Softball splits, Swimming and Diving wins BIG EAST

SUNDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:



-CARDS split in softball

-CARDS sweep BIG EAST SWIMMING Championships

-CARDS lead after 1st round of BIG EAST track CHAMPIONSHIPS

-Commentary and comments on LADY CARDS WBB win over USF.

Louisville softball split Saturday in Tuscaloosa, AL. in the 'Bama Bash...beating UT-San Antonio 2-1 and falling to Alabama 9-8.


In the first game, the Cards fell behind early to the Roadrunners when Tori Collins gave up a solo shot to Molly Fischer in the top of the second. Louisville countered with a run in the third when Jennifer Esteban reached on an error and scored on a Alicja Wolny single. The Cards scored the go ahead and final run in the fourth...getting a double from All-American Chelsea Bemis and pinch runner Tesha Payton greeting the umpire on a Maggie Ruckenbroad single.



Tori Collins turned in a solid performance on the mound for Louisville...fanning 12 and allowing only three hits in seven innings. Bemis had two hits to lead Louisville in batting.



Against Texas, Caralisa Connell got the start and Louisville gave her a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first when Esteban singled, moved to third on a fielding error and wild pitch and touched home on a Kristin Austin fielder's choice. The Cards pushed it out to 3-0 in the second. Jordan Trimble singled, Ruckenbrod sent her to third on a single and a Katie Keller ground out scored her. Pinch runner Katelyn Mann found the plate on a passed ball.



The Crimson Tide made it 3-1 in the top of the third but the Cards fired back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning...Chelsea Bemis drilling a right field fench clearer that scored her and Colby Wherry. Bama crawled back with a run in the top of the fourth to make it 5-2. The Tide added a run in the fifth when Jackie Traina smashed one over the center field fence off of Connell.



Louisville built a seemingly unreachable 8-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Bemis walked and Trimble, Fowler and Ruckenbroad all singled to make it 7-3. Two straight bases on ball scored Fowler for a 8-3 Cardinal advantage.



Alabama came back, though, with four runs in the top of the sixth, getting a solo blast from Keima Davis and a three run shot from Cassie Reilly-Boccia to change the scoreboard 8-7 Cards. The Tide took the lead in the top of the seventh on a two run fence clearer by Davis and Louisville couldn't score in the bottom of the inning.



The Cards fall to 4-5. Collins got the loss in relief of Connell...allowing five runs and five hits in 2 pitched innings. Louisville plays UT-San Antonio Sunday @ noon for their final game in the Bash.



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Cardinal swim teams swept the BIG EAST Championships in the Ralph Wright Natatorium yesterday and head coach Arthur Alberio was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year. The ladies snapped a 14 year Notre Dame hold on the title, outpointing the Irish 820.5-655.



Therese Bergstrom finished first in the 200-breaststroke for the Cards. Aileen Cole finished a very close second in the 100-freestyle and Eszter Povazsay claimed second in the 200-backstroke. Raine Thompson swam to second in the 200-fly and the relay team of Cole, Breann McDowell, Krissie Brandenburg and Grite Apanaviciute narrowly missed in the 400-relay against the Irish by .34th of a second.



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Women's track and field has the lead after Day One in the BIG EAST Championship competition in Akron, Ohio. D'Ana McCarty won the weight throw..an event that the Cards swept the top three spots in and Charachesicia Lockhart leaped to a first place finish in the long jump.

Gabrielle Jackson is currently fourth in the pentathlon and Sarvia Richardson (2nd) and Margert Harris (4th) qualified for the 60 meter dash finals. Richardson also qualified for the 200 meter finals...finishing fifth in the qualifier. Ahlivia Spencer's 5th place put her in the 500 meter finals.
In addition to McCarty's win in the weight throw...Al-Amashi Kendall claimed second and Patrice Gates tossed for third. The UofL squad leads with 42 points...WVU follows in second with 30 and Syracuse is third at 22 points. Action continues Sunday.

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JEFF WALZ'S POST GAME COMMENTS after the win over USF:

" Well, I told the girls that we definitely wanted to send you out Jim (Kelch) with a win on your last road trip. It was the pre-game speech..it was all about Jim Kelch...We wouldn't be where we are without you and we appreciate all you've done for the last four years..."

On the win:
"Without a doubt, I was really proud of the kids. It was a win we had to have, a road game that we had to come down here and get. We played well at times today...and at times we didn't. We really were taking care of the ball until the last four minutes and then we had some crazy turnovers that we have to address...but overall I was really, really pleased about the way we played today.

