Monday Cardinal Couple - Softball Splits

Softball Splits with Northwestern and Ball State

There were three softball games played at Ulmer stadium Sunday, starting off at 11am with a matchup between visiting Northwestern and Ball State.  A contest that was dramatically in Northwestern's favor, with Ball State being run-ruled after five innings 13-0.

The next game up was Northwestern vs the Louisville Cardinals.  Again, the Northwestern Wildcats cruised to a victory over the hosting Cardinals 11-0, though it did take all seven innings to get there.  Maryssa Becker took to the stripe to start the game and held Northwestern scoreless through two innings and managed to get out of the third with only a single run scored.  She has an excellent double-play from Hailey Smith at 3rd base to Sydney Benz at 1st, and then a ground-out to Whitney Arion at short-stop to thank for getting out of the inning without more damage done.

After a run and three hits on Becker in the fourth inning, Madi Norman came in to take a shot at the pitching duties.  A ground ball to Hailey Smith at 3rd ended the inning.  A disastrous 5th inning, however, brought Becker back out to resume the hurling duties, but not before seven hits and 5 runs were registered with a 3-run home run blast counting for a large part of the scoring.  Once Becker was back at the pitching strip, a pop-up to short-stop Whitney Arion ended the carnage.

A 1-2-3 sixth inning kept a glimmer of hope alive, but the 7-0 deficit was not to be overcome.  The Cards fate was sealed in the 7th with 4 runs of off back to back homeruns.  The first a 3-run blast, and the next batter took a solo shot over the fence.

No scoring produced by the Cardinals in this one and through two games played at Ulmer, the cumulative score was Northwestern 24, Cardinals...both Ball State, and Louisville...zero.

The last game of the afternoon matched up the two sets of Cardinals, with Ball State and Louisville.  Finally some Cardinals would get on the board, but it wasn't clear which set would make the most impact.

It turns out the Louisville Cardinals would get the job done and continue a really rough day for our friends from the Hoosier State.

The scoring started early, with Kelsi Jones getting on base in the lead-off with a walk, got to second on a Jordan McNary single to left, stole third, and came home on a Hailey Smith single out to left.

In the 2nd, Tiarra Sanabria lifted one just clear of the centerfielder and bounced it to the fence, Sanabria stretched it into a triple and set up a series of RBI doubles by Brittany Sims, Jordan McNary, and Maryssa Becker for a 3 run inning.

In the 3rd, Ball State brought a new pitcher in, and...well...things didn't go well for her.  Five walks later, meaning 2 "runs", Ball State had enough and switched pitchers again and was able to finish off the side without further damage.  Another walk in the 4th inning put Whitney Arion on base and then made it home on a double by Alison Szydlowski that only missed clearing the fence by a couple of feet.

Going into the 5th inning up 7-0 on Ball State put the Louisville Cardinals squarely into run-rule territory and they quickly capitalized on the threat with Brittany Sims popping one over the left-center field fence, narrowly missing the nice new scoreboard, and ending the game on an 8-0 run rule.

Ball State wraps up the day with only a single hit, and no runs in 10 innings played in two games.

Ball State and Northwestern are both on their way home, and the Louisville Softball Classic will wrap up today with a double-header between Louisville and Illinois State.

Be sure to listen to the Cardinal Couple radio show Saturday for comments from Coach Sandy Pearsall about the Northwestern and Ball State games.

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Our second March contest will be the annual Cardinal Couple NCAA Tournament Pick 'Em...where you pick the 63 games that consist of the Big Dance. One point per correct selection and the highest number of correct picks takes the prize. 

What is that prize, you ask? Your choice of a $25 gift certificate to "a major name product merchant" and a absolutely fabulous Cardinal Couple T-Shirt if you finish second. 

Entries open when the Selection Monday show is over and will close when they tip it up in the first game of the tournament. 

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Our latest broadcast is up and running on the SoundCloud archives at CrescentHillRadio. It was a fun show...we re-introduce and formally name Sam Draut as our Radio Intern and he joins Worldwide and Paulie in the studio and they discuss hoops, softball, lacrosse and cereal. 

The lads also participate in a Worldwide quiz about the ACC Tournament and Don Paulie stops in for a visit. 

The studio audience went wild and was on her feet. 

It's radio with no boundaries, direction, meaning or importance...but it is jolly good fun and you learn stuff...so that's cool...LINK BELOW

HOOPS, HAIR-GEL, NORTH KOREAN CEREAL AND WORDS WITH WALZ


jmca