Sunday Cardinal Couple - Drying out

After a Friday and Saturday with lots of rain, Sunday dawns bright and beautiful.  If you are of a Christian persuasion, it's a pretty decent metaphor for Easter Sunday.

Alas, the Rowing event in Clemson was cancelled completely yesterday, so that is lost for good, but it appears that Softball will try to complete the full series today.

Softball Plans

In a decision that I didn't expect, UofL and Georgia Tech Softball will attempt to finish out the full series today.  That means completing the rain halted game that was started on Friday, and then playing 2 full games after.

The rain delayed game will be resumed in the top of the 5th with the Cards leading 10-5 with no outs and Georgia Tech with runners on 2nd and 3rd.  In the overall standings, GT and Louisville are still both sitting at 8-7 in conference play, so these games are very likely to be exciting and meaningful.

So far in the first game, in the first inning, 2 singles for Sidney Melton and Megan Hensley, and a walk to Taylor Roby loaded up the bases.  Caitlin Ferguson brought the trio home on a single out to left center field.  Kyra Snyder got a single to bring the speedy Ferguson home, then advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch.  Charley Butler singled, and Snyder advanced to 3rd, then Maddy Newman singled to advance Butler to 2nd and score Snyder.  The early success triggered a pitching change, but a wild pitch from the new pitcher advanced Newman and Butler to 2nd and 3rd, respectively.  Having batted around the batting order in the first inning, Celene Funke singled bringing Butler home and advancing Newman to 3rd.  Funke stole 2nd, in a move that is extremely on brand for her, leaving the Cards with 2 runners in scoring position again.  And then to wrap up the scoring in the first inning, Sid Melton singled, and then advanced to 2nd on a throwing error.  Both Newman and Funke scored on the play.

I'll save you the trouble of trying to count all of those up, that was 8 runs on 8 hits for the Cards in the 1st inning giving the Cards an early 8-2 lead.  GT would claw one back in the 3rd inning, but then the Cards answered with the pair.  Maddy Newman reached on a throwing error then stole 2nd.  A passed ball allowed her to advance to 3rd, and then came home on a wild pitch, and with that set of events, and with all due deference to Maddy Newman and her speed, that one certainly goes into the scoresheet as "unearned".  Sid Melton was up next and got a single to the shortstop, beating out the throw, and then scored with Megan Hensley came up with her big bat and tripled to right center.

Georgia Tech would get another 2 in the top of the 4th to bring the score to where it currently stands at 10-5 with GT threatening.

If you can't make it out to Ulmer stadium today, all of the action will be available on the ACC Network Extra, starting at 10.  The schedule has the 2nd game starting at 11:30, and the final one at 2:00.  As these are both teams that like to score in bunches, those times are tentative, at best.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse was about the one event that didn't get washed out yesterday, as the Cards went down to a powerhouse team in Boston College 19-6.  BC is the top team in the NCAA RPI, and in the Inside Lacrosse poll.  The IWLCA coaches poll has them, somewhat inexplicably, in 3rd.  Ahead of BC in the coaches poll are Stony Brook, undefeated at 8-0 (BC's overall record is 12-0), and somewhat inexplicably, Maryland, at 8-1.  Yes, Maryland is a perennial powerhouse, but......

The scoring in this one came from a hat trick by Seneca Nation's Shayla Scanlan, and one each to Ally Hall, Tessa Chad, and Alex McNicholas.

This game wraps the Cards regular season at 5-12 overall, and 0-7 in conference.  They now get the dubious pleasure of meeting BC again, on Wed. with an 11am first draw, in the first round of the ACC tournament, also in Chestnut Hill.

Cardinal Couple Weather Report

The Cardinal Couple Weather Report, I mean the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour, was on the air as
usual yesterday.  Jared was working in the world of high finance unjamming Automatic Teller Machines, and Case was doing something with farm animals?

Paulie, Daryl, and myself were in the magnificent Media mansion on Mellwood, though, a good crew for a good long discussion of Softball, the unexpected levels of success that squad has had, and a bit of ranting about umps being reluctant to halt games due to weather...plus updates and other scheduling. 

You can check all of that out, and more at the usual Facebook Live source:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/997558613922987/

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JMcA