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

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