Softball Hosts Senior Weekend -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Welcomes Clemson for Senior Weekend

Louisville softball will honor eight seniors this weekend as they close out the home season against #21 Clemson. The seniors being recognized are Mia Forsythe, Riley Frizell, Paige Geraghty, Kiley Goff, Daisy Hess, Gabby Holloway, Vanessa Miller, and Bailee Richardson.

Forsythe, Holloway, and Miller all spent their full careers with Louisville. Goff spent a year at Purdue, two at Maryland, and played her senior season with the Cards. Geraghty played two years at Auburn and the last two seasons at Louisville. Frizell played three years at Missouri before joining the Cards this past year. Richardson was at Georgia State for four years before utilizing her COVID-19 eligibility at Louisville. Hess spent three years at Georgia State before spending her final two seasons of eligibility for UofL. Everyone but Hess and Richardson would be able to use a COVID-19 eligibility year next year if they choose.

Taylor Roby also returns to Ulmer Stadium this weekend. One of the best pitcher-hitter combo players that Louisville has ever seen has been a student coach with the Tigers this year. Roby holds the records for career and single season home runs at Louisville. 

Louisville enters the weekend 25-21 overall and 6-12 in the ACC. Their conference record currently places them ninth out of 13 teams. 

Clemson is 31-15 on the year. The Tigers are fourth in the ACC with a 13-8 mark. They hit .298 as a team with six players batting over .300. As a team, Clemson has tallied 375 hits with 51 home runs and 276 runs scored. McKenzie Clark leads the team with a .373 batting average and 53 hits. 

The five pitchers for the Tigers have a collective 2.19 ERA. They have a collective 251 strikeouts to 294 hits allowed. Valerie Cagel is the hurler that has done the most damage to the Cards over her five year career with the Tigers and is 8-5 this year, 

All three games will be aired on ACCNX. Tonight's first pitch is set for 6:00pm.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

LAX falls in the ACC tournament 17-9 to 'Cuse -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello there readers,  Daryl here this morning as the Bats are in town this week Jared and I switched coverage.

Its Finals week for students, good luck to everyone!

pic from uoflnews.com

Lacrosse

Cards 9,  Syracuse 17

Louisville entered the ACC Tournament at the 9 seed, beating 8 seed Virginia Tech last Sunday and grabbing their first ACC Tournament win in program history.

Falling to the 1 seed Syracuse, 17-8 on Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinals will end the season with an 8-11 (3-7 ACC) record.

With under 9 minutes on the clock in the first quarter the Cards had a 3-2 lead before Syracuse went on a tear and never looked back going on a 6-0 run to end the quarter. Savannah Sweitzer scored 2 goals in that run for the Orange. 

The Cards were down as many as 17-7, scoring the final two goals of the match to make it a 17-9 final. The Orange defense has held its opponent to less than 10 goals in four of its last five games.

Rian Adkins led the team with a career-high three goals and Kylea Dobson added two goals. Allegra Catalano had one goal and one assist while also picking up three ground balls.

photos: Jared Anderson 

As Always, 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

LAX to face Syracuse in Quarters --WBB gets "Berry" good commitment -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LACROSSE GOES AGAINST #1 SEED SYRACUSE TODAY

Louisville Lacrosse moves forward in their journey to advance in the 2024 ACC WLAX Tournament with a 11 a.m. Wednsday quarterfinal match against #1 seed Syracuse. The contest will be shown on the ACC Network, the earliest of four games on the day in Charlotte. 

The #9 seeded Cards advanced to the quarters by going to Blacksburg, VA Monday and knocking off Va. Tech 13-11. 

Syracuse holds a commanding 14-1 record in all-time matchups against the Cards, and handled Lousivville pretty easily earlier this season...22-12...in Syracuse. The Orange have tons of talent and are currently ranked #3 in the latest DI WLAX rankings. At 12-4 on the season, the majority of the Orange's losses came early in the season. They fell to Nortwestern, Maryland, Stony Brook and Boston College. Their conference mark was 8-1, losing only at Boston College, on the final regular season game of the season ...in overtime. 10-11.

