WCWS Championship, Dana Evans & CHI Sky @ INDY This Weekend; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

GOOOOOOOOOOOOD Friday morning Louisville and Cardinal Couple readers ! 

She's back on the personal keyboard this week checking in with the Cardinal Couple faithful after quite the hiatus, and I appreciate the rest of the CC team stepping up in my absence.  I did get the chance to unplug and relax on the beach for a week but it was sandwiched between an ACC Softball Championship with the ACC network and two back to back home-stands down at Slugger field.

Just a whooole lot of button pushing going on between the desk job during the day & the sports stuff in the evenings.  And of course when I'm not on a clock, I'm at home pushing the boyfriend's buttons every chance I get...

Anywho, I am glad that it's mid-June and there's a couple things I can talk about.

Women's College World Series 

Firstly, I hope you got the chance to tune into the Women's College World Series over the past week.  I did miss Day One where JMU stunned the softball world and beat both 'home teams' Oklahoma and Oklahoma State... but i did obsessively watch the rest up until Thursday's Game 3 of the Championship between OU and Florida State.

 
I was absolutely thrilled that no super blue team was in OKC.  UCLA doesn't count.  I was rooting for the Bruins to repeat as Champs.  We had a very maroon 'Final Four' and witnessed some historic and downright "bad-a$$" performances and plays. 

"Shout out to me? Well, a shout out 
right back at ya, Daryl !" 

Shout out to Montana Fouts for the perfect game.  The KY native celebrated her 21st birthday with an epic performance in the circle.  Shout out to JMU's Odicci Alexander for the game winning play at the plate.. the fifth year senior gave the game her ALL.  The play of Mackenzie Donihoo of OU also stands out in my mind.  She had excellent at bats which often resulted in a hit and/or a run...and her efforts on defense when she was diving for fair and foul balls out in left field...were fun to watch. She also made sure to keep the crowd hyped in between pitches. 

The 2021 WCWS was a glorious event filled with everything at its best.  I do believe this was the first event with a full capacity crowd for the USA since COVID restrictions have lifted?  It was loud and it was beautiful, rain delays and all.

After it was all said and done, the Oklahoma Sooners were crowned the 2021 champions after a dominating game 3 performance.  It is the fifth title for the Sooners in program history, all under HC Patty Gasso, the last one coming in 2017. After falling to FSU in game one The Sooners battled back in game 2 and 3 to take the title back to campus, 25 miles down the road from HOF Stadium.

 

The CCRHP gang was upset with me cutting off the championship talk in our group chat because I was recording it to watch after work... But I think we were all in agreement that we were not rooting for the Seminoles to dog-pile for the trophy. 

OU homered in the first and second inning and put up a 3 spot in the third to make it a 5-1 victory for the Sooners.  Danielle Watson took the "L' . The former Cardinals pitcher gave up back-to-back "touch-em-alls" in the second inning and that was enough for the Sooners to win, but more OU scores were to come. 

Bye, bye, Noles...

The Seminoles' lone run was scored an RBI double but it was a very high pop up lost in the sun in the shallow 1st/2nd base area.  Sooners ace Giselle Juarez allowed one run on two hits on Thursday afternoon and was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. The left-hander allowed four runs in 31 1/3 innings.  Fittingly, the last out was a very short pop up into her glove.

Game over.

It was a dominating day for Oklahoma. 

 

DANA EVANS - Chicago Sky at Indiana Fever this weekend!

After the Fever visited the Sky in Chicago on Wednesday evening, the Sky will follow the bus back to Indy to face the Fever for a Saturday afternoon rematch.

The game is scheduled to tipoff at 1p.m.

The Sky downed Indy 92-76 in that previous meeting, Dana Evans had 9 points, 1 assist and a rebound in 12 minutes on the floor. 

I have a feeling she's just getting settled into her new role in Chicago... the place she probably should've gone to to begin with.  It just so happens that I planned on heading to Indianapolis Saturday afternoon... coincidence? We will find out... 

So I am tentative for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast for Saturday.  

The Indy trip is confirmed.. the game, is a maybe.  A really want to maybe, though.  I definitely intend on catching some WNBA games in Indy at some point.  

Have a great Friday y'all.  Wear your sunscreen & tip the bartenders. 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl