ACC Softball Tournament Field Set -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Just Miss Bye in ACC Tourney

Louisville's loss at NC State on Saturday was a big one, as they ultimately finished in a three-way tie with Virginia Tech and Stanford, which saw them come out on the wrong end of the deal. The Cards dropped to fifth in the conference, narrowly missing the bye awarded to the top four teams. As a result, Louisville will get a fourth straight game against the Wolfpack tomorrow afternoon. 

Florida State leads the field, which is made up of the top-12 teams in the league. NC State could have done Louisville a solid and taken a dive over the weekend, as they made it in over Cal by two games, meaning they still would have been in with a loss on Saturday. Nevertheless, the Cards line up as the five seed across from the 12-seed Wolfpack. Duke was the second team in the league, finishing one game behind FSU at 20-4. VT took third and Stanford was fourth to round out the byes. The winner of Louisville/NC State will face Stanford in the second round. 

FSU will take on the winner of the 8/9 game, which pits Notre Dame against Georgia Tech. That will be the first game of the tournament, which has first pitch at 11am on Wednesday. All of the tournament games will be on ACC Network, with the championship airing on ESPN on Saturday. The Cards will play game two on Wednesday at 1:30PM. 

Following the afternoon break, 7-seed Clemson takes on 10-seed UNC at 5PM. Clemson was the last team in the league to finish above .500 at 13-11. The last game of the day will be Virginia (13-10) taking on Pittsburgh. 

In the single elimination format, anything can happen. All of the lower ranked teams will be looking to extend their season as much as possible, potentially even stealing a bid to the NCAA tournament. Louisville and it's compatriots will be looking to protect or improve their seeding in the tournament. Louisville would likely need to win the ACC to host a regional, but stranger things have happened. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case 

Despines big blast helps Cards down WolfPack 8-3 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 THREE RUN BLAST IN SIXTH INNING HELPS CARDS SECURE REGULAR SEASON ENDING WIN

Nothing like ending the regular seaso with a win. And a road win,as well. 

Pretty Bri...

After defeating NC State 8-3 Sunday...looks like these two will face again,  in the first round of the ACC Tournament Wednesday in Durham. Case will have a more detailed breakdown of the tournament in his Tuesday article..for now...just know their re-match will be the fifth and twelfth place elimination game. Louisville was one of three teams, at 18-6 and tid for third, but was placed fifth due to a formula only Einstein could probably decipher. 

 

The Cards took control of the ballgame in the top of the third inning with a five run explosion. That came after the squads were scoreless in the first two innings. Chelsea Mack, Easton Lotus and Bri Despnes loaded the bases with no outs and Carmyn Lookadoo doubled to bring home Mack and Lotus. Madison Pickens got on with a walk and Taylor Monroe walked, forcing in a third run. Jordan Williams singled home Lookadoo and Pickens scored from third on a throw out of Williams trying to steal second.  It was 5-0 Cards and that turned out to be all the Cards would need for the win, of course...not knowing that at the time. 

The Pack would counter with a run in the bottom of the inning, but Cards hurler Alyssa Zabala (who I have nicknamed "Smiley") was in control in the circle and went four innings...picking up her 14th win of the season...allowing just one run. 

The Cards posted their three runs in the top of the sixth inning .  Mack reached on an error and Lotus singled. They came home on Despines second home run of the series. 

NCSU would pick up two more runs, off Brooke Gray but never got any closer that the 5-3 score at the end of five innings. They ended up with six hits on the afternoon and Louisville got 10 hits to go with their eight runs. 

paulie

Softball falls to NC State 10-6 Saturday -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WOLFPACK JUMPS ON BIRDS EARLY

Brooke Gray has been a very good pitcher for UofL Softball this season. Yesterday's game, though, probably won't be one she'll go back to fondly in her memory banks. The NC State diamond dwellers (27-24, 7-15) jumped on Gray and the Cards for seven runs in the first two innings and held on to take a 10-6 win over Louisville (42-11, 17-6) to even up the series at one game each. 

NCST (or NCSU...since the school  really hates seeing NCST used...they say they are North Carolina State University...so they say use NCSU since that is the appropriate shortening of the name. An old-timer like me has called them NCST since the days of Deb Antonelli prowling the hardwood and Jim Valvano winning the NCAA Championship...so , old habits are hard to break. Hank Williams, Jr sang about old habits in his 1980 smash hit..Old Habits. You can hear it below:

Old Habits 

The song has a lot of personal meaning to me, since it came around at a time I was going through a break up with what was probably the first true love of my life. Anyway..I digress, let's get back to the game..if we have to...

