Saturday with THE Couple...

(Paul and Terry Jackson demonstrate that even short guys and tall ones can be buddies)

-CARDS TAKE TWO IN TEXAS

-TRACK RESULTS

-SARA HAMMOND SELECTED FOR MCDONALDS GAME

-PITINO'S GUYS HANG ON AGAINST SYRACUSE

-YOUR WEEKLY PANERA WINNER.

Friday was a good one for Sandy Pearsall's Softball team in Austin...beating both N. Illinois and Tulsa. Freshman pitcher Caralisa Connell went four innings...getting the win while going four strong innings, allowing no runs, only three hits and striking out four in the 6-1 victory over the NIU Huskies.

Jennifer Esteban collected three hits in the victory. The Cards got started early when Esteban singled in the bottom of the first and then was advanced to home by three illegal pitches by NIU starter Whitney Owens. Taner Fowler and Colby Wherry kept the scoreboard flashing in the second...each getting singles and advancing on a Kristin Austin ground out. Katie Keller's sacrifice fly scored Fowler and a Esteban single drove home Wherry.

Louisville made it 6-0 in the bottom of the fourth. Austin reached first on a NIU fielding error and then stole second. Esteban got a single for her third hit of the day and Maggie Ruckenbrod drove Austin home with a sharp single. Another illegal NIU pitch got Esteban to home plate. Alicja Wolny's single scored Ruckenbrod to complete the Cardinal scoring.

Northern Illinois scored their only run in the bottom of the fourth on a couple of singles.

The win evened Louisville out a 1-1 on the season. NIU drops to 0-2.

In the second game for Louisville against Tulsa, sophomore pitcher Chelsea fanned 10 Golden Hurricane batters in five innings en route to a 4-1 win for the Cards. Louisville managed only one hit in the opening three innings..but that was one more than Tulsa could muster. In the top of the fourth, the Cards broke through for three runs...Esteban starting the parade with a single and advancing to third on a Ruckenbrod ground out. Alicja Wolny got hit by a pitch next and stole second on the next play. A wild pitch got Esteban to the plate and Jordan Trimble's single got Wolny safely home for a 2-0 UofL lead. Chelsea Bemis pounded a double next...scoring Trimble.

Louisville struck again in the fifth when Esteban singled, advanced to second on a Ruckenbrod single and scored on a Wolny single for the Cards final score of the game

Tulsa managed a lone run in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Caralisa Connell. With the win, the Cards are facing Tulsa again Saturday in the semifinals. We'll have the results of that one in Sunday's column.

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Results from women's track...in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, AR. (we assume the Tyson Chicken folks, not the boxer...) Saravia Richardson ran 16th in the semifinal and 6th in the consolation heat. Margret Harris placed 20th in the long jump and Charachesicia Lockhart 12th in the long jump. In Akron, Gabrielle Jackson ran 11th in the pentathlon.

We'll have more results from today's action in the Sunday CARDINAL COUPLE.

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Sara Hammond has been selected to play in the McDonald's All-American game March 30th in the United Center (Chicago, IL.) The Rockcastle County senior is the only girl selected from Kentucky this year and the first Louisville signee to be awarded the honor. Hammond is rated 12th nationally and is scoring 15.5 points a game and pulling down 13 boards. She's the front runner for Kentucky's Miss Basketball. Out of the 24 girls selected, BIG EAST foe UConn has three signees playing, Stanford, Duke and Tennessee two.

We feel this is just one of many honors that Sara will be picking up this season and during her career at UofL. We love to see her play in the Derby Classic but they don't sponsor a women's game. We don't like that and if you agree contact the Kentucky Derby Festival and let them know how you feel. They have waiters and waitresses compete with trays of wine, for goodness sakes, can we get a girls game featuring the best high school seniors in girls hoops?

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Exciting afternoon for the University of Louisville men's basketball team with a four point win over the Syracuse Orangmen. The YUM was definitely rocking and the had a great end to the first half...down by seven, they roared back to go up by 10 at 40-30 by halftime. An 11-2 run to start the second half had Kyle Kuric and company up by nineteen..they led by 20 shortly later and withstood a furious Syracuse three point barrage that cut the lead to three several times. Some clutch free throw shooting late and a spectacular steal by Peyton Siva allowed Louisville to hang on for the win.

We love how loud the YUM gets during men's games...being a part of the crowd is a ton of fun. Not that sitting on press row for the women's games isn't a blast (it is!) but sometimes it's fun to get loud and crazy without having to worry about 10,000 people watching you boogie, yell and question referee's calls.

A great halftime presentation today with the coaches and players from the 1986 National Championship Team on the court. A shame that Pervis Ellison and Milt Wagner couldn't attend...but it was fun to see how the guys that were there looked 25 years later. Billy Thompson did a great job on the microphone and quite a few of these guys still look like they

could lace 'em up and throw a few through the hoop. Remember where you were 25 years ago when the Cards took down Duke for the title? Paul was watching the game with a few friends at a local establishment which is no longer in business. Sonja viewed it from the house. David Watson claims he was there...we didn't see him on TV and he's long since (reportedly) lost his Final Four ticket stubs. Said he got lucky in the student lottery on campus and ended up with a ticket. If everyone who has told us over the past 25 years that they were there for that game was...I think they would have had to play it in the SuperDome...not Reunion Arena.

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Jane Feger is the lucky winner of a PANERA Gift Card for this week. She writes:

"It's hard to say which Panera I like the best. I visit all the east end locations on a regular basis. I was recently in Houston and had breakfast at the Panera on San Felipe. My favorite thing is breakfast. I always get a cup of their great coffee and a spinach and artichoke souffle. Delicious!

We're big fans of the java brews at PANERA too, Jane. Hope you enjoy an upcoming trip...because it's on us! You can get in on the fun as well... just e-mail us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com and tell us about you & PANERA. (Or take us out for a lunch!)

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