Sunday Cardinal Couple - Softball Looking for Wins

Softball Looking for Conference Wins

Louisville Softball is in a battle for post-season play.  The Cards currently sit 8th in conference (if I'm doing my math right...2+2=5, right?), and 8 teams compete in the ACC Softball Championship hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

The Cards currently sit at 9-10 in conference play with 4 games left to play.  They're ahead of Syracuse who have finished conference play at 9-12.  They also have a chance of passing Duke, who are currently 12-11 with only a single conference game left to play (today at 1pm against UVA, who are bringing up the rear in Softball).

The Cards finish out the weekend series, and conference home finale, against Boston College (11-8 in conference).  The Cards have already clinched the series win for the feel-good points, but are trying to improve their record to ensure a place in post season play.  UofL still has a weekend on the road up at Pitt, who are currently sitting atop the Coastal division of play.

The Cards are currently at 9-10 in conference.  Wins today, and next weekend will be needed to
ensure a place in Atlanta (and perhaps a celebratory trip to the McCoughtry's ice cream shop).  There are enough scenarios to play out with games remaining that I can't sort them all out (and the ACC website does us no favors by not keeping up to date with games played, instead offering a weekly snapshot of the standings...more math!)  After the weekend concludes, it will be easier to get a read on what the Cardinals need to accomplish to get to play in the 2nd season of the year.

So far this weekend, the Cards have dispatched the Boston College Eagles, despite the Eagles holding a higher standing in conference.  Hope springs eternal for Pearsall's squad to collect some wins against Pitt, who despite their lofty conference standing, have a roughly similar overall win-loss record (28-16, currently) to UofL (30-17).

In yesterday's action, the Sidney Melton (go Team Sid/Syd/Szyd!), Maddy Newman, Megan Hensley combo carried the day.  The trio teamed up in the first to eventually get Hensley around the base paths to score.  Melton's presence on the base paths helped Newman advanced on a throw and tag out of Melton at home.  Similarly, Newman helped Hensley to advance in a fielder's choice.  Hensley would eventually score on an error in the opening frame. 3-2 Cards win!

The Eagles scored two in the 5th, but the Cards would answer in the home half with the Melton, Newman, Hensley trio again teaming up to get a pair across.  Melton hit and stole 2nd, Newman hit to advance Melton to 3rd, and a Hensley's hit let Melton and Newman show off their speed to score from the corners.  The trio of runs would be enough to take the game over BC's pair in the 5th.

UofL celebrated Senior Day yesterday, with today planned to be the pink game.  Jenna Jordan, Nicole "Poof" Pufahl, Ashley Nikolao the hometown hero, Jamie "The new pride of New Egypt, New Jersey" Soles, and Alison "Mike" Szydlowski were all honored.  Cardinal Couple has had the extremely good fortune to interview nearly all of that squad over the past few years...mostly at the annual Softball banquet.  We had a wonderful interview, and were struck by just how thoughtful and insightful Jenna Jordan is at this year's banquet.  The "Poof" has been interviewed multiple times by Paulie, and is always up for a fun conversation.  We were able to grab audio from Jamie Soles and the original "Pride of New Egypt, New Jersey", her older sister and UofL alumna Kayla Soles, at a banquet several years ago.  And, of course, "Mike, Mike, Mike" has been a favorite of the CC crew for some time, as well as one of the members of the All-Sid/Syd/Szyd team.

Jeff Walz was on hand to toss out the ceremonial first pitch and also in attendance was visitor Yacine Diop, previously of Pittsburgh WBB and a possible Cardinal transfer? NCAA recruiting guidelines prohibited Jared from getting a photo of Diop and Walz together but a visual sighting of the two was confirmed.

Today's game starts at noon and is available streamed on The ACC Network Extra. Go Cards, fly past the Eagles today and get the sweep!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Three of the knuckleheads were in the Mellwood Mansion studio yesterday for a good show with great discussions on WCHQ FM.  You can catch a replay and see Floyd the Touchdown Squirrel hiding Jared's crumpled up breakfast paper bag from the camera.  I'm going to go ahead and start calling him Floyd the Touchdown Squirrel, as it's clearly the best name option that has been suggested (by yours truly, of course).  Watch the stream to see and hear me politicking for "Floyd" votes as well.

We discussed the post-season hopes for Softball, effectively wrapped up the year for Lacrosse with an eye to the future, and even found a copule of items of Women's Basketball news to throw in the mix.

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2016762928346980/

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JMcA