On the 18 turnovers and early low percentage passing by Louisville:
"I thought we took pretty good care of the ball...I know at one point in the game Shoni had nine assists and nine turnovers...but I thought she played a really good game for us.... she had some really nice passes into the post. She goes 6-16 from the field...not a great shooting percentage...but again, she's not taking bad shots. She gets a steal and misses a layup..there could have been some contact. I thought Mo(nique Reid) played as well tonight as she's played in awhile. It's tough...I guess..for people who don't get the chance to see us play on the road..but Mo actually wanted the ball tonight, compared to Wednesday night at Syracuse...where Mo actually kind of hid. It's hard for us to get her the ball when she doesn't want it. Tonight she wanted it and did some great things with it."

On scoring depth:
"We're still trying to find one more great scorer. Tia Gibbs hits a big three there for us in the second half when they started to make a little run at us. I've got to get Becky Burke to do a little bit more than just being a spot up three point shooter for us. I need her to be able to read screens. She came off a screen, a double stacker that we set for her...she was wide open to drive it through on the curl to the basket...but she's always looking to shoot the three. I know she has the game...I've seen her do it at times...but we need to get one more player besides Monique and Shoni to be a creator."

On Keisha Hines' performance:
"She did play well. I get on Keisha sometimes because we actually throw it to her and she passes up a lot of shots. She only took five tonight. I want her to score. We need her to be a scoring threat for us... every night she could get 10 to 12 points for us and if she could do that...Mo is going to get her 16-18, Shoni's going to get 16-18 and we got to get one more to get that 8-10 each night and then we'll have four out there that everyone has to worry about.

On Walz's pregame promise to the team that a win over USF would get them Sunday off:
" I told them that it (Sunday) is an off day. I did encourage the one that did not get to play much that...I personally would get in the gym and get some shots up. That's just me. Not mandatory...it is completely an off day if you want. Like I try to tell them all, though...are you somebody that wants to play basketball, or are you a basketball player?

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We love the "basketball player" comment above by Coach Walz! Looking at the basketball played yesterday by the Lady Cards...several things stick out to us. Monique Reid's 11-15 shooting shows that she can be deadly when the Cards run the offense and work to get her open inside. Secondly, five offensive rebounds for the entire game is pitiful. Even though the Cards shot 50%...USF had 22 defensive boards. Only three Cardinals managed to grab a rebound after a Louisville missed shot. 23 chances, five second chances. Gotta improve that.

The Louisville freshmen accounted for 16 points of the 66 Louisville total...all from Schimmel. Walz did not play Charmaine Tay and there was no mention of why she didn't hit the court. Sherrone Vails saw only nine minutes on the court and Antonita Slaughter just two. Sophomore Shelby Harper had her second straight extended amount of time on the court yesterday with 10 minutes after being barely visible for most of the season. WE think Walz had her out there to harass USF leading scorer Andrea Smith. Harper did hit two free throws and get a rebound, assist and turnover while on the court. Smith ended with 16 points, slightly below her season average.

A brief appearance yesterday for starter Asia Taylor. Only 12 minutes of court time after starting each half. One shot, no points, two rebounds and fouls for the sophomore. Different approaches for different opponents we're guessing...but could have more Taylor led to more Cardinal rebounds? Four cards accounted for all but two of the Cards 27 grabs...Hines getting seven, Gibbs six, Schimmel five and Reid four. We'd never question Coach Walz's decision making...mind you. Just an observation.

An announced crowd of 683 watched the event. Not surprising, given the Bulls record and a beautiful Saturday outside in Tampa. The Bulls students are known for their catcalls directed at opposing players and harassment of officials and we could hear plenty of that going on yesterday over the radio. We'll never forget a trip to the Sun Dome several years back when we were vacationing in Florida and happened to go to a UofL men's game down there. Wouldn't have wanted to be on the Cardinal bench that afternoon...the students sit directly behind the benches..in a small balcony type setting and the language and taunts coming out of the section directly behind the Cardinal bench would have made the late George Carlin blush.

A big time match up awaits the Cards Wednesday night when DePaul rolls into town. The Blue Demons grabbed sole control of second place when Notre Dame got spanked by UConn yesterday. With just one conference loss, Doug Bruno's team does face a tough test today against dangerous Georgetown...who comes in for a visit. The Cards play well in the YUM (usually) with a big fan base present and a huge turnout is needed Wednesday night for the DePaul game. Bring a buddy, tell a friend..load up the kids and that neighbor who tells you they'd like to catch a ladies game and get down there!!! Tip is at 7. Wazoo Sports is televising it locally if you can't attend...
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