Low on Cardinal News, High on Derby Spirit -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Mother Nature Frowns on Louisville

As many of us have already noticed, the Derby weekend weather we all hoped for has longer odds than the second alternate horse in tomorrow's Kentucky Derby. Yesterday was rainy and cool, today will be rainy and cold, and tomorrow the rain continues with temperatures in the high fifties to low sixties. Our shining hope is a chance of the rain letting up and the sun shining bright on our Old Kentucky Home just in time for the Call to the Post. Nonetheless, this is the biggest economic time of the year for our humble city. The horses will run and the bourbon will flow despite the rain, and I'll settle in to enjoy a day of camaraderie and putting my faith (and money) in the wrong horses.

There's not much new in the Louisville women's sports world now that the spring semester is officially over, and I don't have my ear to the ground on former and future Louisville women's basketball players nearly as much as Paulie and Jeff. However, softball is one of those sports that spans through spring into summer so let's take a look at what's new for Sandy Pearsall's Cards.

Cards Open Season Finale Series Today

Louisville softball, and similarly Louisville baseball, have wisely gotten out of Dodge during Derby weekend. The softball Cards packed up their bats and headed to Raleigh, North Carolina for a three game set to wrap up the regular season against NC State. The Cards enter the series still in fourth in the conference, with Boston College and North Carolina occupying the two and three spots respectively. Florida State still sits at the top with an undefeated conference record. NC State is two losses behind Louisville, but only 1 win behind. Because of the rained out Syracuse series, much of the conference has played two more games than the Cards. Louisville will look for a big series win this weekend as two wins give them a chance to grab a top three spot with some losses at the top and sweep makes those chances even greater. At 17-34 overall, the Wolfpack have certainly not been great out of conference (7-23), and Louisville will look to jump on the same issues that non conference schools have.

In other softball news, the primary Louisville battery of Maryssa Becker and Jenna Jordan have found themselves short listed for the Academic All-America team. The senior, Becker, and junior, Jordan, have been named to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District 2 team. The nomination is exclusive for starters/key reserves who are at least sophomores and maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA. The University of Louisville prides itself on high academic performance from its athletes and this is just another example. Congratulations to Maryssa and Jenna!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-