 Leading scorers for Syracuse are Emma Tyrrell (50 goals) and Olivia Adamson (44 goals), They outscored opponents 250-157. Eight times, Syracuse held  opponents under 10 goals scored.

Obviously, the Cards have their work cut out for them, if they hope to advance to the semifnals...but Sara Addeche has proven to be a capable and dependale goalkeeper and the Cards can get flurries of offensive scoring from Kokoro Nakazawa (60 goals) and Nicole Perroni  (45 goals), Both were recently named to the All-ACC team. 

We wish out WLAXers the best in Charlotte today and  hope they pull off a  huge upset with a win. 

IMARI BERRY COMMITS TO CARDS WBB

A FIVE STAR PROSPECT AND RANKED #19 with the 2024 recruits, Imari Berry is a huge coup for Jeff Walz and the Louisville WBB squad. Imari (out of Clarksville, TN) had originally commited to Clemson, but, when the Tigers let Amanda Butler go...Berry was released from her commitment  and narrowed it down to Louisville, after eliminating Kentucky and North Carolina. 

Note, it is Clarksville, TN and NOT clarksville, Indiana. I had a reader call me last all excited that a "local" girl was headed to the Cards. i I thugh he was refferring to JordanBender,  but he had thought Berry was aross the river in Indiana's Clarksville. 

Berry and Mackenly Randolph played in the Mcdonald's All-American game back n January and are the 17th and 18th All-Americans signed by Walz in his time at Lousiville. 

As a senior in Clarksville, TN, Berry averaged 23.8 poitns per game a game and eighover six rebounds. her squad went undefeated and was named Tennesee's Gatorade Player of the Year.

She is one of six incomng freshmen to the program.

This is an impressive class for Walz and hopefully one that can make some very important contributions to a returning roster that includes Cochran, Russell, Harris, von Schaik, Curry and Istanbulluoglu...plus redshirt Imafidon.

FINALLY...

Just in case you were having HVL News withdrawls, here' sthe latest on PigTails: 

Hailey Van Lith is focused on making the USA Basketball 3x3 Olympic team this summer and appears to be unworried about where she’ll end up at college next year.

Van Lith is currently taking part in a training camp in Springfield, Massachusetts, and will play in a 3x3 tournament early next week at The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The 22-year-old guard, who played at Louisville and LSU, has experienced success in 3x3 for the U.S. She won a gold medal on the U18 team in 2019 and helped win gold at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup last year. The Paris Games is the second Olympics offering 3x3, after the event debuted in Tokyo in the 2021 Games.

(If the school name doesnt have three initials, I'm not interested)

This might be the photo of the month...

paulie

Louie Awards -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Louie Awards

Last night was the annual Louie Awards, where Louisville Athletes recognizes various Louisville student-athletes and teams. The awards usually run on a calendar year and not a school year since several spring sports are still in action for a little while longer, so we did see some spring 2023 accomplishments make the list. Spring 2024 accomplishments are not eligible.

Cardinal Cup Award team - Rowing

Female CardsCARE team (community service) - Rowing

Female CardsCARE individual (community service) - Krista Wheeler, Swim and Dive

Highest Senior GPA - Minna Tremonti, Field Hockey

Female Teammate of the Year - Gabby Holloway, Softball

Female Rookie of the Year - Lucy Mehraban, Swim and Dive

Female 2024 UPS Leadership Award - Anna DeBeer, Volleyball

Highest Female GPA team - Soccer, 3.743 Fall 2023

Female Moment of the Year - Taylor Roby single-season home run record with 23, Softball

Female Adidas High Performer Athlete of the Year - Anna DeBeer, Volleyball

Spirit Squad Outstanding Seniors - Makayla Kempf (Ladybirds), Alyssa Freitas (All-Girl Cheer)

There were also several awards dedicated to male athletes, men's teams, and overall awards that went towards male individuals or teams. The Team Moment of the Year was when Louisville football upset then-#10 Notre Dame, which was the second straight season Louisville defeated a top-10 team at home and rushed the field. 