Louisville remained scoreless until the top of the fourth inning. They sandwiched a few singles around a Camry Lookadoo four bagger to make it 7-4.  Taylor Monroe homered in the inning as well

The Pack (I like that nickname for them) would see the Cards add two runs to their total in the top of the sixth...when two on base scored on an NCSU wild pitch. That made it 7-6 and the Cards were rallying...but the Raleigh school effectively shut the door when they got a three run homer out of Kendall Simmons in the bottom of the sixth to deep left to make it 10-6. And, that concluded the scoring. 

They'll finish the series today at 1 p.m.  ACCNX will show the event. 

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

So...how did your Derby Day turn out? I watched our local coverage here in Louisville and the network hoopla while also betting on twinspires.com. WAVE gets better each year with their production, but the network is losing Donna Barton Brothers after this year and that is a shame. She rode, she knows the jockeys, trainers, owners and the in's and out's of Churchill Downs...as well as many other tracks. I remember her from when she was riding 30-1 long shot up at the old Latonia (now Turfway) Race Track. Gonna be a tough act to replace. On the betting angles, yeah, I know...RunHappy ran happy for about a mile and then folded like a cheap suit. Glad Jose Ortiz finally got a Derby win...beating his brother Irad...when he brought Golden Tempo from last to first with a furious stretch drive, passing Renegade and winning the Run For The Roses. Nice to see Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi doing the National Anthem, too. I first got turned on to Trucks (the son of Allman Brothers legend Butch Trucks)  when he was playing with Warren Haynes...two great guitarists. 

23-1 odds. Woulda been nice...should have handicapped twice, right? Still , I cleaned up on the early card and final two races to end up about $150 ahead on the day. That'll come in handy to lose on the Preakness and Belmont...A year where I stayed away from Derby parties, Churchill Downs or any off-track betting and played the races through TwinSpires.com. It was relaxing and think it'll be the way to go from now on. 

paulie

Derby Day in the Ville -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Derby Day!

Despite the strange decision to move Oaks under the lights, Derby season has still been a good one this year. After last year's canceled Thunder Over Louisville, things seemed off all through the buildup. This year isn't without its own oddities on the first Saturday in May. The cold front that barreled into town sets Louisville up to see just its third recorded Derby Day under 60 degrees. This year's Derby also looks to see a high temperature lower than the recorded high on Christmas 2025. Strange indeed.

Nevertheless, it should still be a nice day, as long as you dress a bit warmer than usual. The clouds will be off and on, much like yesterday, and it looks like the wind is calming with rain likely to stay away until after the final post of the evening. There's a long time to make a selection before bets are closed, but I like Danon Bourbon so far. Paulie has posted in multiple outlet he is backing So Happy. 

On the Louisville sports front, the Cards softball squad took care of business against NC State in game one of their series, winning 5-1. Alyssa Zabala earned the win in her third complete game of the season and Louisville scored primarily on small ball. The Cards' only extra base hit came off the bat of Bri Despines when she hit a home run in the fourth inning. 

The Cards and Wolfpack are back in action today at 6PM. Virginia Tech won their first game against Syracuse yesterday, so Louisville needs to keep winning to hold onto their bye. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball Cards Head to NC State for final regular season series -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 41-10 CARDS HEAD TO RALEIGH TO FACE WOLFPACK

As the ACC Softball Tournament looms ahead, the Softball Cards will end the regular season with three games in Raleigh against the NCST Softball squad. 

It is senior weekend for NC State and they'll say "farewell and good luck" to nine seniors. The first game is slated to begin at 6 p.m. Friday and...if you need a break from Oaks coverage, it'll be shown on ACCNX.

The Pack is 26-23 on the season overall, but a dismal 6-14 in  ACC play. They played East Carolina last time out and romped the Pirates 10-2 in five innings. Before that, it was a trip to Virginia, where they lost three to the Cavs. They lost three in a row to Stanford before that...and they are 12th in the league and the ACC Softball tournament is a 12-team tournament. Syracuse is right behind them at 4-15, but the Orange have Virginia Tech coming to town, and the Hokies are in fifth place at 15-6 in ACC play and will be hoping to win all three and hope they can get into the top four in league standings and get a first round bye.

NC State is led by Mala Townsend at the plate...who is batting .358. Morgen Talley is 13-8 from the circle and Lily Livingston has 12 home runs. 

I have had some people asking me who I like in the Kentucky Oaks today and I am going with PROM QUEEN. That stretch run in the Gulfstream Park Oaks was impressive and the filly is only getting stronger. You might also watch Percy's Bar (where I spent a lot of time in my track-going days) . Happy Oaks Day to ya, hve a lily for the fillies! 

paulie

 

ACC Softball Tournament Looms -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 12 TEAMS WILL MEET IN CHARLOTTESVLLE MAY 6-9

The top 12 finishers in the ACC Softball standings will meet in Charlottesville, VA (where the University of Virginia is) for the 2026 ACC Softball Tournament. Palmer Park, where the games will commence, is pictured below. We haven't done a Cardinal Couple quiz in forever...so here is your question, readers. Who was Palmer Park named after?

A). Arnold Palmer - famous golfer.                                                                                                  B). Lisa Palmer - pitcher at UVA 1986-1989.                                                                                  C). Palmer Luckey -- American entrepreneur.                                                                                D). Jim Palmer -- Hall of Fame Pitcher with Baltimore Orioles.                                                       

(Answer at the end of today's article)

As of today, these 12 teams are "in" (subject to change, of course, as the regular season has a wee bit more softball left:

1) FSU-- The Noles sit atop the ACC with a 18-3 record in league play. They finish the season with three at Boston College beginning tomorrow. 

2) Duke -- The Blue Devils are done with ACC regular season play and went 20-4. They probably wish they would have not dropped one last week down at Clemson. They need FSU to lose one at Boston and force a tie. FSU and Duke did not play during the season against each other, sothe tie-breaker, if it happens, could involve a bunch of factors I never fully seem to understand ,

3) Louisville -- Holly Aprile's Birds are currently 16-5 in the ACC. The best they could finish in regular season is second, providing they win all the final games against NC State and FSU loses all three to B.C. As Princess Anne said to her assailant, back in 1974, during the failed kidnap attempt..."Not bloody likely"  

4) Stanford -- At 18-6 in ACC play, the Trees are landlocked into fourth, unless the Cards lose two against NC State. 

The rest of the league standings:

In fifth is Virginia Tech, currently at 15-6. They finish against Syracuse at Syracuse. Sixth is Virginia, owners of a 13-10 conference slate. They are done, having one conference game cancelled against Syracuse bac in March. Seventh belongs to Clemson (13-11). Eighth currently goes to Notre Dame (11-13). The top four get a first round bye.  In ninth place is Ga. Tech (10-14), tenth sees North Carolina (9-15), 11th is Pitt and in the nervous spot is NC State (6-14). If Syracuse could win all three games against Va Tech, they could sneak into the tournament and send the Gobblers home.. Boston College and California are tied for the bottom spot at 3-18.

We'll have coverage of the action here and wish the Softball Cards the best of luck. 

(Your quiz answer is"B",,, Lisa Palmer...she had 74 wins for the Cavs, the best in school history.)

paulie

                                                                                                                                                            

An interesting Volleyball look -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 NO LOUISVILLE PLAYERS ON UofL VB ROSTER

One thing we've come to expect over the years is the presence of at least one Volleyball player on the UofL roster from the city of Louisville. An early look at the UofL roster for 2026-27, though, indicates no Louisvillians on Dan Meske's roster this season. 

There is one Kentuckian...senior libero Kamden Schrand, from Notre Dame Academy, up in Villa Hills...near Cincinnati. And the Queen City, across the Ohio River from Covington,  has a bit of representation of student-athletes on the Cardinals squad. Jessica Drapp, a senior defensive specialist...Brooke Bultema, a junior middle blocker. Our neighbor to the north..Indiana...has sent Ava Utterback, out of Plainfield, Addison Makun, from Silver Creek H.S. in Charlestown, Chloe Chicoine, from Lafayette, Molly Urban (Martinsville) and Elle Strecker from Zionsville. 

Volleyball is a ways off...due to start for the VolleyCards in Sept. with the Cards facing Missouri in the annual ACC/SEC challenge in the L&N Federal Credit Union on campus on Sept 9th. 

It'll be interesting to see how our coverage goes this year for the wide net sport. with Jeff McAdams and Jared Anderson no longer on the Cardinal Couple writing staff...most of our volleyball knowledge left with them. We're hoping Jeff can get his Wide Net Cards running by September. Jared will be there shooting games but is prohibited from send us any pictures. 

I was talking with another writer of college sports, at  different University, recently and the subject came up about UofL banning me from games because my Twitter account got hacked. I explained to her that I had left Twitter to appease the media department at UofL, but they still won't let me interview players or coaches or grant me a media pass. This other writer found that unbelievable. As she told me..."Paul, I have been reading your site for years and if UofL can't recognize all the publicity you give them for women's,sports...at a free site....I'm glad I don't write for them." 

Life has it's mysteries, don't it? 

Happy Derby Week to you, Here in Louisville, we get the annual Great Steamboat Race today.  Belle of Louisville and the Belle of Cincinnati on the Ohio River. 

paulie

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