Softball Awaits Fate in NCAA -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Sorry for the late post today! I'm on vacation and the day of the week got away from me a bit. All of our Louisville women's sports teams are idle at the moment, so let's take a quick look at the ACC Championship. 

Louisville fell to Stanford in the quarterfinals Thursday and will wait to hear their name called on Monday morning. The Cards were ranked 24th in the ESPN / USA Softball poll entering the week and 30th in the RPI as of the end of yesterday. A win over the Cardinal would have been great, but taking the Palo Alto squad to extra innings was a nice consolation. Louisville should see themselves with a 2-seed in a regional when the names are drawn at 10am on Monday. 

In continued action in the ACC Championship, it was a day of shutouts in the semifinals. Top-seeded Florida State thumped Stanford 9-0 in the first game, and they'll go for their 20th ACC title this afternoon. In the second game, Virginia Tech pulled a minor upset over Duke, beating the Blue Devils 5-0. That was a small retribution for earlier in the year, when the Hokies were beaten in 2/3 in Durham. VT won that series in runs 18-14, but only due to a lopsided victory in the final game. 

Today's game will be the first meeting of Virginia Tech and Florida State this season. The two teams have played 59 games all time, starting in 2005. FSU leads the series 38-21, and the two teams have split the six games they've played outside of conference competition. Surprisingly, Virginia Tech leads the series at neutral sites 5-4. It would be a coup for them to pull an upset today. The championship game is at 2:30 ET on Saturday. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball Cards fall to Stanford 6-5 in ACC ChampIonships -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 STANFORD GETS WALK OFF WIN IN BOTTOM OF EIGHTH

Louisville had a chance to advance in the ACC Championships..but that old nemesis...B.L.O.B. came back to haunt them. BLOB? BaseRunners left on base. 

Fighting back from an early 4-2 deficit, Holly Aprile used three different pitchers but could not completely silence the Cardinal (or Trees) bats. It was Home Run Derby for awhile for UofL...Bri Despines had two four baggers for the Cards and Madison Pickens added one as well...but the most crippling event was Louisville loading the bases with no outs in the top of the seventh after tying it at 5-5 and being unable to push anymore runs across the plate. After not scoring in the top of the eighth, the Cards took to the field, but Stanford loaded the bases and got the win on a sacrifice fly to advance to play the Noles.

So, it's tear off the rear view mirror and drive on. It is Stanford who will play today against #1 seed FSU in the ACC Championships. 

Louisville will have to wait and see if they get a bid in the NCAA Softball Tournament when the teams are named on Sunday, May 10th on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. You have to like the Cards chances..but the NCAA can be very unkind sometimes to teams that don't reach the semifinals of their conference tournaments. Unless you are in the SEC. 

44-12 seems to be a record that would get a team in the NCAA Tournament for postseason play .We'll see how it shakes out for Louisville. It's going to be a long trip back from Charlottesville for the Cards...

paulie

Cards Softball rallies to down NCSU 6-5 in ACC Tournament opener -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS PUT UP FIVE RUNS IN FINAL THREE INNINGS TO ELIMINATE NORTH CAROLINA ST. IN ACC TOURNAMENT.

They've been doing it all season long and did it once again Wednesday in their opening contest of the ACC Softball Tournament in Charlottesville, VA. To borrow an old UK monicker...maybe these are the "Comeback Cards". 

Louisville softball found themselves trailing 5-1 going into the home half of the fifth inning against #12 seed NCSU. Wednesday afternoon in Charlottesville at the ACC Softball Tournament. The Wolfpack had put up four runs on UofL in the top of the fifth and a bit of consternation was beginning to develop in Cardinals fans. One thing that I was hoping would transpire, though...was the Cards penchant to rally from behind to win games. And UofL did not disappoint. Alyssa Zabala and Brooke Gray, usually the Cards top two hurlers, had been touched by the Wolfpack hitters and the Cards bats were still sleeping. 

In the bottom of the fifth the Cards got a single from Easton Lotus and a walk to Bri Despines to open the inning. Camryn Lookadoo produced a single to score Lotus and Madison Pickens singled to get Despines and Lookadoo to the plate and...suddenly...it was only 5-4 NCSU. 

After a scoreless sixth for both teams, Gray kept NCSU away from crossing home plate in the top of the seventh. Louisville came to the plate three outs away from elimination..

It did not happen. With one out, Despines doubled  and moved to third on a wild pitch. Lookadoo singled Bri home to tie it up and Pickens launched one into the left field corner to score Lookadoo and give UofL the walk-off win 6-5. 

Holly Aprile's birds advance to Thursday play to face #4 seed Stanford today at 1:30 p.m.

In earlier play Wednesday, Georgia Tech bombed Notre Dame 13-3, After the Cards win, North Carolina eliminated Clemson and Virginia downed Pitt. 

 

ACC Championship Begins Today -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS FACE WOLFPACK IN SECOND GAME OF THE DAY

Of all the silly phrases and non-sequiturs I use here on the site, one that I don't think I've thrown out there yet is..."absence makes the heart grow fonder"  I bring it up because it probably does NOT apply to softball tomorrow.  Louisville Softball just might be tired of seeing the NCSU Softball squad. The Cards are probably not missing NCSU one bit, after ending the regular season against them, maybe still a little mad they lost the middle game of that series to them...because that prevented them from grabbing fourth place in the conference and a first round bye. 

After Notre Dame (the #6 seed) and #11th seed Georgia Tech battle out the Wednesday morning contest, starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday...the Cards and Ms.Wuf's team take to Palmer Park to see who will advance to play #4 seed Stanford on Thursday. They list 1:30 p.m. as the time for Cards and Wolfpack, we all know how time frames are just an estimation when tournament time rolls around. 

Louisville has already had a season to remember...a vast improvement over their 26-25 slate from 2025. They've got possibly the most speed on the base paths of any team in the ACC this season, and their 46 steals are tops in the conference. Without any one noted power hitter in the lineup, these Cards could go by the adage..."Sun's out, runs out" because of their proclivity to get around the bases. The opposing catcher better be ready to be throwin' because you know the Cards will be going.

It's interesting to point out that if the Cards move to Thursday, they'll face a Cardinal team that they won the series against back in late Feb-early March 2-1.hope was off the charts for this Cardinals squad. After that series, the Cards were 13-3.

 Yes, we have that Cardinals vs Cardinal potential again, or as a friend is fond of saying..."Birds vs Trees" .

We'll have the results here for you and you can catch all the action on ACCNX. 

paulie

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