Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Becker no-hits WKU in Softball

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Freshman Mayssa Becker tosses no-hitter at WKU

-Lacrosse downs Vandy in overtime 18-14

-Emily Haas named AAC Women's Golfer of the Week

-Katie George to head across the water

-Field Hockey earns national academic honors

-CARDINAL COUPLE presents women's NCAA Pick 'Em

Boy, oh, boy! WE gotta lotta CARDINAL COUPLE for you today! When Jeff and Paulie both decide to write on the same day...the information piles up like crazy! Grab a cup of coffee and get ready for an information overload...



NO BATS AGAINST BECKER


Louisville softball head coach Sandy Pearsall told CARDINAL COUPLE in a pre-season interview that she expected great things in time from freshman pitcher Maryssa Becker.

The time is now.

Becker tossed a no-hitter against WKU in Bowling Green Wednesday afternoon and the Cards got back on the winning trail with a 3-0 win over the Hilltoppers.

Becker gave up only three walks in the first no-hitter since April 15, 2012 when torrid Tori Collins tossed one against Longwood.

Becker has been hot in the circle of late...tossing 6.2 innings of shutout ball in relief in a 4-0 loss to Wisconsin earlier this week.

Stepping up at the plate of UofL was Kelsi Jones, who took the second pitch of the game over the center field wall. It was Jones' team-leading seventh "touch 'em all" of the season. Louisville added another run in the third. Back-to-back doubles from Jones and Katie Keller made it 2-0 Louisville.  Morgan Meyer added the final run in the fifth when she converted a leadoff bunt into a score by stealing second, going to third on a fielder's choice and coming home on a wild pitch.

Jeff McAdams brings the recap of the second game...A Louisville 7-4 win:

CARDS TAKE THE SECOND GAME AGAINST WKU



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.Louisville got off to a fast start in the second game with a four run first inning against the Hilltoppers

 Kelsi Jones got a leadoff walk, then stole second...WKU clearly doesn't have a Maggie Ruckenbrod...and advanced to third on Whitney Arion's bunt single. Katie Keller drove them both home with a double down the left field line. Brittany Duncan cleared the scoreboard in right field to bring Keller home and take the first inning tally to four.

Morgan Meyer, with a single and advancing to second on a wild pitch, combined with Maryssa Becker's single to tack on another point in the second inning.

In the fourth, Whitney Arion got on base with a single, then got swept home with Katie Keller's first home-run of the season to finish the Cardinal scoring for the night.

Western would tally 4 in the rest of the game, but take the loss. Caralisa "Good Carl" Connell gets the win with four innings pitched, Rachel LeCoq relieved for 2.1, and Maryssa Becker finished off an excellent day to close out the game.

Maggie Ruckenbrod tallied two victims, with shortstop Whitney Arion putting the tag on the runners attempting to steal second.

Final: 7-4

Softball starts conference play with three games this weekend against Rutgers with two games this Saturday at noon and 2:30pm, and a Sunday bout that starts at noon.

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Lacrosse travelled to Nashville Wednesday and came back with a 18-14 overtime win. Jeff McAdams gives us the details:

In a very close game, with never more than a 3 point lead during regulation, Louisville gets the victory against Vanderbilt.

Louisville couldn't get the deed done during regulation with Vandy scoring the game-tying goal with only 23 seconds left in regulation but took control in the overtime periods, holding Vandy scoreless while scoring four to win the game 18-14.

Kaylin Morissette had an impressive 10 draw controls and a goal. Nikki Boltja continued her hot hand on offense with a double-hat-trick.

Lacrosse now moves to conference play with a game against Georgetown and doesn't return for a game in the friendly confines of the UofL Lacrosse Stadium until April 17th.

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Cardinal junior Emily Haas has been named The American Conference women's golfer of the week. She had a team-leading 219 in the Clover Cup. Louisville won the Mesa, AZ tournament....defeating Notre Dame by one stroke over the three-day, 72 hole event.

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Congrats to the Louisville Field Hockey squad for getting named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association National Academic Team Award list. The honor is for squads that achieve a minimum GPA of 3.0 during the first semester of the 2013-14 academic year. 

13 field hockey players were also named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad...which honors those who achieved a 3.3 or better in the first semester of the 2013-14 academic year.

Thumbs up to Kelsey Rosenmeier ( a four-year member), Stephanie Byrne, Elisa Garcia, Lotta Kahlert, Becca Maddock, Mallory Mason, Rachel McCarthy, Paige Monson, Hailey Netherton, Jen Pels, Elina Periera, Gianna Perrone and Shannon Sloss.

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Katie George Takes a Trip to Europe

Several VolleyCards attended the USA Volleyball National Team Program try-outs in Colorado
Springs in late February. The try-outs are used to guide the National Team Program selections to several teams. The first to be announced was a Collegiate Team to go on a tour in China. The most recent was for a 10-day European tour with a stop in Venice, Italy; a four day training camp in Maribor, Slovenia that will include several friendly scrimmages; and finally competition at Pula, Croatia in The Global Challenge.

Setter Katie George was selected for the European tour team, along with 11 other players. The program is considered a second try-out for the main US National Team.

Still to be selected are players for the US Collegiate National Team, which was previously called the US National A2 Team and had Brooke Mattingly, Hannah Kvitle, and Caitlin Welch participate last year. Additional Cards that tried out for the programs were Maya McClendon and Roxanne McVey who are eligible for the Collegiate Teams. Caitlin Welch is not eligible for the Collegiate teams, but attended the try-outs seeking a position on the US National Team, or perhaps the US National Training Team which is itself frequently a stepping stone to the National Team.


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It's time for the CARDINAL COUPLE annual NCAA Womens' Basketball Tournament Pick 'Em. We can't offer a billion dollars if you get all the picks right like that loan company is doing for the men's brackets...but we will award a CARDINAL COUPLE T-Shirt to the contestant that gets the most games picked correctly. One point per game and earliest entry breaks the tie.

Leave your picks in the comments section or e-mail them to us at cardinalcouple@twc.com

We know you think you're a hotshot at picking the guys games...but how's your womens' BB IQ? Double Dog Dare you to try and beat Sonja...(we'll post hers in the Saturday CC).

David Watson, CARDINAL COUPLE occasional columnist has sent his picks and they look like this:

ROUND 1 -- Connecticut, St.Joe's, BYU, Gonzaga, Texas A&M, DePaul, Duke, South Carolina, Middle Tennessee, Michigan St, North Carolina, Dayton, Penn St, Iowa St, Stanford, Notre Dame, Arizona St, Fla Gulf Coast, Purdue, Chattanooga, Kentucky, California, Baylor, Tennessee, St. John's, Penn, Maryland, Iowa, Louisville, Georgia Tech, West Virginia.

ROUND 2 -- Connecticut, Gonzaga, DePaul, Duke, Middle Tennessee, North Carolina, Iowa St, Stanfo INrd, Notre Dame, Purdue, Kentucky, Baylor, Tennessee, Maryland, Louisville, West Virginia.

ROUND 3 -- Connecticut, DePaul, North Carolina, Iowa St., Notre Dame, Baylor, Maryland, Louisville.

ROUND 4 -- Connecticut, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Maryland.

ROUND 5 -- North Carolina, Notre Dame

ROUND 6 -- Notre Dame.

( JUST IN CASE THERE WAS ANY DOUBT...DAVID ATTENDED AND TAUGHT IN SOUTH BEND. NEVER WOULDA FIGURED THAT.)

-paulie-
-JEFFmca-
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