Virginia Tech Visits for WBB
We've talked quite a bit here at Cardinal Couple about this tough finishing stretch of games for the WBB season, and today's game is among the toughest of the bunch. Virginia Tech comes into the KFC Yum! Center this afternoon sporting a 21-4 overall record, and a league leading 12-2 in the ACC. NC State is ahead of them in national rankings, but lags two spots behind the Hokies in the conference standings (and has a game in hand on Syracuse in 2nd, same number of losses).
Typically I go to reference stats sheets to help get a sense of who is the real threats from the opposing team, but no need here. Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amore. Kitley is, of course, the 6'6" center threat for the Hokies who seems like she's been playing for VT for 17 years, which in reality has been the full five with the extra "Covid" year. Hailing from Victoria, Australia, Amoore steps on to the floor a foot shorter at 5'6" and is, no surprise here, the main outside threat for the team. Unfortunately, Amoore is not alone out beyond the arc. VT also gets a significant number of threes from the 6'0" Swede, Matilda Ekh, as well North Carolinian 6 footer Cayla King.
The game today starts at 2pm at the KFC Yum! Center, as mentioned. Coverage is on the flagship ESPN channel, with Courtney Lyle and Debbie Antonelli, but of course you can always opt for the picture painted for you by Nick Curran and Cortnee Walton on 93.9FM radio coverage.
Lacrosse at Lindenwood
Lacrosse drops in to St. Charles, MO for a 1pm game against Lindenwood. The Lions are 2-0 in this young Lacrosse season, with substantial wins over San Diego State, and Radford.
The Cards will be looking to continue from their opening pair of losses and adding on to the win, Friday, over Marquette.
Nicole Perroni will be looking to make this her 40th straight game with at least a goal scored, and the Cards will likely continue to look to Sara Addeche to continue to protect the goal. Meanwhile, the Nakazawa sisters, Kokoro, and Negai, will need to continue to contribute significant offense to keep the success rolling for the Cards.
As mentioned, a 1pm start here. Lindenwood posts their streams on ESPN+, so you can check it out there if you've got the extra package.
Softball Wraps The Joan Joyce Classic
Getting the weekend started on Thursday, the Softball Cards finished up the weekend's action yesterday rather than extending it to Sunday as is typical. They did finish off the overall event with a flourish, however, with wins over Maine, and Michigan.
The first game of the day was an early start, at 9am, against Maine. Not expected to be strong competition, the Cards did win in a run rule, but it did take them until the 6th inning to get the number of runs to trigger that.
Scoring for the Cards was in the 3rd and 6th innings. In the 3rd, Daisy Hess started off with a single, and, yes, as night follows day, stole second. Kiley Goff got plunked (negating the benefit of the steal, but it still goes in as a stat), and Riley Frizell drew a walk to load up the bases. Bailee Richardson singled, scoring Hess and Goff. Paige Geraghty singled, advancing Richardson and Mia Forsythe, who was in to pinch run for Frizell to again load the bases. And finally Vanessa Miller ground rule doubled, scoring Richardson and Forsythe.
In the 6th inning, Mia Grant led off as a pinch hitter for Jac Hasty, then Chelsea Mack drew a walk. Grant would score on a Goff single, Mack advanced to 3rd, and Goff got to 2nd on the throw. Frizell came to bat and said "Goodbye Mr. Spalding" with a rip beyond the fence in right, scoring the trio and reaching the final score of 8-0. The Cards did have to finish out the inning as they were playing as the visiting team and Maine would have long-shot chance to equalize in the bottom of the inning.
Brooke Gray, the Ballard graduate freshman was in the circle for most of this one, pitching 4.1 innings with Lindsey Mullen taking over in relief.
Alyssa Zabala would take the circle in game two against Michigan and would go the distance holding the Wolverines scoreless.
The Cards offense was a bit less potent this game, only plating two. Hess led off the game drawing a walk, and...say it with me, promptly stole second. Goff sacrificed to move Hess to 3rd and again drawing on her speed, crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
It wouldn't be until the bottom of the 5th until the scoreboard saw anything other than balls, strikes, and outs posted. Ally Alexander, who is surprisingly quick for her 5'1" stature, beat out the throw off her bunt to first and thanks to the first baseman missing the catch, advanced to 2nd. An infield hit by Mack moved Alexander to 3rd, and she zipped home on a wild pitch.
The Cards take the win over Michigan 2-0, to improve to 10-1 on the season. Their next action will be to start off the Battle at the Beach in Conway, South Carolina in a game against Furman at 10am on Friday. There is, at the moment, no video coverage listed for any of the games next weekend, though perhaps we'll get some added at some point during the week.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Daryl couldn't join us for the CCRHP, as she is down with a bit of an illness. Our best wishes for a quick recovery from that for her. But Case, Jared, Paulie, and myself carried on with discussions of basketball, softball, and lacrosse.
Check out the fun at your favorite podcast directory, or at:
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JMcA
Time for a big win.
ReplyDeleteAt home, big crowd, national TV, it is a big time game.
Take care of home Cards👍
Is Brooke Gray a rising star?
ReplyDeleteShould teams just give Hess a double?
Gray is looking pretty good already, she certainly came in with high expectations and mostly seems to be living up to them. Paulie is certainly a fan, and I can't blame him.
DeleteHah, if I were an opponent I wouldn't just give Hess a double...she doesn't always reach, but if she does get to first, I think I'd just resign myself to her being on second in a couple of pitches.
To be fair, though, UofL has quite a few prolific base stealers, but Hess may be the best of the best.