Softball to Vie for Tourney Bye -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Look to Cling to Top-4 Seed

Louisville softball is coming off another sweep over the weekend, putting them at 16-5 in conference play. They're 6-1 in conference series this season and have three sweeps. Louisville has lucked out a bit, as they  avoided the top of the league in their schedule. Louisville did not have to play FSU, Duke, Virginia Tech, or Virginia, the other four teams in the top six of the league. The Cards did take care of business in their only competition against the top six, defeating Stanford in two of three games. While they did lose a series, that one came against the only other team in the league above .500 in Clemson. 

The Cardinals currently find themselves in third place in the league, behind FSU and Duke. They're ahead of Stanford on the merit of win percentage, though just barely. The Cardinal are 18-6 and will be idle in ACC play this weekend. It'll be a scrap for the final bye slot, with Louisville at 16-5 and Virginia Tech at 15-6. VT is at Syracuse, and we all just saw how that went over the weekend. Assuming a sweep from the Hokies, Louisville will need to win two in Raleigh to force a three-way tie. The Cards can avoid that with a sweep of their own. That would give them an advantage over both opponents and leave VT and Stanford to fight amongst themselves.

Fortunately for Louisville, their weekend opponent is also struggling. NC State is 6-14 on the year, and they've been swept in two straight series against Stanford and Virginia. They swept Cal the weekend before, but the Bears are last in the league. The Wolfpack have a get-right game tonight against East Carolina, which is the return game of a home-and-home series. NC State beat the Pirates in Greenville in nine innings earlier this month. 

Louisville has had a stellar season so far this year. A pair of wins would be ideal, but one win would give the Cards their best conference season since 2023. Two wins would net Louisville their best season since 2013. Back then, Sandy Pearsall's Cards went 47-13 (18-4) in the Big East. That was coming off of their best season ever, when Louisville went 55-5 (20-2) in 2012. All that is to say, 41-13 would still be good, but 44-10 would be even better. There is still a lot to do in the postseason, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. 

Louisville is off in the midweek, but they'll get their final regular season series of the year underway at 7PM on Oaks Day. The ACC Championship will start on Wednesday, May 6th. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Suns out, runs out...Softball Cards decimate Syracuse 13-7

 27 hits, 20 runs between Louisville and Syracuse Sunday

Ava Venturelli  -- Two Home runs

You could call it a slugfest. Maybe a hitting frenzy. Or use your own term. Louisville and Syracuse were putting the ball over fences and where there were no gloves on Sunday in a fun game to view out at Ulmer Stadium on ACCNX.

A beautiful day for softball and the conditions were maybe perfect softball playing weather.  The Cards scored in every one of the seven innings and Ava Venturelli went three for four, had two home runs and drove in four runs. Venturelli, a junior from Taunton, Massachusetts, was batting eighth in the Cardinals order..but that didn't stop her from having what I'd call a player of the game effort

UofL was up 7-0 after three innings and one had to wonder if this just might be a run-rule ending...but Syracuse finally got there bats unleased and touched UofL for four runs in the top of the fourth when Madison Knight went over the fence. night had a second home run in the top of the fourth inning to set the score at 7-6...but the Cards responded with three runs to make it 10-6.

Brooke Gray got the win for Louisville and is now an incredible 13-1 on the season. Venturelli's second homer made it 13-7 after five innings. 

It's truly a shame no one does post game interviews out there anymore with Coach Aprile or the players. I thought that I used to do a good job of them...but the media influences at UofL shut me down and bullied my former photographer into disassociating himself with me.  Imagine all the dangers a 70 yr old man with kidney failure and no hope of transplant could afflict, right? 

The Cards go back into action on May 1st with a three game serie at NC State. 

 

Reeves dominates Syracuse Saturday -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS SOFTBALL CURTAILS ORANGE 5-1 SATURDAY

When Madi Reeves is "on"..she's "on" 

The junior from Yorkville, Illinois started her college softball at Miami University (OH) and had two pretty successful seasons there. As a freshman,  she went 22-4 and was named the MAC Freshman of the Year.  She was 24-12 her sophomore year and named to the M.A.C. First team. She also beat UNC in the NCAA Tournament last year. 

