Cardinals Outside of UofL Athletics; WCWS Storylines -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Swimmers Among Olympic Hopefuls

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics being postponed to later this year (and still hanging on by a thread), US Olympic qualifying trials are getting underway for various sports to nail down the teams. Among the summer games are those that take place in a pool. Games in a pool during the summer? Professional athletes: they're just like the rest of us. Anyway, the University of Louisville has a pretty good history when it comes to swimming. They're still working toward that first team championship, but individual Cardinals have seen a lot of success at the collegiate level and beyond.

This year, more Cards will hope to add their names to the list of athletes that will get to wear the year's hottest Polo Ralph Lauren outfit (the US Olympic uniform). On the women's side, three Cards are at the event: Christiana Regenaur, Diana Dunn, and Paige McCormick. Regenaur made the finals for the 100M Freestyle yesterday and touched 6th in her race, 9th overall out of the 16 swimmers. Her placement is not terribly relevant based on how they are doing the advancement to Wave II (only the top two advance), but you can advance on time as well. The cut for Wave II is a 55.56. Regenaur's swim yesterday was only a 56.29, so unless she had a better time somewhere during the past year's qualification period, she'll be hoping for another race to attempt to improve or she'll look to go forward in another event.

The only woman racing today for Louisville is freshman Paige McCormick. McCormick is swimming in the 400M IM today. She'll also participate in the 200M Backstroke tomorrow. Regenaur and Diana Dunn will be back in action on Monday for the 50M Free and the 200M IM, respectively.

Cards in WNBA Action

Paulie gave you a look at the result from Thursday night, but the WNBA season is jam packed with games. There are three on the slate today and former Cards will be involved in all three. The day tips off with a Mystics vs Aces matchup at 1PM. If not for injury, this would be an opportunity to MHA vs Angel, but McCoughtery is back on the road to recovery. The game will be broadcast on ABC. Game two is also on ABC, and will tip off at 3PM. In that game, we'll see if Dana Evans can break into some more playing time for her new team. The final game of the evening sees the Connecticut Sun hosting the NY Liberty. That one is at 7PM and is not listed for a national channel. Availability is NESN, YES, and SN1. 

WCWS Providing Tons of Excitement

James Madison has come to win the whole dang softball tournament. After knocking off Oklahoma on opening day of the tournament, the Dukes were at it again last night when they took on the second home team at the tournament. Odicci Alexander was in the circle again and she flashed her glove in addition to her pitching skills. Late in the game, the Cowgirls put down a suicide squeeze and Alexander showed her athleticism as she raced the runner to the plate, diving for the tag herself rather than wasting time trying to get it to the catcher. She made the out and ultimately held on for a 2-1 win. 

The Dukes are now in the driver's seat for bracket one, waiting until tomorrow to face their next opponent. Oklahoma can still make their way to the championship series, but they'll need to win two games today and then beat JMU twice tomorrow to do it. Advantage JMU. The team on the other side in the same position is Alabama. The Tide made headlines last night as well when Montana Fouts took the circle on her birthday. It was a 21st birthday to remember as Fouts threw just the fifth perfect game in WCWS history while Alabama thumped UCLA 6-0. 

All four games today will be broadcast on ESPN, as will tomorrow's Game Ones. If a Game Two is required tomorrow, it will be on ESPN2. The championship series, starting on Monday, will all be on ESPN.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Paulie alluded to my return yesterday but it's not quite here, yet. Today should be the last week of my hiatus, and I'm excited to return to the booth. It's been a hectic last couple of months, and I'm sure we'll talk next week about where all I've been. The rest of the crew will still bring you a great show this week, as Paulie prepares his next nefarious quiz. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show and be sure to subscribe to the channel to see the rebroadcasts as well as any other video interviews we post to the page.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-