While our time with some players have concluded like Taylor Roby or are almost over like Gabby Holloway, there are plenty of moments to cherish and remember. We also have plenty to look forward to with other players like Anna DeBeer, who will return for a fifth year in the fall, and Lucy Mehraban, who still has three more years of eligibility remaining.

This is always something to look forward to late into the school year to reflect back on how things went. For someone like me, it's cool to see how many events or student-athletes I have seen in person.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lacrosse Advances in ACC Tourney with win over VT -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS GO TO ACC QUARTERS WITH 13-11 WIN AT VIRGINIA TECH

The ninth seeded Louisville Lacrosse squad advanced in the ACC Lax Tournament with a well fought and hard earned win over eighth seed host Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon in front of a nationwide ACCN viewership

The Cards were led by Nicole Perroni's four goals in the match, The Cards now head to Charlotte to face #1 seed Syracuse on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

"Nicole was her steady self today." commented Cards head coach Scott Teeter. " She contributed all over the field and made some really big plays when we needed them." 

Louisville jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first quarter .led by two goals from Kokoro Nakazawa. A close ssecond quarter followed, the Cards losing the quarter 6-5 but taking a 9-8 lead into the halftime locker room . The Cards were never able to really pull away from the homestanding Hokies, but did hold an 11-9 lead after three quarters. 

Virginia Tech narrowed the lead to 11-10 to start the fourth quarter ...but the Cards were not ready to fold like they did in the second half against Duke and Notre Dame in their last couple of regular season games.  Perroni picked up her final goal of the contest in the fourth and was followed in the scoring by Izzy Seikel, to make it 13-10 Cards,advantage. The Hokies did score late for the final of 13-11. 

It was Scott Teeter's first career win in the ACC Lacrosse tournament.  

The Cardinals head coach spoke about the win:: 

"The girls battled for 60 minutes today,They had a response for every one of their mistakes. They were all contributing and supporting each other...which gave us a really great team win"

The win improves the Cards record to 8-10 on the season, Virginia Tech finishes with a 9-9 mark. The win avenges a 14-10 Louisville loss to the Hokies at the L.L.S. during the regular season.  

Kokoro and Negai Nakazawa seemed to have an enthusiastic, "never say die attifude" during early play that quickly spread to the rest of the team. Kokoro ended up with three goals on the day.. The Cards also got a couple of goals from a couple of players we didn't hear much about during the regular season...with Maggie McMahon and  Lauren Figas connecting twice. Also on the board for UofL was Paulie's favorite player...grad student Allegra Catalano and Izzy Seikel

The Cards had a 35-27 shot advantage over the home team and committed just eight turnovers, compared to 15 for Va Tech. 

In other first day ACC LAX action, #7 seed Clemson took down visiting #10 seed Pitt 18-15

Syracuse will be next for the Cards.,The #1 seeded Orange and Cards will face off at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Charlotte. ACC Network will have the coverage. ..A nice win for Louisville on a higher seeded foe's home field, so in some circles, it is being called an upset..I'd just like to think of it a solid win that shows the Cards have improved since season end and hopefully, the trend will continue. 

paulie . 

 

Lacrosse in ACC Tourney today -- Softball drops a double -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Softball Drops Two

As a website dedicated to bringing you joy and excitement, let me tell you about this programming library that I'm writing in the Python programming language...

(EDITOR NOTE: JEFF DOES NOT KEEP PYHTON'S OR SPEAK TO THEM...JUST SOME EGGHEAD STUFF  REFERENCE THAT WE ARE GUESSING IS PART OF HIS WORK...)  

Oh, right, we're specifically about UofL Women's Sports.  Unfortunately, joy and excitement in the women's sports programs are a little hard to find right now.

