probably won't endear me to John Asher or Darrin Rogers, the communciations brain-trust on Central Avenue.

The new projection screen, though...is totally awesome.

LINK:

DERBY TRIAL AND DOLLARS AFTER DARK

paulie

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Softball enters crucial three game series...Radio Today!

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Pearsall's squad takes on Owls this weekend

- Radio Today!

- More "Talk Derby to me"

- Wanna follow Angel & Shoni on TV?


With only six conference games left and a non-conference meeting with UK at Ulmer on Wednesday night...the time is now for the softball Cards (28-18) to go on a regular-season ending win streak to bolster their chances in the AAC Softball tournament in Houston and for an NCAA bid. Prior to last weekend's debacle at UCF...where Louisville went 0-3...Louisville had won eight in a row.

The Cards are currently in third place in the AAC with a 9-6 mark. Ahead of them is UCF at 9-3 and Houston at 11-4. USF sits behind Louisville with a 7-5 mark.

The good news is that Louisville doesn't have to play any of the above three to end the season. After Temple, the Cards conclude the regular season at Memphis next weekend. The Tigers are in seventh place in the AAC with a 4-10 record.

Directly ahead is Temple, sitting in fifth place with Rutgers at 5-7. The Owls are 15-22 on the season.

It will be the second meeting lifetime between the two squads. Louisville shut out the Owls 8-0 last season in the Citrus Classic in Orlando on March 1st.

Temple is led by senior Sarah Prezioso, who is hitting .385 and leads the Owls in hits (45), runs (32), RBI's (22), stolen bases (16), home runs (8) and doubles (8). The team captains .708 slugging percentage leads the AAC.

In the circle, sophomore Kelsey Dominick (9-9) and freshman Amanda Gatt see most of the work. Dominick has three shut-outs on the season.

For UofL, second second baseman Katie Keller has been on fire lately and leads the team with a .393 batting average. She gets plenty of help from junior transfer Kelsi Jones, who leads Louisville with eight home runs, junior transfer Brittany Duncan and senior catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod. Marge leads the AAC in throwing out would-be base stealers.

The Cards will count on Maryssa Becker in the circle. The Oregon freshman is 12-5 and carries a 1.98 ERA. She's also a legit threat at the plate. Senior Rachel Le Coq has come around as of late when called on to pitch and the Cards do have senior Caralisa Connell and freshman Tierra Sanabria available if the Owl bats get busy.

First pitch is noon. The second game scheduled for around 2:30.

  *            *            *            *            *            *            *

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO today at 11 a.m. We've got plenty to discuss with lacrosse, softball, golf, more Louisville women's sports and some great audio from lax's Faye Brust, Kay Morissette and Coach Young. We'll also try to stump Worldwide and the listening audience with another of Paulie's quizzes and Don Paulie holds court with another aspect of life he is confused about.

It's internet radio that defies description and that's the way we like it. Crescent Hill Radio is local stuff. Good to listen to at any time. Music, talk shows and comedy. Eventually the station will be on FM as well. We'll see if they keep us around after that...

Join us, won't you?

LINK BELOW:

http://www.crescenthillradio.com

<><><><><><><><><><><><>><><>><><>><>><>><><><><><>


Another snippet of lunacy and babble has been posted over at my personal blog about that most unholiest of things...The Kentucky Derby. With Derby and Oaks just around the corner...I'll be striving to put a little "something, sumthin" over there each day.

You have been advised.

LINK:

http://www.paulsykes.com

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

Fox Sports South and SportSouth have released their Atlanta Dream schedule for 2014. 15 games!

paulie