Softball Splits Friday at USF -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Beat Kent State 13-3; Fall to Wisconsin 4-1

Louisville softball improved to 8-3 early yesterday afternoon before falling to 8-4 later in the day. The Cards rode two big innings to beat Kent State 13-3 in a run rule in their first game in the USF Tournament and later couldn't find the offense against Wisconsin. Louisville continues the tournament today with games against Michigan and USF, and they'll get a second shot at Wisconsin tomorrow. 

Sam Booe has largely established herself as the second starter in the rotation so far this season, picking up many starts that I think we would have expected to go to Brooke Gray. Booe started game one yesterday and gave up one run on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts in three innings. Not too shabby. Gray came in for the fourth and was a little shaky. She pitched only the fourth inning and gave up two runs on three hits while picking up just one strikeout. Katie Thatcher got another opportunity in the circle, striking out one in two thirds of an inning and Lindsey Mullen finished the game and ended the fifth inning with a line out. 

Offensively, Louisville looked poised to start their scoring early, but they couldn't convert with the bases loaded and two outs. Coach Holly Aprile has shifted the lineup slightly, working to get more hitters in the top of the order. Easton Lotus is still leading off, but Chelsea Mack has moved to the second spot. With Char Lorenz still batting third, Bri Despines was in the cleanup spot. 

Kent State actually opened the book with an RBI single in the second. Booe looked in danger of giving up a handful as she started the inning with a strikeout and then couldn't miss a bat. Kent State went double, single, RBI single, fielder's choice ground out, and ground out. If one of those last two ground outs made it through a hole, Louisville would have been down even more. 

The Cards responded in the bottom half, with Maddi Grant opening the inning with a walk and being replaced on the base by pinch-running Riley Janda. Janda moved up to second on a Katie Thatcher single, and both advanced with an Ally Alexander sacrifice bunt. Lotus had a productive ground out to first, which scored Janda, but Thatcher was stranded at third on another ground out. 

The third saw Booe return to form with a three-up, three-down inning on just nine pitches. Then it was Louisville's turn to open it up. Lorenz walked on at 13-pitch at bat and Bri Despines reached on catcher's interference. Madison Pickens singled to score Lorenz, and Taylor Monroe did the same to score Despines. Grant walked to load the bases, prompting Kent State to make a change in the circle. The new pitcher walked a run in. Alexander hit a sac fly, and Thatcher stole second to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Easton Lotus brought both in with a double, but for reasons unclear to me, those runs were considered unearned. Mack moved Lotus to third on a ground out, and Lorenz walked. I assume Kent State just stopped paying attention when walking Lorenz, because Louisville executed a double steal on the walk to get Lotus home. Despines was walked intentionally to get a force out at any base, and Pickens flied out to mercifully end the inning after Louisville scored seven runs. The Cards led 8-1.

The fourth saw them get a pair back in Gray's short outing, but the Cards went right back to work in the bottom half. Again, they opened the inning with a walk, and Maddi Grant singled to move Monroe all the way to third. Thatcher had a ground out RBI and Alexander was walked. Camryn Lookadoo, who replaced Lotus at second base, greeted Kent State's new pitcher with a walk, and Jordan Williams, pinch hitting for Mack, did the same. During William's walk, one of the pitches was wild and Grant came home to score. Char Lorenz grounded out, but Kent State couldn't turn two so one run scored. Ava Venturelli came in to pinch hit for Despines and kept the good vibes rolling, singling in two runners. All in all, Louisville scored five runs on two hits and no errors in the inning. Thatcher and Mullen made quick work of Kent State in the fifth and the run rule applied with a 13-3 victory. 

Louisville finished the first game with just six hits while scoring 13 runs. That's incredible. With that, they still managed to leave seven on base. Kent State just really couldn't find the strike zone, ultimately walking 12 batters and giving up one hit by pitch. Louisville, potentially, should have saved some offense for the second game. 

The Cards opened game two as the away team, and we saw right away that Aprile had returned the lineup to its previous shape. Unfortunately, Lotus, Despines, and Lorenz went down in order on just eight pitches. Alyssa Zabala got the start in this one and made similarly short work of the Badgers in the first inning, needing just nine to go three-up, three-down. 

