Cards Softball Faces The Flames -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL IN MID-WEEK MATCHUP AT UIC

The Louisville Softball team hits Chi-Town today for a softball matchup against University of Illinois-Chicago -- UIC as they're known -- for a 5:30 (CDT) game against the Flames. That's 6:30 here in the Louisville area, just in case this whole daylight saving vs. regular time in which time zone has you confused. 3:30 if you'ew reading in L.A.

UIC is a member of the Horizon League and has built a 11-30 record this season (8-14 in conference play). It'll be the fourth time the two squads have met -- they've battled to a 2-2 series record. Their last meeting was in 2020 in Stillwater, OK, where the Cards took a 10-2 contest. 

UofL will head to South Bend after this one for a regular and conference ending series against Notre Dame, so maybe a mid-week tune up will be beneficial for Holly Aprile's crew. A chance maybe to experiment with some of the other pitchers on the squad beside ace Taylor Roby.

 A chance for the Cards to maybe loosen up the bats a bit against a squad that started the season 3-12...in the Stanford, San Diego and   South Florida Tournaments. 

It is, of course, Derby Week in Louisville, and -- as in past years, Softball takes to the road for competition, instead of going head-to-head with the Kentucky Oaks and Derby. 

They'll no doubt look to the hot bat of Carmyn Greenwood, who was named ACC Player of the Week that ended 5/1/22. Greenwood was a flame herself...hitting .600 last week and .415 for the season. Greenwood has 14 home runs on the season (which ties her with Taylor Roby for team best) and she leads the ACC with 66 hits. She's also scored 52 runs on the season and has 52 RBI's. 

She's also banged out seven triples this season, second best in DI NCAA Softball. 

Holly Aprile's squad is 26-21 on the season and has a 11-12 ACC record. She's built a squad that combines a few Cardinals veterans (Greenwood, Jenna Servi and Taylor Roby), a strong group of freshmen (Dylann Cravens, Korbe Otis, Easton Lotus, Ally Alexander, Maddi Grant and Sam Booe) plus several key transfers in Hannah File and Kendall Smith. 

No free TV or internet is listed for this one, but it's listed to be shown on ESPN+, like a lot of the Flames games have been this season, the pay-by-view or month streaming service, of course. 

Losses this time of year can affect the RPI, so let's hope the Cards can grab the "W".and proceed to South Bend with a little steam. 

paulie