Softball Sweeps first day of Sportco...Lacrosse wins at Marquette -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS PLATE 30 RUNS IN TWO GAMES IN VEGAS

If the Louisville Softball team was appearing as an act at one of the Las Vegas hotels, you'd have to say they were a "hit". Or, they'd be there for a long "run". 

The Cards put up 30 runs on 24 hits and allowed just five in wins over Southern Utah and Cal State Bakersfield in the opening day of the Sportco Kickoff Classic...hosted by UNLV. (Why they call it a "kickoff" classic is beyond me...maybe the hosts were ready to kick Louisville off the field for wearing out the base paths...) 


CARDS 17 - SOUTHERN UTAH 3 

Louisville wasted no time in getting the scoring started in the opener...gathering three runs in the bottom of the first...a Maryssa Becker single scoring Sidney Melton, Megan Hensley single bring home Jordan McNary and Nicole Pufahl sacrifice fly getting Becker to the plate for a 3-0 first. While Becker was taming S.U.U. on the mound, Louisville added a deuce in the second...Hensley connecting on a two-RBI double to send Melton and Becker to the plate. 

The top of the third was golden for the RedBirds...seven runs...which featured a Pufahl two-RBI single. When the dust had cleared on the infield...the Cards were up 12-0 and a five-inning affair seemed to be in the cards for the Cards over the Thunderbirds. 

Louisville tacked on five more in the fourth...Pufahl knocking in two more with a single and Becker and Hensley also adding RBI's. Up 17-0, Sandy Pearsall started substituting freely in the fifth and freshman pitcher Sydney Warriner relieved Becker on the mound...who had compiled a four-hit shutout. S.U.U. touched Syd for three runs...but the Cards eventually collected three outs and the contest end with a 14-run, 17-3 five-inning win for the Ville over the Thunderbirds.  

CARDS 13 - CSU BAKERSFIELD 2 

Louisville returned to the field 30 minutes later to face CSUB. Hensley took the mound for UofL and the first inning went scoreless. The Roadrunners pushed a runner across the plate in the bottom of the second and one wondered if the Cards might have ran the scoring well dry. 

Nope.

Louisville put together four singles and a walk for four runs in the top of the third and led 4-2 when they came up to bat in the top of the fourth. The Cards loaded the bases again, McNary's fielders choice scored Alison "Mike" Szydlowski and kept the bases loaded for the Cards first home run of the season...a grand slam shot by Becker over the left field fence. 

That 9-2 advantage carried into the top of the fifth. Hensley was controlling the Roadrunners and the Cards were smelling another five-inning affair possibility. "Mike" doubled to start the inning and Melton and McNary followed...scoring "Mike". 

That set the stage again for Becker...who planted another one over the left field fence...a three-run blast...to make it 13-2 Cards. Hensley sent CSUB away quietly in the bottom of the fifth and the Cards had an 11-run victory.

Becker had eight RBI's in the contest...McNary three and Hensley went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits. The Cards play two again today...getting Indiana State at noon and host UNLV at 2:15 p.m. The UNLV game will be available at the UNLV website...I bounced back and forth between StatTracker and Sidearms Stats to follow the the action last night. Once they got going, they did an OK job of coverage...I prefer StatTracker. 


LACROSSE HOLDS ON AT MARQUETTE 13-12

The Jersey Girls are at it again. 

McKayla Conti (Ocean Township) and Meghan Siverson (Morristown) netted five goals each and LouLax held on late for a challenging 13-12 win over a determined, home-standing Golden Eagles squad Friday afternoon. 

The Cards fell behind early in this match 3-0 before Siverson got UofL on the board. Down 4-1, Louisville battled back to tie it at 4-4 with Conti, Ashley Lynch and Heidi Smith finding net success. Marquette held a 6-5 edge with five minutes left in the firsst half...but two straight goals from sophomore Conti...the final one with 24 seconds on the clock...gave UofL a tenacious 7-6 advantage after one. 

Marquette started the second session strong with two goals to regain the lead. Conti gathered her fourth score to tie the contest, Hannah Koloski connected on her only score of the day to forge UofL ahead 9-8 and the teams went back and forth...Conti scoring her fifth goal to make it 11-10 Louisville with 6:43 to play. A minute later, the Golden Eagles knotted it back up. Siverson put in two shots in the next two minutes to send Louisville on to 13-11, but Marquette narrowed that to 13-12 with 90 seconds to play. With the shot clock off, the Cards played "keep-away" on offense and were able to hang on for the 1-goal victory. 

A valuable win under challenging circumstances. The contest was played in Marquette's domed all-purpose facility...which provided an almost surreal white, parachute kind of glow to the background and made following the ball...at least for this viewer...fairly difficult. Kudos to the film crew...who just showed the action and didn't provide any background babble. 

Louisville (2-0) returns home to face Robert Morris Sunday at 1 p.m. With WBB at 3 p.m....our coverage may be brief...but we'll have a recap, nevertheless. 


THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

Case, WorldWide and I will plunk ourselves down in front of the microphones and belt out another 60 minutes of Cardinal Athletics this morning at 11 a.m. on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. Coordinates are WCHQ 100.9 on the FM airwaves and CARDINAL COUPLE 2-11-17 via Internet. 

We have a fine broadcast lined up for you! Case will catch us up on men's BB and preview the 2 p.m. game against Miami at the KFC YUM! Center today. We'll also discuss WBB, Softball. Lacrosse and other UofL sports...plus get a review from Worldwide on his test-drive and hear Paulie rant about on-line coverage of softball. 

Punkin is waiting for her treat and Monk is grinning...since we have light audio this week for her to download and monitor. We'll muddle through somehow and you won't want to miss it. 


Paulie
xxxxx