Pickens opened the second inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. She might have fallen asleep at second, though, as she was picked off with a throw behind from the catcher and officially earned a "caught stealing". Grant walked after a full count but Thatcher struck out to end the inning. The second got off to a less-than-stellar start defensively, with runners on first and second after an error and a walk. Zabala looked as though she might tight-rope out of the jam, getting a pop-out and a ground out to give Wisconsin two outs. She was made to pay for the productive ground out, though, as a single up the middle scored both runners. Louisville trailed 2-0. 

In the top of the third, the Cards once more looked like they'd put some runs on the board. Alexander grounded out to open the inning, but Mack singled, and Lotus turned a sacrifice bunt attempt into a single as well. Despines grounded to second, but Wisconsin couldn't turn the double-play, so Char Lorenz came to the plate with runners on the corners and two outs. She flied out to left field.

After seeing the ball well in the second resulted in the ball staying on the ground for the Badgers, they converted that into putting the ball into the air in the fourth. A first pitch pop out was followed by a double to the gap in left-center. Zabala didn't flinch, though, and ultimately stranded the runner with help from the defense. She picked up a fly out to left and the inning ended on a fly out down the right field line, where Madison Pickens saved a run. 

For her defensive efforts, Pickens was rewarded with a strikeout to open the fourth inning. Monroe singled, but Wisconsin still kept the Cards off the scoreboard with a double play. The Badgers kept up their quality at-bats in the bottom half. Zabala once again opened the inning by getting the first batter out, but the next fly ball to left field got all the way over the fence for a solo home run. That was followed by another fly ball to left that was caught, while the next batter doubled to right center. A ground out ended the inning, but the Cards' deficit had grown to 3-0.

Louisville finally broke through in the top of the fifth, but alternating reaching base with outs will quickly end an inning. Thatcher drew a full count walk to open the inning before Alexander flew out to center. Mack continued to show her small ball skills at the plate with a bunt single to put runners on first and second with one out and the top of the order up. Lotus flied out to left center. Seeing a trend? Despines singled between first and second base, and she and Mack each moved up an extra base on the throw home that couldn't stop Thatcher from scoring. With two runners in scoring position and two outs... Lorenz flied out to left center. Cards cut into the lead to make it 3-1.

Zabala returned to the circle for her fifth inning of work and got the first batter out before giving up a single. The Wisconsin runner stole second while Zabala picked up a strikeout. As it turned out, the steal was unnecessary, as a double would have scored her from first. A fly out ended the inning, but the run erased Louisville's comeback progress. Wisconsin brought in a new pitcher to help close out the game and the middle of Louisville's order went down in a hurry with two strikeouts and a first pitch groundout. 

Sam Booe replaced Zabala in the sixth and followed a foul out with a hit by pitch. Bri Despines caught the pinch runner stealing, and Booe picked up a strikeout to end the inning. Down to their final three outs, Louisville didn't go down quietly, although the box score doesn't really indicate that. The line ultimately says one hit, one line out, and two ground outs. But Thatcher opened with an eight-pitch at bat that ended on a full-count liner to the hot corner. A pinch hitting Jordan Williams got ahold of the ball for a ground out to put the Cards up against it. Venturelli came in to pinch hit for Mack and got a first pitch single. She was immediately swapped back out to get the disruptive Mack on the base paths with the top of the order up. Lotus got the bat on the ball on her second pitch with a ground ball, but it was fielded by the shortstop and the game ended on the fielder's choice. 

Despite how some of the early games have gone so far this season, yesterday's was Alyssa Zabala's first loss this year. She finished with six hits and a walk in five innings, giving up four runs (two earned) with one strikeout. I'll also push the limit a bit and say all four of those runs are kind of earned, since she was the one who committed the error. The offense let Zabala down a bit in this one, earning seven hits and two walks, but leaving six on base. The Cards will need more consistency at the plate going forward this season if they want to return to the NCAA tournament. 

Today's games are against Michigan, with that one starting at 9am, and the hosting USF at 1:35. The USF game will be available on ESPN+. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on board today, as Jared heads to the Yum! Center for a noon MBB tipoff. We'll have plenty to cover this week, as there have been games galore. 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