Holly Aprile saw a lot to like there and wen after her. Reeves wanted a step up in competition , a chance for new opportunities and growth and her nation-leading innings pitched showed Aprile she was a quality pitcher that just might fit in well in the ACC and her program. 

With the complete game win, Reeves went to 4-1 on the season and the Cards got their 40th win of the season...to go to 40-10. 

Louisville jumped out early 2- 0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Chelsea Mack and Easton Lotus started the game with singles. Two fly outs advanced Mack to home and then Madison Pickens singled home Lotus to make it 2-0 Cards. 

The next four innings were scoreless. Syracuse would make it 2-1 in the top of the sixth but Louisville responded well in the bottom of the sixth when Despines took first after getting hit by a pitch, stole second and Lookadoo drew a walk. A Pickens single scored Despines and then Venturelli singled to the center field wall and drove home Pickens and Lookadoo to make it 5-1. 

Reeves allowed just six hits for her second complete game of the season. Louisville now has a seven game win streak and is two games back of league leading FSU. Duke, with three more conference games than those two..is in second by percentage at 9-4 in the ACC. 

The Cards and Orange will face again Sunday at noon. It'll be on ACCNX if you can't make it out to the ball park. 

paulie

Louisville Run Rule Beats Rain -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Thump Cuse 13-5

When you see a final score of 13-5, you might think one team teed off on the other for most of the game. If I told you a team led 5-0, you'd probably say "Yeah, that tracks." What might surprise you is that it was Syracuse who led 5-0, and they did so in the middle of the fifth inning. Louisville scored ten runs in the bottom of the tenth and walked off the game in the bottom of the sixth with a run-rule. The Cards needed those runs, as the game was moved up to beat the rain, and Louisville couldn't afford to extend into the weather or lose a game to Syracuse. The Orange are now just 18-21 (4-13) on the season. 

Alyssa Zabala got the start yesterday, and the ball was flying in Ulmer Stadium. After two quick outs, Zabala gave up a double and a two-run homer followed to give the Orange a lead in the opening frame. The Cards went 1-2-3 in the bottom half and that was that. Louisville had a chance in the second following a one-out double that saw Madison Pickens end up on third when she advanced on the throw. Unfortunately, she lost the race to the plate on the next ground ball when the shortstop came home instead of getting the out at first. Syracuse hit another two-out home run in the top of the third, and Alyssa Zabala's day ended after she got the final out of the inning. 

Louisville followed going down 3-0 with another 1-2-3 inning and things were beginning to look a little grim for the Cards. Anna Wise replaced Zabala in the fourth, but gave up a double to open her day. She got a strikeout and used two ground outs to get out of the inning, but she was relieved after her first batter of the fifth. A single opened the fifth and it was clear that Wise wasn't missing too many bats. Before that, though, Louisville showed signs of life again in the bottom of the fourth. Bri Despines walked to open the inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and reached third on a productive ground out. With Pickens at the plate, Syracuse chose to intentionally walk her to give them a double-play opportunity. Jordan Williams obliged, hitting it to the short stop, but Pickens reached second anyway. Despines held at third and Louisville had two in scoring position with two outs. They failed to score once more. 

When Brooke Gray replaced Wise in the top of the fifth, she got off to an inauspicious start as well. A four-pitch walk put runners on first and second with nobody out. A single loaded the bases and a sac fly scored a run. Another walk reloaded the bases and another sac fly made the score 5-0. After a steal put two runners back into scoring position, Gray finally got out of the inning with a strikeout. 

Enter the Louisville offense. The Cards opened the inning with a strikeout, but then proceeded to put ten straight batters on base. Louisville went walk, bunt single, walk, Despines grand slam (5-4), HBP, single, single (5-5), double (7-5), double (8-5), and walk before Syracuse finally got the second out of the inning. You may have noticed a discontinuity in the scoring. That's because Louisville broke the 5-5 tie with a double steal of second and home. They were feeling it. The second out was a sacrifice fly, extending the Cards' lead to 9-5, but they still weren't done. Easton Lotus laid down a bunt single, and then Louisville executed another double steal to make it 10-5. Lotus stole third as well, but Syracuse finally got out of the nightmare inning with a ground out. 

With the lead, Gray settled in and sat the Syracuse batters down in short order, giving up a two-out single but being relatively unbothered. After the offense took over and the pitching let the Orange down a bit, their defense stumbled in the bottom of the sixth. Camryn Lookadoo started the inning with a grounder to first, but it was booted and the error put her on base. Madison Pickens laid down a bunt, which was scored a hit, but Syracuse's 3B tried to get the out anyway and earned a throwing error to move the runners into scoring position. Jordan Williams walked to load the bases with nobody out. Syracuse got the first out of the inning on a foul out, but the game would end on yet another error. Ava Venturelli singled to center to score a pair, and the charging center fielder was unable to come up with it cleanly, allowing Williams to come home as well and completing the run rule. 

Thirteen straight runs is great, but Louisville probably can't depend on that in every game. They'll get another chance to win in a more normal game today when the Cards and Orange compete for game two of the series. That one will be at 1PM on ACCNX. The rain should be done, so head down to Ulmer for Louisville's penultimate home game if you're feeling up for it. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Syracuse Softball comes to town to play Cards -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 SYRACUSE SOFTBALL HEADS TO ULMER

Jayden Burney -- Syracuse

Louisville Softball (38-10, 13-5) goes into the weekend series with a change already in the schedule. The Friday game had been moved up to a 4 p.m. start time because of expected rain in the area later tonight. 

The Orange are not a powerhouse in the ACC, with a 4-12 conference record and a 18-20 overall record. SU has had 10 games cancelled this year, mostly because of rain or other unfavorable weather conditions. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games but lost 9 of their first 10 ACC contests. 

Jadyn Burney leads the way at the plate for the Orange with a .320 batting average in 37 games. Burney began her college career at Mississippi State before transferring to "the Cuse". Madison Knight is the "slugger" on the squad with 13 home runs and eight double and 35 RBI's .

Knight is the only pitcher with a winning record on the squad at 10-7. She;s a senior on the roster and has thrown 105 innings...allowing 110 hits. Syracuse also uses Julianna Verni in the circle...she is 5-10 on the season.

Syracuse is 10-26 against the Cards in the overall series...last time out, on April 1st last year the Cards won 5-3. 

An interesting sideline...Otto the Orange, the Syracuse mascot, was official deemed as such in 1978. Before that, SU was known as the Saltines and called the Saltine Warriors. Syracuse was known as "Salt City" because of the extracting of salt from the springs near Onondaga Lake. 

paulie

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

Cards Set for Final Homestand -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Faces UK and Syracuse at Ulmer This Week

Louisville softball is coming off a stellar weekend, as Paulie mentioned yesterday after they wrapped up another run-rule over Pittsburgh. The Cards have just four home games remaining on the calendar, with those all coming this week. 

It's rivalry week for the diamond sports, as Louisville baseball and softball will both welcome the Wildcats to town this week. Baseball will be tonight at 7 with softball facing off against the SEC squad tomorrow at 6. The Cards won the first matchup of the season in Lexington just about a month ago, taking an exciting 8-7 comeback win over the Cats in nine innings. Louisville scored three runs in the top of the seventh on March 25th to force extra innings. 

UK has not had a great time since then, as the Cats have been in the midst of an abysmal run in SEC play. UK opened their SEC season with a win over Auburn on March 6th. They have not won a conference game since and sit at 1-20 in league play. UK is 24-5 in non-conference games, which gives an indication of how strong their SEC schedule has been.  They have a win over #13 Stanford, and they have not lost a non-conference game (other than the first outing against Louisville) since a 9-0 defeat against #15 Oregon on Valentine's Day. Louisville certainly shouldn't take this game for granted.