Softball was in action yesterday, but the results definitely didn't spark joy.  After a win Friday over North Carolina, with only the bare minimum offense (a pair of home runs) to get the job done, the lack of offense hurt yesterday.

(ravishing Riley !) 

The first game of the day saw UNC get out to an early lead with three runs in 1st inning.  They tacked on another in the 3rd.  The Cards sensing the need to do something, well, another home run by Riley Frizell.  I mean, it was a good weekend for her in the batter's box, but without more offense around her...it's not good.  The Tarheels then finished it off in the bottom of the 6th with five runs, walking it off with the run-rule win, 9-1.

There was more offense in the second game, but still not the small ball play that Holly Aprile is looking for.  Maddi Grant started it off in the 2nd inning with a long ball shot over the fence in right field.

The Cards would add on five more in the 5th, and about the only hint of small ball play that Aprile would see the whole weekend.  Chelsea Mack reached on a bunt, Frizell drew a want, and was replaced on the base paths by the quicker "Pickle" Winkler.  It wouldn't really matter, however, as Vanessa Miller homered to right, scoring the trio.  UofL would tack on two more, both homers again, with Bailee Richardson and Katie Thatcher being the bombers.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing some light tower power, but for consistent success, teams do really need to be able to play the small ball game.  And, in fact, in this one, with the score 6-0 UofL after five innings, UNC would score seven unanswered in the 6th and 7th innings, again with the walk-off.  And I hate to say it, but the Cards looked more like the Bad News Bears out in the field during that 7th inning.  UNC played well, no disrespect to them, but UofL largely fumbled it away.  HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU RECALL THE SOFTBALL CARDS GETTING BEAT WITH A SEVEN RUN FINAL TWO INNINGS FROM THE FOE?  I'll wait for your answer .

Softball returns home for a mid-Derby Festival series with Clemson starting Friday at 6pm.

Lacrosse

Let's look for some joy and excitement from Lacrosse, they're in Blacksburg to play Virginia Tech, but this isn't just any old home game for the Hokies.  This is the first round of the ACC Tournament.  Louisville is the 9th seed in the tournament, Virginia Tech is the 8th.

In the earlier matchup between these two teams, Louisville played VT competitively for three quarters of the game.  The Cards won the 1st quarter 4-2, VT came back to tie it at half-time 5-5.  It was the 3rd quarter that sunk the Cards, VT won it 6-2, though the Cards didn't give up, they did tie the 4th quarter, but of course that's not enough when you dug a 4 goal deficit in the 3rd.  VT won 14-10.

The Cards will be looking for revenge, and to advance to the main portion of the tournament at the American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, NC.  If they beat VT, they will get the "honor" of meeting Syracuse on the 24th.

All games in the ACC Women's Lacrosse tournament will be on the ACC Network linear channel, but of course you can also stream them through the ACC Network Extra streaming setup.

The game today will get underway at noon.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(jeff and Jared escort Paulie to the broadcast venue) 

Jared, Paulie, and myself gathered to discuss the latest in UofL women's sports on the CCRHP.  Softball and Lacrosse are active, so of course much of the discussion centered on those two sports, but we did get some exciting recruiting and transfer portal news for WBB this week, so we did cover that territory as well.

Unfortunately, we did lose the last couple of minutes as my streaming software crashed for some unknown reason.  Fortunately, it waiting until very near the end to do so, so check out the show below, and apologies for the abrupt ending.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Lacrosse-and-Softball-Struggle-e2im0b6

 

-- 

JMcA

Softball Takes Opener at UNC -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Win Solo Shot Battle 2-1

Louisville entered yesterday's game in a bit of a must win situation. The Cards need to pick up some series victories over the last few weeks of the schedule to be in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Losing midweek games to teams like EKU doesn't help, but a Friday win over UNC will hopefully get them back on track. The Cards got things started in the first and Alyssa Zabala held on to pick up her 18th win of the year, which leads the league. 

