Smith home run gives SB win -- ACC Tournament -- CC ACC WBB Pick 'Em Results-- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

KENDALL SMITH HOME RUN GIVES CARDS 3-2 WIN

When Kendall Smith completed her four years at Western Kentucky, and wanted an additional year at a school that offered a master's degree in sports administration, my guess is that Holly Aprile's hand went high into the air and pointed to her, Ulmer Stadium and the UofL Master's Degree programs. After all, there was a bit of familiarity there. Smith had played in Ulmer, with the Hilltoppers in the 2021 season and she had caught Topper turned Cardinals pitcher Jen Leonhardt, One might speculate that she may have figured she just might be able to add a little depth to the Cards "behind the plate" student-athletes. 

The move up I-65 from Bowling Green to the "Ville has paid dividends, especially Sunday -- when Smith's sixth inning olo home run was the winning blow in UofL's  3-2 win over Hofstra. The "touch 'em all" was Smith's six of the season and gave the Cards a bit of revenge for allowing Hofstra to defeat them twice on Friday. .  

Hofstra was determined to make it a sweep over UofL and opened the contest with two runs in the top of the first. The Cards got one back in the bottom of the first and tied the game in the third. 

The Cards (11-8) used four pitchers inside the circle Sunday...Chardonnay Harris getting the start and going four innings, Sam Booe throwing an inning and a third, Gabby Holloway entering the circle in the sixth inning for 2/3rds of an inning and Taylor Roby finishing the contest in the seventh. Since Holloway was still the pitcher of record when Smith unloaded her bomb to left-center, Gabby gets the win and Taylor the save.

 

Louisville co-hosts the Bluegrass Challenge next with UK. Valparaiso plays the Cards in Ulmer on Thursday, Central Michigan and Ohio face UofL on Friday, EKU visits for a Saturday game against the Cards, and UofL and Indiana will meet Sunday morning. 

Jared Anderson got some post-game comments from Cards skipper Holly Aprile after the game. Hear them HERE

SOFTBALL PICTURES FROM JARED ANDERSON

NCST wins ACC WBB Tournament

The Miami miracles came to an end Sunday, as North Carolina State defeated Bassy's Canes 60-47 in the ACC Tournament Championship game.

Miami had to be exhausted --playing their fourth game in four days -- but gave the Pack a battle in the first quarter before running out of gas. NCST star Elissa Cunane left the contest with an apparent ankle injury in the third quarter but Miami actually lost ground to the Wolfpack while Cunane was being evaluated. Cunane did return to the floor, sporting an ankle brace and the Heels won their third straight ACC WBB Tournament title. 

Cunane finished with 17 points and was named Tournament MVP. 

Kelsey Marshall had 24 points for Miami (20-12), who probably improved their seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, with the run.  

Congrats to NC State.  Enjoy it while you can. A bigger dance awaits. 

CARDINAL COUPLE ACC WBB PICK EM CONTEST

And the winner is......(drum roll, please)...

Katy, who finished with a 11-3 record is the winnah !!!. She's Jared's finacee, and a FSU grad. It's her first win in the contest. She gets the $25 Cracker Barrel gift card.  

We had a four way tie for second at 10-4 between Nick O, Thomas, kstarksr and Louavulfan35, so we had to go to the tie-breaker, which was who would get closest to the total score of the final game.  The final points total was 107 and Louavulfan35 was closest with an entry of 117. The $20 Subway card awarded here. 

Winners, get in touch with me via e-mail at cardinalcouple@twc.com to let me know where to send your cards. 

A huge thanks to all who submitted entries and next up, the Cardinal Couple NCAA WBB Pick 'em. Jared will explain more about that as the March 13th NCAA WBB Selection Sunday gets closer.  We'll offer gift cards on this one, too -- I'm working on securing those ... 

paulie