Sunday Cardinal Couple

 Softball Splits Saturday

The Cards won the day yesterday in Chestnut hill with an overall score of 14-6 against Boston College.  Alas, scoring doesn't work that way, and the actual results were split.  UofL lost an extra inning affair 4-5 to start the day and then went the full seven inning distance to win the second game 10-1.  

In the first contest, Jenna Servi was consistently in the mix creating offensive opportunities.  Servi has contributed heavily on defense with solid skills playing at either third base or short stop, but has largely been absent from the offensive discussion, and frequently even from the batting order.  She went 3-4 with a pair of RBIs.

UofL got on the scoreboard first with a run in the 2nd inning.  Celene Funke singled and then stole both second and third base, reaching the plate with Servi's first hit and RBI.

The wheels fell off for the Cardinals in the 3rd inning.  Boston College came up to bat and the two lead-off hitters both got singles, followed by the three run touch-em-all.  An error would put another BC runner on the base paths and would bring Jennifer Leonhardt in to pitch in place of Gabby Holloway.  A walk and a single would load up the bases and then a hit batter would bring the fourth score of the inning home before the Cards were able to get out of the inning.

UofL would slowly chip away at the lead, starting in the 4th inning with another Celene Funke single and steal, matching her career high three steals in a game.  Leonhardt got put on first when she was hit by a pitch, and then Servi would get another RBI single, giving Funke the opportunity to make it the rest of the way around.

The Cards would tie it up in the 6th inning, starting off with two outs, but then a Carmyn Greenwood bunt earned her a single.  A throwing error, however, gave her the opportunity to get all the way around to 3rd.  Next up, Maddy Newman earned a walk, then Taylor Roby singled out to left field.  Newmon got to show off her speed, completing the rest of the circuit on the single.  Carmyn Greenwood, as you might imagine, scored easily from 3rd.

With the score tied, the game went into an extra inning where the Eagles would have a runner just barely beat out the throw to home from Funke in center field.

In the second game of the day, the Cards did get on the scoreboard early.  Carmyn Greenwood singled and then advanced to 2nd, and then 3rd, when the BC pitcher-catcher connection stumbled a bit.  The move to 2nd came on a passed ball, and the move to 3rd on a wild pitch.  Makayla Hurst would then get the RBI single to bring Greenwood home.

It wasn't until the 4th inning that the Cards would strike again.  Cassady Greenwood, Charley Butler, and a pinch hitting Taryn Weddle (for Servi) would all single to load up the bases.  Servi would re-enter to run the bases.  Back at the top of the order, Carmyn Greenwood singled, scoring her sister Cassady, as well as Butler.  Servi advanced to 2nd on the play and a throwing error let her claim 3rd.  Servi would score on a wild pitch, completing the scoring in the 4th, for a 4-0 score.

The Cards would get a pair of runs in each of the rest of the innings.

In the 5th, Taylor Roby singled up the middle, and a pinch-hitting Vanessa Miller singled out to center field.  UofL has a lot of speedsters on the base paths...but Taylor Roby is not particularly known for her speed.  Despite that, she did advance to 3rd on the play, and the throw to 3rd got Miller and extra base, putting both in scoring position.  Charley Butler would get the job done, getting a fielding error by the BC 2b.  The play got both Roby and Miller home, and Butler advanced on the throw but was left there to end the inning.

Another pair in the 6th with Maddy Newman reaching on a fielder's choice where she would become the extra run in a Taylor Roby shot over the center field fence.  Roby's team-leading 13th touch-em-all for the season.

BC would claw one back in the bottom of the 6th to stave off the run-rule, but the Cards would run another pair all the way around in the 7th.  Cassady Butler lead off with a double down the left field line, then got to 3rd on a wild pitch.  Charley Butler would score Cassady on a fielder's choice with Greenwood being safe thanks to a throwing error.  Butler took 2nd on Funke's sacrifice, then to 3rd on Servi's single.  Alas, Servi tried to stretch it to a double and didn't make it.  The other half of the Greenwood duo would score Butler on a single through the right side of the field.

BC got two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the 7th with no outs, but Payton Hudson, who took over the pitching duties from Taylor Roby after five innings would get out of the jam and finish the game.

The Cards and Eagles will finish the series, again on the linear ACC Network, at 2pm today.

On Tap Today

In addition to the 4th game of the Softball series mentioned above, Field Hockey starts their NCAA tournament campaign.

UConn advanced over Rider 5-0 to set up a familiar set of foes for the 2nd round match-up.  The Huskies and Cards will get things underway at 3pm.  This one is in State College, PA, on the campus of  Penn State.  If the Cards win this one, the tournament semifinals and finals will be played at UNC.

The UofL Field Hockey schedule does show a live video link, but it currently takes you to an ncaa.com page that has a "Watch live" link for two of the other games, but not for the UofL-UConn matchup.  Will one magically appear by game time?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP took the day off yesterday as everyone was in preparations and heading to various Derby festivities.  By the traffic on the Cardinal Couple group chat, Paulie and Jared had successful betting days, perhaps they can chime in on their winnings in the comments.

We'll be back in the saddle next week.

JMcA