After two quick outs for the Cards in the top of the first, Riley Frizell sent a ball over the wall in straightaway right to give Louisville a 1-0 lead. That may have shaken the UNC starter a tad, as Bailey Richardson and Vanessa Miller both drew walks to follow. A ground out ended the threat, but Frizell's homer turned out to almost be enough in this one. 

Zabala got back-to-back ground outs to start the second, but a single ended her perfect game effort quickly. A foul out at the plate ended the inning. After a ground out to open the top of the second, Maddi Grant followed Frizell with a bomb to right center. That put Louisville up 2-0, which is how the game would stay until the final out. 

The Cards had plenty of chances to extend their lead, and had things gone differently, they'd be kicking themselves for the wasted opportunities. The Cards left at least one runner on in all but two innings. Their biggest chance for more runs came in the fourth, when a ground out left the bases loaded. Coincidentally, UNC's best chance at small ball runs also came in the fourth. A four-pitch walk opened the side, but a fielder's choice and a popup gave UNC two outs with still just the runner on first. Another walk put two on base, but a ground out ended the threat. 

After a ground out and a fly out put Zabala one out away from a complete game shutout, her 1-0 pitch was knocked over the fence in left, putting the tying run at the plate. The at-bat opened with a called strike, and the batter fouled away the next pitch. Down to her last strike, UNC's freshman catcher Raeghan Carlson spoiled four more strikeout pitches with foul offs and drew one ball. Ultimately, Zabala was able to induce a ground out to end the game. Zabala's final line was 2 hits and 1 run (earned) with three walks and two strikeouts. She threw 110 pitches in the complete game. 

Her counterpart, Kenna Raye Dark, also threw a complete game, and somehow managed to do it on fewer pitches. Dark threw 105 en route to 6 hits, 2 runs (both earned), three walks, and two strikeouts. Eerily similar lines for the sophomores. Maddi Grant was the only Cardinal to pick up multiple of those six hits, finishing with a pair. Vanessa Miller drew two walks. 

Louisville will look for a bit more offense today, as they'll wrap the series with a double-header due to forecasted bad weather on Sunday. The first game will get started at 2PM and will air on ACC Network Extra. The second game is scheduled for 4:30, but will start 20-30 minutes after the conclusion of the first if it runs long. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Happy Thunder Day, Cardinal Fans. While the more virtual nature of the show means that we aren't obligated to cancel the show due to inability to access our studio, a few conflicts will mean there's a small cast on hand. Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will bring you the news and notes of the week, looking at softball's ups-and-downs, the upset bid that wasn't for lacrosse, and big WBB commitments and signings. We'll see if Jeff has streaming sorted out, but if he does, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Lacrosse Falls to Irish -- Softball Visits North Carolina -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

The famous Daryl Foust at lacrosse

Happy Friday, Cards fans! Daryl took over yesterday so Jared here stepping in today.

Kokoro Nakazawa Scores 100th Career Goal in Loss to Notre Dame

Kokoro Nakazawa scored her 100th career goal and Nicole Perroni extended her scoring streak to 53 straight games, but Louisville lacrosse fell to #3 Notre Dame 23-10.

Eight Cardinals scored in the game with Nakazawa and Maggie McMahon leading the way with two apiece. Reese Whiteman scored her first career goal in the closing seconds of the match.

Notre Dame raced out to a 2-0 lead but the Cards answered with three straight. A 5-1 run give the Irish a 7-4 lead and the teams would trade goals up to halftime with Notre Dame holding a 9-6 edge.

Louisville scored the first two goals of the second half but Notre Dame then went on a 9-0 run. The Cards would scored to bring their deficit back down to single digits at 18-9 but Notre Dame scored five of the final six goals of the match. A majority of the fourth quarter was placed with a running clock.

A B-52 bomber flies over campus in preparation for Thunder Over Louisville

Louisville finishes the regular season 7-10 and has earned the 9-seed in the ACC Tournament. They will visit 8-seed Virginia Tech on Sunday.

There is some question on if players such as Kokoro Nakazawa, Kylea Dobson, and Olivia Toll will utiizie their COVID-19 eligibility and come back or not.

