Sunday, March 24, 2024

Searching for Joy and Excitement - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Softball

 
(photo credits to Jared Anderson)
 
In our quest to share the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports, sometimes it's easier to find and share than others.

Ally Alexander holding it down at 2nd
The easiest place to find it this Sunday morning is from yesterday afternoon's extra inning Softball win over 4th ranked Duke.

While we've talked a bit about looking for offensive production from this team, the victory yesterday a low scoring affair, 2-1.  Credit, of course, also has to be extended to the opponents, Duke in this case, for a low scoring game based on and good defensive play and good pitching holding scoring opportunities low.

Regardless, it's a win over a Top 5 team, and they'll get another bite at the apple today at noon to try to win the series.

The game was scoreless through three innings with the Cards starting Sam Booe in the circle.  Duke would break through with a run in the 4th, but that would be all they'd get in the game, and the Cards would immediately answer to tie the game back up.

Just a head's up, the score recaps are going to be brief in this one.

With two outs in the 4th, Gabby Holloway homered to center field.

There's a Katie Thatcher in there
celebrating somewhere.
Again the game went fairly quiet with no scoring through the rest of regulation.  It would be in the bottom of the 8th inning that Katie Thatcher pinch hit for Chelsea Mack, and took advantage of the opportunity by lifting a long shot onto the right field berm.

Boom, two home runs, and a 2-1 signature win for the Cards.  If that's not joy and excitement, I'm not sure what is.
 
Booe pitched four innings, Gabby Holloway came in for 2.2, and Alyssa Zabala finished off the last 1.1.

Alyssa Zabala in relief

Check out Jared with the postgame interview with Thatcher:

As mentioned, the series continues today with a noon start for the rubber match.  Again the Cards will be looking for another signature win and the series win over a ranked team, a rare achievement in the UofL Softball program.  ACC Network Extra has the feed, which means we will likely be back to Suzanne Bush and Joanna Lane on the call.  You'll get no complaints from me on that announcing team.

Lacrosse


A little harder to find too much joy and excitement here with an 18-12 loss to North Carolina the main news du jour.  There are bright spots to be found, however.

Nicole Perroni continues here consecutive game scoring streak finding the back of the net four times.  The Nakazawa sisters continue to impress accounting for a cumulative hat trick as Negai scored switch and Kokoro adding another.  And otherwise we see a multitude of offensive options.  Kylea Dobson scored a pair, Abby Scully, Tiffany Natoli, and Izzy Seikel all adding a goal to the mix.

North Carolina was just too much for the Cards, though.  Sara Adeche played three quarters getting five saves and J Pleck played the last only allowing one goal and stopping another.Louiville Lacrosse, The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcat

I did, individually, get a moment of joy and excitement with the Lacrosse team as I got tapped to pick up my niece at the airport from a flight arriving at close to midnight.  As I walked in, there were two "GoCards" minibuses waiting in the pickup lane, and I surmised there must be a team returning and my best guess was that it would be the Lacrosse squad, and sure enough they came cruising through  the terminal where I was waiting for my niece.  I did speak, very briefly, with Coach Teeter, but it was nothing much more than a greeting.  After a mid-day game and then spending the rest of the day in travel, the team and coach were clearly ready to collect their gear and head back to campus to sleep in their own beds.

The Cards will be next in action, welcoming Xavier for a 7pm game.  With the evening game and lighting situation, this one will be held at the L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (not "Arena" as my fingers so desperately wanted to type).

Swimming and Diving


The splish splash Cards rounded up their NCAA Championship efforts with a podium finish in the 400 free relay.   Christiana Regenauer, Gabi Albiero, Julia Dennis, and Lucy Mehraban were the personnel in the third place finishing squad.

Add in a program best 4th place finish in platform diving for Else Praasterink along with the other performances and Louisville finished in 6th place overall.

Until the past few years, the team has not had a competitively relevant diving representation, but Praasterink has changed that, and has brought along another couple of divers to help out.  Hopefully we're on the verge of emergence of diving as a perennially competitive part of the program at UofL.

With that event completed, the team portion of the Swimming and Diving is complete, as well as the yard-measured portion.  The starting platform will now get shifted back about seven feet to begin the individual portion of the season where swimmers will be in action for their own individual glory, and racing in meters rather than yards.

Basketball


Wait, joy and excitement in basketball at this point for the Cards, well, yes, indirectly.

The Athletes Unlimited Basketball season wrapped up last night and former Card Emily Engstler finished in 7th place overall.

In last night's final game, she scored 11 points on five field goals, one of which was a three.  The real joy and excitement, however, comes from the rebounding stats.  Engstler set the record for AU with 19 rebounds in a single game.

Quite impressive, and very on brand for the Engstler we knew here at Louisville.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast


Jared was at the helm of the CCRHP yesterday, with Daryl, Case, and myself participating.  Paulie was sidelined by Internet connection problems.

We searched for joy and excitement where we could find it, though the task was tough indeed.  We did cover the latest in basketball, softball, and lacrosse.

Cardinal Couple NCAA Bracket Challenge




We have gone from 64-32 in two days of WBB Madness, and we have a close pack battling for the lead in our Bracket Challenge. Atop the standings are Nick O and Thomas at 30-2 . Right behnd the are Perry, Jason and K Starks at 29-3. And the log jam at 28-4 stretches all the way back to Mt. Washington. 

We are just half way theough, too...so grrab some ppocorn, put Jared on your speed dial and enjoy the show  despite out Cards leaving early  due to (fill in your own answer, there are no wrong ones)...

Here' s what Jated and Paulie have verified in the race: we've listed those with 20 or more wins. 

30-2   Nick O, Thomas
29-3  K Starks, Perry, Jason
28-4   Blue Lou, Karen, Jared, Wahoo Card, Katy
27-5   Jeff McAdams
26-6   Paulie, Kenny S.
25-7   Case, Curtis F
24-8   Sonya, Cindy
23-9   Arthur
21-11 Daryl

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.  jmca

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JMcA
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