Thunder Was a Quiet Sports Day - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Softball Looks For a Sweep

It may have been the day for Thunder Over Louisville, with loud planes and fireworks all day downtown, but sports were relatively quiet with Softball in action being the primary draw for us here at Cardinal Couple.

Everyone was on the road, Soccer playing in exhibition in Dayton, Baseball at Duke (they lost), Track up at IU, Rowing in North Carolina, and Softball, of course, in their series against Virginia in Charlottesville.

The visit to UVA has been a successful one for the Cards, though, taking the win yesterday, 6-4.  Taylor Roby was the starting pitcher for this one, pitching most of five innings before Alyssa Zabala gave her a break.  Zabala wasn't as sharp as she was yesterday, and was lifted in the 6th for Gabby Holloway to finish out the game.

If you were on pins and needles to see if Korbe Otis was going to get another games on base streak going, you didn't have to wait long.  The sophomore took an opening pitch strike and then took the second pitch out to left field under the scoreboard.  Two batters later, Sarah Gordon, who's been seeing quite a bit of success at the plate recently, also lifted the yellow orb out the left.  Quite a good start for the Cards.

The Louisville squad would get the next mark on the scoreboard in the 3rd, with the lineup turned over, Otis returned to lead off the inning.  A bit of a questionable call as Otis ground to third, and ran into the throw as it arrived at first.  The ball popped loose and she was ruled safe on an error.  There was an argument to be made that Otis was inside the baseline and thus could've been called for interference, but that's not how the umpires saw it, and UVA didn't contest it.  Otis then stole second, which is pretty much a given for her, with that steal being her 19th on the season on 19 attempts.  Gordon again takes an absolute rip at the ball and easily gets the triple, scoring Otis, but attempted to make it an inside the park homerun but just gets caught at home.  Credit to the home base umpire who, while making the (correct, even on review) call, accidentally steps on the bat and does an involuntary splits.  Well done to blue, and no injury sustained.

UVA finally got their first mark on the scoreboard in the 5th inning with a two out solo shot.  That also saw Roby take a well earned bow from the circle and hand over the pitching duties to Zabala.

The weekend has mostly been a big ball extravaganza, but the Cards switched to some small ball for the 6th inning.  Hannah File started off with a single, Daisy Hess drew a walk, then Makayla Hurst pinch hit for Pickle Winkler and singled.  Winkler re-entered to run the basepaths.  Elana Ornelas pinch hit for Ally Alexander, and also singled, bringing Hess home after advanced around the paths one base at a time.  That would make the score 4-1 after five and a half innings.

UVA got to Zabala in the bottom of the 6th inning, however, hitting off of her for a pair of doubles, the first a two RBI, and the second a single RBI, bringing the score to 4-4 tie.  Zabala would have a seat at that point, and Holloway would get a strike out to end the inning.

In the top of the 7th, Sarah Gordon and got on base with a single.  Followed at the plate by Taylor Roby, still in the lineup as the designated player, she merely extended her season home run school record, with the shot going pretty straight out to center and clearing the outer fence of the stadium facility.  The 2 RBI home run of course scored Gordon as well, and set the final 6-4 score.

Holly Aprile's squad will have the brooms at the ready, hoping for the series sweep with a 4pm game today.

Softball will return home to host a weekend series with Boston College, starting with a Friday 6pm game.

Lacrosse Starts Post-Season

Lacrosse gets the post-season underway with a 2pm game against Duke in the ACC Championship.

The Cards come into the tournament seeded 8th, Duke is the 9 seed.  The game will be preceeded by the 7/10 matchup between Virginia Tech and Pitt, so there is a chance that it will be delayed some if the first game runs long.

Louisville and Duke are looking to advance to play the top seed in the tournament, Boston College on Wednesday.

After Wednesday's games, the semifinals of the tournament will be Friday, and the Championship game will be this coming Sunday.

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast This Week

With various absences and the Louisville Holidays, a.k.a The Kentucky Derby Festival, upon us, and particularly Thunder Over Louisville, the team took a break this week, but anticipate being back with you next week.  We're confident we'll have plenty to talk about.

-- JMcA