Thursday Cardinal Couple

( Jeff McAdams jumps in for today's CARDINAL COUPLE. He reviews Louisville's heart-breaking loss in softball to the Cats, talks about radio, rankings, volleyball and more! WELCOME to UofL's latest 2014 WBB commit... Arianna Freeman. Cards rollin', get on board! )

 

Softball Drops a Heartbreaker in Lexington

What a difference 80 miles makes.

On a chilly night, April 3rd, Louisville Softball beat Kentucky 5-1 at Ulmer Stadium here in Louisville.

Last night, again a chilly night, Kentucky got their revenge with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Cardinals in Lexington.

A pitcher's duel for most of the game, it wasn't until the later innings that the bats got going at all from either dugout.  It wasn't until the bottom of the 6th that UK scored a run on a bases-loaded, two outs, wild pitch.  Leading off the top of the 7th, Taner Fowler evened it up with a home run shot to left field.  The Cards were able to load the bases after that, but weren't able to get anyone home.

After six pretty good innings of pitching by Rachel LeCoq, I'm sorry to say we were visited by Caralisa "Bad Carl" Connell.  After allowing a single, following it up with a wild pitch where the runner advanced to 2nd, and then two walks, LeCoq re-entered the game to a bases-loaded, one-out situation.  A single up the middle scored the runner from 3rd and ended the game.

Credit to Kentucky's freshman pitcher Kelsey Nunley who did a great job of shutting down Louisville's bats.

The Cards come back for the typical Saturday, noon and two double-header; Sunday, noon third game; series against Georgetown at Ulmer Stadium.  I don't envy the Hoyas, coming in to play Louisville after a loss.

The forecast currently is calling for a small chance of rain with temps in the mid-to-upper 60's.

Did You Know We Have a Rowing Team?

Not many Louisville fans do.  I admit that I generally do a much better of job of following the team
sports than I do more individual effort sports like Golf, Tennis, Swimming and Diving, and Rowing; but like so many sports at UofL, our Rowing team is making a good showing of themselves on the national stage.

Despite not having any truly "home" events, by which I mean nothing closer than a two hour drive away (and even that is only once you get to the NCAA championships in Indianapolis), and not having great waterways to practice on (I suspect the mighty Ohio isn't exactly the ideal practice facility...but their boathouse, just down from Tumbleweed, is very nice indeed), our Louisville Rowing squad has achieved a ranking of 18 in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA)/ US Rowing Coaches Poll.

I know less about rowing than I do about Lacrosse, but the regional breakdowns of rankings seem to put Louisville in good standings as well, with an overall 2nd place in the South Region, as well as 2nd place spots for our first Eights team and our Fours team, and a 4th ranking for our second Eights team.

The Varsity Eights team was also selected as the Big East Boat of the Week after an impressive showing over the weekend in Clemson South Carolina.  The Varsity Eights crew consists of Ellen Fawcett, Darya Marchanka, Hannah Ritter, Erin Bennett, Amy Van Syoc, Kara Savegnago Katya Monchenko, Morgan Dunham and Sam Sinnett.  Yes, that was nine names...Ellen Fawcett is the coxswain.

The head coach of the Louisville Rowing Program is Derek Copeland.  Derek is in his first year as head coach, and was an assistant coach for the team for the two previous years.

Speaking of National Rankings

While we here at the Cardinal Couple mostly focus on women's athletics at UofL, we do support all athletics at UofL.

I got in a Facebook comment thread the other day that got me to thinking about the overall success of our Athletics programs, both men and women.  I mentioned this tidbit in the thread and thought I'd share it here as well.

For the 2012-2013 academic year...of the 10 team sports that UofL fields teams for (see the previous section for my acknowledgement that I don't follow "individual" sports very well)...Football, Men's and Women's Soccer, Field Hockey, Volleyball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Lacrosse, Softball and Baseball...every one them has achieved a national ranking for at least a portion of their season.

(Editor's note)...The recent successes of Louisville basketball have given the University unprecentented attention and praise...but, as Jeff mentions...CARDINAL ATHLETICS is so much more than that. If there is a better athletic program, all-encompassing...than the University of Louisville...show it to me. And to think the BIG 12 chose West Virginia? A blessing in disguise...the Cards will go on to acheive GREAT things in the ACC,  just like they've done in the BIG EAST. Cream rises to the top every time.

Cardinal Couple Radio Show

The Cardinal Couple Radio Show, on Crescent Hill Radio, should be back to nearly a full cast this
week.

Last week, I travelled to Bowling Green to catch the last of the spring play for UofL Volleyball, but will be back in the studio this week with our usual cast of zany characters.

There is one person that hasn't made it into the studio, though...and that is you.  Tweet at @CardCoupleRadio any questions or comments that you have about the show and we'll do our best to respond.  I do monitor this twitter account while we're on air, so feel free to tweet at us during the show and you'll likely get a shout-out...and if you're really lucky, a coherent response...on the air.  Of course, any questions or comments that you may have before or after the show are welcome as well.

FREEMAN "FEELS THE LOVE" and COMMITS TO LOUISVILLE

Paul VI Catholic junior guard ALL-MET Arianna Freeman committed to Louisville on Wednesday afternoon, won over by the fact that the Cardinals coach Jeff Walz attended all of her games at the Nike Boo Williams Invitational over the weekend and then flew in for an open gym at Paul VI on Tuesday.

"It was the love. Coaches can want you and say come to our program, but it's all about who shows up. When I have an 8 a.m. game and I look and see the head coach in the stands, he (Walz) was the only head coach of the schools in my top four who was there. Just the love. A coach can't fake love." --ARIANNA FREEMAN

Freeman de-committed from West Virginia last month. Other schools she was considering were Kentucky, Tennessee and Penn State.

The 5'11" junior was the leading scorer and rebounder for Paul VI this past season (29-5). After calling Walz and his staff from the Washington, D.C. area Paul VI athletic office Wednesday afternoon to announce the commitment, Freeman and her mother, Veronique, had a moment to themselves.

"Me and my mom took a whiff of fresh air and let our hair down and started doing a little dance. It was a little weight off my shoulders."

We have no doubts that when Freeman gets here for the 2014-15 season, Cardinal WBB fans will join in the chorus line. This is a huge one for Louisville WBB and Walz, kiddos.

-Jeff McAdams

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