Softball Drops Day 1 at USF; LAX Heads to Pitt -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Loses Two to Open USF Tournament

Louisville softball is in Tampa this weekend at the USF Tournament hosted by, you guessed it, the University of South Florida. The Cards are scheduled to play five games over three days, and they'll be hoping the next three go better than the first two. Louisville opened the first day of the tournament against lowly Villanova, who was just 4-9 entering the game, and fell 6-4. They followed that up later in the day with a game against the hosts in which they were unable to overcome an early deficit, losing 3-1. The Cards will look to get back on track today against Georgia Southern at 1:30 before a rematch against the Bulls late in the afternoon. 

Game 1: Villanova 6, Louisville 4

Izzy Harrison got the start for the Cards in the first game, which had first pitch at 10:30, and ran her pitch count up early. The first two batters she faced ran the count full and resulted in a walk and a strikeout. Although she ultimately struck out the side, the walk proved costly as the third batter homered to left center. Another full count strikeout was followed by a single before the final strikeout. Just like Nova, Louisville's three-spot hitter stepped into the box after a strikeout and swatted a ball to left center. Unfortunately for the Cards, Riley Frizell's rip came with two outs and no one on base. Vanessa Miller walked after the home run and stole second but was stranded there. 2-1 Wildcats.

Louisville and Villanova each put a runner on in the next four sides, but all were either erased or left on base. The fourth saw Villanova threaten with a double and a walk to bring up a two-on, one-out situation. Coach Holly Aprile made the call to the bullpen and Brooke Gray stepped into the circle, inducing a ground ball for a double-play to keep the Cards' deficit at just one. That was critical, as Vanessa Miller stepped into the box and earned a 10-pitch walk. It was a master class for a hitter, as Miller contacted every pitch she swung at and still picked up the walk. She stole second, but the bunt attempt to advance her to third was fouled for an out. Bailee Richardson singled up the middle and advanced to second when the Nova CF threw home to hold Miller at third. Ava Venturelli singled Miller home, but Richardson was held at third with just one out. That didn't exactly work, since a strikeout and a bunt out ended the inning. Nevertheless, Louisville had tied it up at 2-2.

Despite coming in hot in the fourth, Gray was rather shaky to start the fifth. She earned a fly out to open the inning but followed it with a homer. The next three batters singled and Gray was relieved by Gabby Holloway. Holloway inherited a tough spot with the bases loaded and just one out, but she made things easier with a ground ball that got the runner at home. With two outs, an out any way would work, but a single came instead and scored two runs. The next out came one batter later, but the damage was done. Louisville trailed 5-2.

Daisy Hess opened the bottom half with a single and Kiley Goff walked to give Louisville a fighting chance in the three-run ball game. Unfortunately, the two hitters who are supposed to make good things happen when the 1- and 2-hitters get on base both struck out. Paige Geraghty knocked a two-out single up the middle to score Hess, but that was all Louisville could get back. 5-3.

Holloway settled in and earned a three-up, three-down inning in the sixth. Louisville got one more run in the bottom of the sixth on an unearned sac fly. That made the score 5-4 and Louisville was looking for an exciting bottom of the seventh. The hits kept coming for Villanova, though. A double opened the seventh, and a single advanced the runner to third. A sac fly pushed the lead back to two runs, but Holloway and the defense overcame an error to pick up a double-play and get out of the inning with no more damage. Down to their last three outs, Louisville opened with a single and a sac bunt to move the runner to second. (Side note: this is a good strategy if you are down one run. I question it when you are down two.) A pop-out gave the Cards two outs, but a throwing error in the third straight side extended Louisville's chance. Another pop-up ended the game. 

Game 2: Louisville 1, USF 3

The Cards switched dugouts for the second game, taking the bat first against a USF team that was much better than Villanova (12-5 entering the game). It was a short showing for the Cards in the top half, as they went three-up, three-down on just ten pitches. Sam Booe took the circle for Louisville and the Bulls welcomed her with three straight singles. A sac fly scored the first run, but another flyout meant there were two on and two out. A double down the left field line cleared the bases and the inning ended with the batter trying to stretch it into a triple. Louisville trailed 3-0. 

Louisville pitching, which consisted of two more innings of Booe and three innings of Alyssa Zabala, held USF to just two more hits along with a walk and an error. The Bulls would score no more runs, but as it turned out, they didn't need to. Louisville went three-up, three-down again to open the second, but they opened the third with Kiley Goff taking an HBP. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored after Chelsea Mack singled her home. The rally continued with a Hess single, but a strikeout made things difficult with two outs. A walk loaded the bases but nothing doing after as a strikeout ended the inning. 

There was nothing terribly exciting for the remaining portion of the game until the fifth inning when USF opened with a walk and a single. Zabala picked up back-to-back strikeouts to relieve some pressure, but hit the next batter to load the bases. It was tight indeed as the next at-bat went eight pitches before a flyout ended the inning. Louisville's final chance came in the top of the seventh and got off to a hot start. The Cards got a double and a single to put runners on second and third with nobody out. That made the final score staying at 3-1 a bit painful. Even more painful was Gabby Holloway taking an HBP to load the bases with one out. Two ground balls ended the game.

Louisville will look to get more from the pitching and defense early to avoid playing from behind in each game. The Cards have been good so far this season, still sitting at 13-4, but dropping back-to-back games isn't ideal. They'll get an opportunity to regain control of the slide at 1:30 today. 

Lacrosse to Face Pittsburgh

After coming up just short against Virginia Tech at Cardinal Stadium last week in the ACC opener, Louisville will play their first ACC road game today at Pittsburgh. Louisville enters with just the win over Marquette so far this year, but they've scored at least eight goals in each game. Pitt also hasn't started by lighting the world on fire, as they're 2-3 on the year. They defeated Duquesne to open the season and are coming off of a win over Detroit Mercy. Pitt's conference season got off to a rocky start as they fell 19-3 against top-ranked Boston College last Saturday. Twice, the Panthers have failed to score more than five goals. Today's game gets underway at Noon on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have a full house today as all five regular hosts make it onto the show. We're going to do our best to have a live show, but Jeff is reporting technical issues. Regardless, the podcast will continue. We'll cover the very mercurial week for Louisville basketball and the up and down week for softball. As always, 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!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case