Softball Travels to North Carolina

In desperate need for as many wins as they can get, Louisville softball hits the road for a three-game series against North Carolina. The Cards enter the weekend 24-19 and 5-10 in the ACC. North Carolina is 28-14 and 8-10 in the ACC.

The Tar Heels have run-ruled 10 opponents this year. They do not have any ranked wins due to being swept by both Clemson and Duke. 

UNC hits .357 as a team. They have recorded 393 hits with 38 home runs. North Carolina has outscored opponents 257-134, nearly doubling up opponents.

Alex Coleman is one of four North Carolina players, batting .457. She also has a team-high 65 hits. Isabella Emerling has been provided the power for the Tar Heels, with 13 home runs and 51 rbis.

All three games are slated for ACCNX with tonight's game beginning at 5:00pm.

Women's Basketball Carousel

In the span of about one hour yesterday during rhe middle of lacrosse, women's basketball news around the country was going wild. Here's all that happened in that period:

-Mackenly Randolph officially signed with Louisville. Randolph is the fifth freshman player to physically sign. She was on campus yesterday.

-Eylia Love entered her name in the transfer portal and will be leaving Louisville.

-Rumors were circulating that Maddie Scherr, who formerly played at Oregon and Kentucky, announced she is transferring to TCU.

-Reports broke that former Louisville and LSU player Hailey Van Lith will be transferring to TCU.

-Former Fresno State and Miami player Haley Cavinder announced she will not play at TCU this coming season, as originally planned, and will now play her final year of eligibility at Miami.

-Hanna Cavinder was talked out of retirement by her sister mentioned above and will player her final season at Miami.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

LAX afternoon battle with #3 Notre Dame -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello readers!  Its Daryl again checking in on a Thursday.  

My brain has been beyond scrambled recently trying to get back into a routine with the Bats and trying to wedding plans.   I appreciate everyone's flexibility to allow me to do so while also continue to keep up with the Cards.    

It's the last day of classes for students on campus!  Campus has been absolutely buzzing this week with spring flowers blooming and students everywhere.  They brought out the food trucks to help gear everyone up for finals.   

So lets talk about the Cards in their final regular season match.   

Lacrosse

(Maybe the greatest ever to don a Cards LAX uniform....Kay Morrisette)

UofL brings a 7-9 record into the contest with #3 Notre Dame for the last regular season match of the season.

This one is scheduled to begin at noon over at UofL’s Lacrosse Stadium and will be available on the ACC Network Extra. The Irish bring a 13-2 record into the contest.

The Irish have not lost since March 9th when they fell 10-12 to Virginia on their home turf. In April they have outscored opponents 51-21.

The Cards are 2-14 against the Irish all time with the first match happening back in 2009. They sport a 1-6 record at home. Louisville is on an eight game losing streak to Notre Dame.

The Irish boast six 20+ goal performances this season and...obviously... one of the nation’s best offenses.  With five goals and a program-best six assists, Jackie Wolak set a career best with 11 points against Pitt to close out the month of March.

Kelly Denes registered 16 draw controls in that contest, tying a program record and helping the Irish 26 total draw wins good for a program best at home.

I do believe we will get Jared over there to snap some photos from the contest. If you and join the fun, the ACCNX will have the broadcast so fire up the internet device. 

Good luck to the student athletes on their finals!!! I do not miss those days at all! 

As Always, 

Go Cards 

~Daryl 

Cards Softball Loses To EKU -- -- Ja'Leah Williams to WBB from Miami -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 EKU SOFTBALL JUMPS EARLY ON CARDS FOR 6-2 WIN

 

Louisville Softball surrendered six runs early yesterday and could not make up the deficit  in a loss in Richmond, KY  to Eastern Kentucky University Tuesday afternoon. Cards freshman Brooke Gray (3-4) got the midweek start for the visitors, but was met with six runs on four hits in the bottom of the second. 