After the Cats, Louisville brings in Syracuse for their final scheduled home weekend of the season. The Orange are just 17-19 overall this season and just 4-12 in conference play. They have had a handful of games canceled, as you might suspect from an outdoor spring sport in Syracuse, New York, but they have managed to win one series. They beat Boston College in two out of three games. Their other two wins are against Pitt and Notre Dame. The Orange will play a double header today in Buffalo before heading to Louisville.

After this weekend, the Cards hit the road for the final series of the regular season against NC State. The Wolfpack are 6-11 in conference play, so that should be another chance, along with this weekend, for Louisville to pick up a few more wins. As it stands, Louisville is third in the ACC behind Duke (18-3) and FSU (15-3). The Cards (13-5) are narrowly ahead of Stanford (15-6) on win percentage. Louisville will need to score a handful of wins (six would be nice) over the next two weekends to stay in the top four seeds of the ACC tournament, as Virginia Tech looms at 12-6 and has UNC at home this weekend with Syracuse on the road to close. The ACC Championship will be in Charlottesville May 6 through May 9. 

The Cards will need an almighty end to the season (plus a bit of luck) to earn the chance to return to Ulmer after this weekend. A top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament would mean Louisville would host a regional round, but there is a lot of ground to cover for that to happen. The Cards are currently 32nd in NCAA RPI. Duke is the highest rated ACC team, and they're just 13th. Even a stunning run to the ACC Championship would make it difficult for the Cards to climb that high. 

Nevertheless, Louisville is having a great season, and not being one of 16 regional hosts won't take the shine off of that. All the Cards can do is take care of business and finish the season strong. The rest will take care of itself. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case  

images via GoCards.com

Cards Softball run rules Pitt again for a series sweep -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE.

 14-0 IN FIVE INNING CARDINALS WIN OVER PITT

Louisville softball had a nine-run third inning and held Pitt to two hits in their Sunday win over the visiting Panthers out at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards posted 11 hits and got a grand slam home run in the contest from Bri Despines. 

With the win , Louisville goes to 38-9 on the season and 13-5 in the ACC. It puts them in third place in the conference. Duke is 18-3 in the league, FSU checks in at second at 15-3 and the Cards are at 13-5   The ACC teams play 24 conference games. 

The Cards used three pitchers in the contest, Alyssa Zabala getting the start and going three innings. The win puts her a 12-4 on the season. Anna Wise and Jayden Gohs each saw a inning of relief for UofL. 

At 38-9, the season is quite a turnaround from last year, when the Cards went 26-25 overall, The Louisville pitching staff has done quite well for themselves and the team...Zabala at 12-4.

Louisville's win streak is now at six..the Cards go out of conference to face Kentucky at Ulmer on Wednesday at 6 p.m. It'll be on ACCNX if you can't make it out there.   

paulie

  

WBB welcomes Prawl to check out the program -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FORMER FIVE STAR RECRUIT HEADED TO CARDS

She was a high prized recruit coming out of high school last year and the Tennessee Vols ended up getting her. After one year in Knoxville, though, Deniya Prawl has decided to seek playing time elsewhere and has said she's transferring to Louisville WBB on Thunder weekend. 

Prawl was a sometime starter at UT her freshman year and was the #6 prospect in 2025, according to sources. She was recruited by South Carolina, UCLA, Notre Dame, Baylor, Duke and Louisville before choosing UT. At UT, she averaged 4.0 a game and 2.7  rebounds. She was considered a wing at UT, the 6'3" Prawl will be a key get for the Cards..Louisville is losing Isla Juffermans, Anaya Hardy and Peyton Bradley to the transfer portal. 

Not that the Cards have a bare cupboard, though, going into next year.  Announcing they are returning are Taj Roberts, Mackenly Randolph, Elif Istanbulluoglu, Imani Berry and Grace Mbugna. As Jeff Walz enters his 20th yr. as the Cards head coach, this potential powerhouse roster could give Walz something he hasn't acquired in his time here...a national championship. 

Walz also has three very talented high school seniors coming on campus. Peanut Cradle, Myah Epps and Ayse Melek Demirer. Carys Baker, out of Va. Tech and Zam Jones, from NC State are also UofL WBB bound. 

paulie