Meanwhile, at the plate, the Cards were stifled early in the game, but did try to mount a couple of rally attempts to get back in the contest late in the contest.

The first one occured in the top of the sixth, when the Cards loaded the bases with just one out. Kiley Goff beat out a infield grounder for a single and Daisy Hess reached on a slow throw on a fielders choice. Chelsea Mack delivered a single to load the bases for Lousville, but EKU ace Maddi Rutan (19-2) got a pop out and received a spectacular fielding stop from EKU second baseman Madison Scott to end the Cardinals threat. 

The Cards would also threaten again in the seventh and plate their first runs of the contest when Bailee Richardson reached on a single and came home on Maddi Grant's home run to center. The Cards left the scoring there,,though, with a line out  and a fly out,

Louisville (24-19) returns to conference play Friday, when they travel to North Carolina. 

A tough road loss to a surprisingly good EKU squad, that has a sparkling 33-5 record

JA'LEAH WILLIAMS HEADED TO LOUISVILLE WBB

Cards WBB picks up one of the the better defensive guards in the ACC from last season with upcomng senior Ja'Leah Williams announcing she will join the Louiisville squad from Miami for the 2024-25 season

Williams has been a key contributor to Katie Meyer's squad for the past three seasons and averaged 7.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 30 games last year for the Canes. 

Her addittion will help fill the void in the Cards guards game, with the graduation of Syd Taylor, Nina Rickards and Kiki Jefferson.

paulie

 

Softball Visits Eastern Kentucky -- Kiki Jefferson Drafted in 2024 WNBA Draft -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Travels to Eastern Kentucky

In desperate need of a win streak, Louisville softball looks to start one beginning with their game at Eastern Kentucky tonight. First pitch is slated for 6:00pm and will be aired on ESPN+.

Louisville recently went 1-2 on the road against Georgia Tech to drop to 24-18 on the season. Fortunately, the Cards have a winning record on the road. 

Eastern Kentucky boasts an impressive 32-5 record this year. Four of the losses came in a row at the Utah Tech Tournament in late February. Their only other loss came in ASUN play against North Alabama. The Colonels have not played any ranked opponents or Power Five opponents up to this point. 

The Colonels hit .302 as a team, tallying 288 total hits with 26 home runs. Jaelin Haynes leads the team with a .405 batting average but Jeanay Riley is top on the team in hits with 49.

For Louisville, their NCAA hopes continue to fade with each loss, but the Cards can start a 10-game win streak to close out the season tonight.

Kiki Jefferson Goes in 2024 WNBA Draft

Kiki Jefferson is the latest Louisville Cardinal to get drafted into the WNBA Draft. She was taken in the third round by the Minnesota Lynx.

Jefferson utilized her COVID-19 eligibility season with Louisville after four years at James Madison. The guard played in all 34 games and started in 32 of them.

This is the 17th Cardinal drafted and 15th since Jeff Walz took over the program. Most recently, Emily Engstler and Kianna Smith were taken in the 2022 WNBA Draft, a string of five straight years where Louisville had a player drafted.

The WNBA is one of the toughest leagues for draft picks to make the opening day roster. Typically, about half or just under half of draft picks make it to opening day. We certainly hope to see Jefferson suit up for opening day May 14.

This season, there will be 12 teams in the WNBA with the addition of a 13th in the bay area next year. The WNBA announced plans to have 16 teams by 2028. The league expansion is long overdue after many years of public outcry. Louisville is currently not on the proposed list of expansion teams.

Volleyball vs Tennessee Photos

Jeff and I enjoyed a reverse sweep victory for Louisville Volleyball over Tennessee this past weekend. Here are a few shots from the match.

The team celebrates a win

Freshmen Nayelis Cabello and Ava Utterback celebrate a point

Fear DeBeer

America's top libero Elena Scott

Elle Glock dives for a ball while falling into the team bench

We look forward to plenty of volleyball in the fall. Don't forget, the NCAA Volleyball Final Four is at the KFC Yum! Center this year.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared