Day One ACC WBB results -- Lax downs FSU -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

 Miami. California and Georgia Tech advance in ACC WBB  Tourney

A new ACC Tournament location but predictability in the first round action as #12 seed Miami, #10 seed California and #11 seed Georgia Tech survive to play tomorrow. A "thanks for playing, sorry... you aren't staying" to #13 seed Stanford, #15 seed Wake Forest and #14 seed FSU.

Here's how it went down.

Miami 83 - Stanford 76 

Miami and Stanford got the tournament going with an exciting first game that went to overtime before Miami got the win 83-76. The two teams went back and forth in quarter win...with Miami handily winning the first quarter 19-10. The Trees weren't ready to hp on the plane just yet, though and roared back with a second quarter 29-18 ten minutes to take a 39-37 lead at halftime.

Miami must ave gotten a heck of a halftime pep talk, they came out and outscored the west coast school 28-13. It looked like the Canes were going to rollover the Trees but Courtney Ogden and Hailey Swain came roaring back to tke the fourth quarter with a ferocious defensive effort, Stanford holding Miami to just five points while putting up 18. Ogden's layup tied the affair at 70-70 with 19 seconds left in the game and Miami could not get a shot off in their final regulation possession. Miami did not score in the final 6:21 of the quarter.

 In the overtime, Miami grabbed the lead and never surrendered it to win 83-76. Miami had three players score 20 points or more in Ra Shay Kyle (25), Gal Raviv (20) and Amarachi Kimpson (20). Stanford got 22 points out of Ogden. Miami advaances to face Notre Dame on Thursday. 

California 75 - Wake Forest 52. 

Would another "left coast " team bow out after the first day? In game two on Wednesday, the lowest seed in day one participants at #10, California and the highest seed #15 Wake Foret looked like they were playing "first team to 50 wins" . A dearth of ofensive firepower had the score at 11-10 Golden Bears. Samika Walker (yes, Samaki Walker's daughter) led the charge for the Cal squad, one of four in double figures with 17 points and the Bears finally came out of hibernation and controlled the second quarter 21-11 and went into halftime ahead 32-21. 

UC ersed ny doubt on which school was going to advance with a blistening third quarter and outscored The Demon Deacons 29-12 to go up 61-32. Wake did manage to win the final quarter, but the game was long over and The Tress weren't leaving (sorry) winning 75-52. They advance to Thursday to go up against Syracuse. Cal sank all 12 free throws they attempted and shot 45% for the game. 

Georgia Tech 72 - FSU 60

The Bees jumped out to an early lead over FSU in the third game Wednesday and won going away. This one was 22-16 after the first quarter and Ga. Tech led almost all the way in the thumping of Nole Nation.

GT increased the lead to 10 at the half at 39-29. FSU's 21 turnovers in the contest didn't do them any favors and was plagued by 38% shooting in the contest. FSU did win the third quarter 19-17, and was down by just eight, but could not drive past the Atlanta based Tech. 

La'Nya Foster led GT with 18 points and Erica Moon added 17 for the YellowJackets. Sydney Bowles had 16 in defeat for FSU. 

With the win, Georgia Tech advances to face #6 seed Virginia Tech Thursday. 

The games will be on the ACCN again Thursday, starting at 11 a.m ...with #8 seed Virginia facing #9 seed Clemson.  Following that one, Miami and Notre Dame go to battle at appox. 1:30 pm. Next, we'll see seven seed Syracuse facing #10 seed Cal at around 5 p.m and the evening ends with Tech battle..Gobblers vs Bees. tipping around 7:30 p.m.

What will we see tomorrow? The Cavs beat the Tigers by 10 in regular season play, I'd be surprised if Virginia does not advance. Notre Dame is primed and ready to released Hildago on Miami and I see UND moving to day three. Cal vs Syracuse is the toss up game in my reckoning...the Orange won a high scoring 90-87 contest in the regular season. Ending day Three action, is the Tech battle and I'm going with the homestanding GT to pull the upset over the #6 seed Hokies. VT won the regular season matchup, but Georgia Tech is the "home team"...so to speak... and I think the Bees sting the Hokies this time around. 

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LAX ROMPS FSU 15-5 AT THE L.L.S.

Louisville was on fire early in this one yesterday and roared out to a 12-2 halftime lead over visiting FSU. The Cards (3-4, 1-3) got their first ACC win of the season in a romp on campus. 

The Cards had seven student-ahletes score in the win, led by Maggie McMahon with four goals and Ella Berg with three. 

OK, a noon start on a Wednesday isn't exactly going to fill the bleachers at Louisville Lacrosse Stadium and going head-to-head with the first day of the ACC WBB Tournament didn't help either. 

Nevertheless, the Cards got a crucial win that just might ensure they make the post season LAX tournament. The contest box score shows the match ran almost four hours..my guess there was there were lightning delays in the area or someone goofed up the stat reporting. 

Sorry, we had no one there to report of take photos. With no photographer currently on staff, we'd welcome any fan photos you all want to send us in the future.  

pauiie

First round of ACC WBB Tournament today -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ACC WBB TOURNAMENT STARTS TODAY -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

The first round of the Ally 2026 ACC WBB Tournament starts today. Or, the "roundhouse at the Gas House"...as I have also heard it referred to. Although I will not be in attendance this year, a myraid of health, political and trite confluences have me on the sidelines here in the Ville...I'll still be covering and watching it here at home via good ol' cable TV.  

TEN THINGS TO CONSIDER

1) The Cards dont play until Friday. They could face Georgia Tech, FSU or Virginia Tech.

2) The Cards are a #2 seed. Their chance to be a #1 disapered when Notre Dame beat them. 

3) It's the first year of the ACC Tournament in the Gas House Arena, formerly Gwinnet Arena, a comfy 13,000 seat arena in the Atlanta suburbs that I have visited once before, Purely my own opinion here, but they are crazy for leaving Greensboro. Tradition takes another kick in the shins. 

4) The #3 and #4 seed are UNC and NC State. Both are very capable of winnng the tourney,

5) ESPN 2 and the ACC Network are sharing the coverage. You're gonna see a lot of Deb Antonelli and Pam Ward. Fine with me. Both know the game like the back of their hand. 

6) If you can't watch, Nick Curran will handle the radio duties. 93.9 WLCL (Cards Radio )- FM and 970 WGTK - AM are the stations. 

7) Four different teams have won the tournament over the last four years. Ain't no UConn's in this league. 

8) Taj Roberts leads UofL WBB in scoring at 11.5 ppg. One of the super sophomores on the team.

9) Hannah Hildago should be named the ACC Most Outstanding Player of the year. She earned it.

10) Jeff Walz deserves Conference Coach of the Year, for the job he did with this squad. 

Enjoy the Tournament ! We'll have first round recaps and Thursday previews in the Thursday Cardinal Couple.  

paulie

Stage Set for ACC WBB Tourney -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Holds Second Seed

Despite the Cards suffering a third loss on Sunday, Louisville remained in second in the ACC WBB standings, and will carry the second seed into the 2026 Ally ACC Women's Basketball Tournament. The Cards had an opportunity to take the top spot, with Duke also dropping another game, but Notre Dame bested Louisville despite a furious comeback. The Irish themselves were trying to snag a second bye on Sunday, but they would have needed a bit of a miracle to finish ahead of NC State, who were playing Pitt. Pitt had already been eliminated from tournament contention. 

Joining the Panthers on the outside looking in are Boston College and SMU. BC finished a woeful 5-26 overall to go along with their 1-17 conference record. Pitt was also 1-17 but went 7-6 in non-conference play. SMU managed to win one more conference game and finished the overall season 9-21. It's tough to say anyone will miss those teams in Gas South Arena in "Atlanta" (Duluth), Georgia. The arena was originally called the Gwinnett Civic Center Arena

The event will get underway at 11 AM on Wednesday with #12 Miami vs #13 Stanford. There's not really a lunch break built in on Wednesday, as the games will go 11, 1:30, and 4. The 10-seed, California, will get the last team in, Wake Forest, though Wake was in before the final day of the regular season. The Demon Deacons finished 4-13, and Cal was the lowest team to finish .500 or better (9-9). The last game of the day is Florida State vs GT. FSU has taken a bit of a fall and finished the year just 5-13 (10-20). GT managed to finish 11th in conference thanks to some quirky tiebreakers. Despite just a 13-17 overall record, they finished above the two teams tied with them at 8-10, despite Miami finishing the regular season 16-13 and Stanford coming in at 19-12. 

We'll see who comes out of day one of the fray, as Thursday introduces three teams that received a bye, and two teams that got an extra day of rest. Game one on Thursday is #8 Virginia vs #9 Clemson, and the winner of that game will face top-seeded Duke on Friday. Both teams had a chance to improve their seed on the final day, but when they finished tied at 11-7, it wouldn't have mattered who was actually ahead since they were destined to play anyway. Notre Dame's fifth seed earned them the 1:30 slot on Wednesday, and they'll face the winner of Miami and Stanford. The Irish finished in another three-way tie, this one at 12-6. ND beat out Virginia Tech and Syracuse, despite both teams taking two more overall wins. Nevertheless, Syracuse came out and the back of the pack with the 7-seed and will face the winner of Cal and Wake. VT closes the evening at 7:30 against either GT or FSU. 

As I already mentioned, Duke will play the first game on Friday and has a better bead on their opponent than any other double-bye team. Arguably, though, they have the worse deal, as both of their potential opponents have the same amount of rest and have just two potential opponents to plan for. While those setbacks are true, chalk holding would mean Duke faced the lowest remaining seed in the tournament. NC State finished fourth and will play ND, Miami, or Stanford. Following the mid-afternoon break, Louisville will return to ESPN 2 (Duke will play the first game off of ACCN) at 5PM on Friday, where they'll face Syracuse, Cal, or Wake. UNC finished third and will close the evening against VT, GT, or FSU. 

The ACC will crown a champion on Sunday, with tipoff at 1PM. We'll see just who is playing in that game in due course. The Cards have shown plenty of capability to win against any team in the league, but they've also shown a surprising propensity for losing. It would be nice to be rolling into tournament play with a long win streak, but perhaps some late adversity will renew a bit of hunger in the Cards. Only time will tell. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards WBB "Hildago-ed" by Notre Dame 65-62 -- Monday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS DROP REGULAR SEASON FINALE TO IRISH

There was a lot on the line in this one at the KFC YUM! Center. 

Louisville had a chance to tie for the regular season conference championship after Duke lost to UNC. Notre Dame had a chance to move up to fifth place in the final conferrence standings with a win. Over 11,000 fans packed the downtown arena on Senior Day to honor Laura Ziegler and Reyna Scott, the Cards two seniors. 

Someone forgot to tell Hannah Hildago this was Louisville's day. 

Hildago...Cards killer. 

The sophomore (yes, Cards fans , she'll have two more years to haunt the Cards...) went off for 30 points on the Cards, so the Cards enter the ACC Tournament that starts on Wedneday with a two round bye and will play their first game on Friday. Notre Dame gets a Thursday opening slot and will face the winner of the #12 and #13 seeds in the opener on Wdnesday.  

The Cards got of to a hot start in this one and led UND 9-2 in a low scoring quarter with three minutes left. That lead was 12-4 Cards with a little over a minute left in the quarter, after a Berry basket and free throw..but Notre Dame nailed a three. It was 12-7 Cards after one.  

Notre Dame came out strong in the second quarter and took the lead at 18-16 on a Hildago layup with 5:32 untll halftime. A Hildago three put the Irish up by five..thirty second later. The Irish increased that lead to 29-19 with 3:32 until half and two Hildago free throws set the tally at 31-19 with 2:54 until half. Two more Hildago free throw gave Notre Dame at 36-24 lead which took them into the half. It was a 29-12 Irish dominance in the second quarter and Louisville looked to be in potential serious trouble. 

The Cards weren't ready to roll over yet, though. They scored the first six points of the third quarter...capped by a Elif Istanbulluoglu jumper. Notre Dame was riding the quickness and accuracy of Hildago, though, and her two free throws made it 45-35 Irish with 3:03 left in the third. 

Then, the Cards finally realized they were a pretty good team. The sophomore class led the comegback with a Randolph three and a Roberts three and two Roberts free throws. That capped a 8-0 UofL run that made the score 45-43 Notre Dame. The Irish went on a 5-2 run to end the quarter but Louisville was back in it, trailing just 50-45. It looked like it was going to be 47-45, but "You-know-who" nailed a three at the buzzer. 

Louisville tied it in the fourth 52-52 when Reyna Scott sank a layup...and the Cards went ahead 55-54 on a Istanbulluoglu basket and free throw. Thirty seconds later, Randolph sank a layup and you had to wonder if the Cards were on a game winnng run. Notre Dame was not going to roll over and play dead, though. They tied it at 60-60 with 3:37 left and Hildago had the Irish's final five points..where the Cards could only get two Randolph free throws with 54 seconds left. 

Never a good thing to end the season with a loss, but the Cards now have five days to get ready for ACC Tournament play..facing either Syracuse, California or Wake Forest in opening day action. 

We'll look at the ACC WBB tournament bracket tomorrow. 

paulie

Lax, Softball suffer Saturday Setbacks -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 HOMESTANDING LAX AND SOFTBALL TAKE ACC LOSSES

Not exactly a championship day down on Floyd Street Saturday...as Louisville Lacrosse fell to Syracuse in the LLS on the south end of the campus on Floyd St and then Louisvile Softball got outscored by Stanford in Ulmer on the north end of Floyd.St

In LAX, Louisville got the first score of the contest, but Syracuse responded with five straight goals to go up 5-1. The Cards would close the gap to one by halftime, trailing 6-5.

Syracuse used a strong third quarter to gain a 10-6 lead over Scott Teeter's LAX Cards. Louisville got the first two goals on the second half to get back within two at 10-8, but #13 Syracuse battled back to gain a 13-8 advantage and held off Louisville's late rally to get their first ACC win of the season 13-10. 

Cards LAX  attacker Ellen Berg. 

For UolfL, Ellen Berg scored a career high of four goals to lead UofL. Louisville, now 2-4 overall on the season are 0-3 in ACC play.

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On the north end of Floyd Street, Louiville softball got involved in a run scoring battle with visiting Stanford and saw a nice lead falter late in a 10-8 loss to the Cardinal. 

That's right..the Cardinal beat the Cardinals.

Stanford jumped out early on UofL and scored three runs in the first inning.on starter Brooke Gray, who was relieved after one out after allowing three runs scored. Madi Reeves took over for UofL and gave them three innings in the circle and gave up three runs before giving way to Anna Wise. Wise got the loss hung on her, she gave up three runs in just one inning pitching and gave way to Alyssa Zabala, who threw 2.2 innngs and allowed just one run on two hits.

The Holly Aprlle led softball Cards trailed 9-6 after 4 innings but the two sqiads just managed a run each the rest of the way

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We do apologize for not having Jared Anderson pictures for these contests. Without going into detail, he has..unwillingly..resigned, for now as our photographer. You'd figure after over 20 years of covering UofL sports, I'd receive just a little more respect. After all, Bob Valvano gets his X account hijacked and it's all one big "oops, I'm sorry" deal. As for me, I get hacked and get sent to solitary.. Nevertheless, I write for the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. I don't thnk they can stop me from doing that. 

I also miss the post game coaches interviews that I used to do, but with kidney failure, dialysis and also being recently diagnosed with hypoxemia. my daily activities are greatly curtailed .  

On this first day of March, it looks like the month came in like a lamb, according to the old wives tale, it'll be going out like a lion.  .

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Worth repeating: 

"What we've got to be able to do is make sure we execute at the offensive end," UofL coach Jeff Walz said. "You have to pass-fake. You've got to make sure you don't let Hidalgo take things over at the defensive end and come up with 8-9 steals and, the next thing you know, she's scoring some layups because you're not doing a good job of keeping her off balance."

paulie

Late Rally Boosts SB Cards -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Beats #13 Stanford 8-3

The Louisville softball team opened their long homestand and ACC season with a resounding win last night. The Cards brought in the Cardinal from Stanford and treated the #13/16 team to an 8-3 defeat in just Louisville's second game at Ulmer this season. Louisville is facing Stanford in their first ACC series of the year, but it's a bit out of sequence, as the Cards will host a pair of midweek games sandwiching the Cardinal Classic before their next ACC series comes on the road starting on March 13th. 

Alyssa Zabala took the start for Louisville yesterday evening and got off to a bit of an unfortunate start. Zabala put herself squarely in the crosshairs for an earned run by hitting the first batter (who had already fouled off three 2-strike pitches) and then allowing a steal. A productive groundout put the runner on third and a single made the score 1-0. Another single put two on before a flyout gave the Cards two outs. Zabala intentionally walked the bases loaded to get a force out at any base, which turned out to be unnecessary since the next batter grounded out to first. Louisville escaped with just a 1-0 deficit, but they responded with a 1-2-3 bottom half. 

Zabala still didn't have the strikeout pitch working in the second inning, but she was much more efficient in her return to the circle. Despite a long full-count at-bat (which went 10 pitches) that ultimately resulted in a flyout, Zabala was able to go 1-2-3 in the second and used just 17 pitches. The Cards tried to get the small ball going in the second inning after Bri Despines took an HBP on the first pitch of the at-bat. Camryn Lookadoo bunted her to second, but a pair of groundouts ended the inning. Zabala looked like she might be in a groove in the third, but she still wasn't able to miss bats. Three pitches saw two outs, but she opened the third batter in the inning with three straight balls. Needing to bring the ball back into the strike zone came back to haunt her, as the 3-1 pitch was smoked to straightaway center to put Stanford up 2-0. A flyout ended the inning. 

Louisville once again got their leadoff hitter on when Ava Venturelli walked, and the speedster freshman Addy O'Dell replaced her on the base paths. O'Dell advanced to second with one out when Easton Lotus reached on a fielding error. Both moved up on a Chelsea Mack ground out, but a strikeout kept the score at 2-0. The top of the fourth saw Zabala yield to Anna Wise in the circle, and Wise got to work quickly, with a strikeout and a groundout. An error and a wild pitch put another runner in scoring position, but Wise picked up another K to end the threat and keep Louisville in striking distance. For the third straight inning, Louisville got their leadoff batter on base, this time on a single by Despines, but for the third straight inning they stranded runners in scoring position. The threats continued to grow, though, as Louisville had the bases loaded with one out before a strikeout and a groundout squashed the chance. 

Wise continued to be effective in the fifth, pitching around a one-out walk. A single put runners on first and second with two outs, but Wise cleaned it up with another groundout. Then came the Cards. Again, they put the leadoff runner on base, and this time it was with the top of the lineup at the plate. Lotus singled and Mack sacrifice bunted her to second. It looked like the threat might come to nothing again when Madison Pickens struck out, but Despines homered to right to tie the game at two. Louisville wasn't quite done, though as Lookadoo walked to follow. A four-pitch walk to Taylor Monroe gave Louisville two-on with two-out and Stanford went to the bullpen. The new pitcher advanced the runners with a wild pitch, but it didn't matter anyway as Riley Janda worked a full-count walk. Venturelli singled straight back to the pitcher on her first pitch and scored a pair of runs before a flyout ended the inning. Louisville flipped a two-run deficit to two-run lead at 4-2. 

Stanford got a runner on in the top of the sixth via walk, but it was no issue for Wise, who followed it with two groundouts to end the inning. The big inning in the fifth meant Louisville opened the sixth with Lotus again, and she made it five straight innings with the leadoff runner on base. This time she walked, though it looked like she'd be stranded early by a strikeout and fly out. Despines had the bat working, though, as she singled to keep the inning alive. Lookadoo brought the big bat this time, knocking a three-run homer to left. Again, a walk followed the home run and a single followed the walk. Venturelli picked up another RBI by singling, but Louisville couldn't take advantage of a wild pitch putting runners on second and third. Nevertheless, the Cards led 8-2 with Stanford down to their final three outs. 

The nice thing about a six-run lead is that you've got a lot of cushion. Louisville didn't need it, but when the Cardinal opened the top of the seventh with a home run, the Cards still had a five-run lead and still had little stress. Even a grand slam keeps you ahead. Wise shook off the home run with a first pitch groundout straight back to the circle, though she wasn't able to duplicate that on an infield single on the next at-bat. Louisville ended the threat and the game with a nice defensive play, turning a 5-4-3 double-play, which is quite difficult to do in softball, and the celebration began. 

While small-ball might be Louisville's primary form of attack this season, it was nice to see that they have some pop as well. A pair of home runs, both scoring multiple runs, would have actually been enough to still win this game. Louisville got down early, but they didn't let the ranking and the situation overwhelm them. The Cards stayed focused and kept themselves threatening, and eventually it paid off. Louisville will try to take the series in game two today at 1PM. While the finale tomorrow will be on ACC Network, today's game will be streaming only on ACCNX. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards WBB sets down Ga Tech 69-50 -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS PUT FOUR IN DOUBLE FIGURES IN 69-50 WIN OVER GA TECH

Taj Roberts didnt look llke a player who had a Grade 2 ankle sprain four days ago and the Cards once again used balanced scorng to down another ACC opponent....with the 19 point win in the McCavish Center against Ga. Tech. 

Elif Istanbulluoglu led UofL with 18 points and the Cards benefitted from 22 GT turnovers to go to 25-5 on the season 

Louisville trailed early in the first quarter before going on a 10-0 run over the final four minutes of the period to take a 18-13 lead at the end of the first session. 

The Cards repeated the 18-point total in the second quarter and held Georgia Tech to 11 points in that stretch of ten minutes to go into the halftime with a 36-24 lead. 

The Cards came out adter the half and took the third quarter as well, It was the highest scoring quarter of the contest and Louisvile held the 22-18 quarter edge and a 58-42 lead. 

The Cards continued the defensive stops in the final quarter, holding Ga Tech to just eight points. The Cards won, going away...69-50. A six-point flurry in about ten seconds during the quarter was must-see TV. 

UofL's double figure scorers were Elif with 18, Berry with 13, Roberts with 12 and Scott with 10. 

The Cards return home for the regular season finale...hosting Notre Dame on Sunday.

ACC WBB Tournament play starts on Wednesday. Shaking my head...is it really tournament time?  

paulie

Can ACC get 11 teams into NCAA Tournament? --Thursday Cardinal Couple

 FROM LOUISVILLE TO MIAMI...CAN 11 ACC SCHOOLS GET IN THE BIG DANCE?

OK, admittedly it;s a little early in the season to be looking at NCAA bids...but in looking at the ACC WBB schools current conference records...a case can be made to include 11 schools in th 2026 NCAA WBB Championships. I'm going to break it down to three caegories...1) Yeah, No Problem here...2) Probable without a collapse and 3) Could go either way. Let's throw the ball in and set up the scenario. 

1) YEAH, NO PROBLEM HERE

Ok, it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to see Duke (15-1, 20-7), Louisville (14-2, 24-5), UNC (12-4, 23-6), NCST (11-5, 18-9), Syracuse (11-5, 21-6) , Virginia 11-5 (19-8) and Virginia Tech (11-6, 21-8) getting the call on Selection evening. Maybe no #1 seeds, but possibly a few  #2 seeds and maybe a # seed or two. 

2) PROBABLE WITHOUT  COLLAPSE

Clemson (10-6, 19-9) and Notre Dame (10-6, 18-9) are probable unless they fall apart at the seams in the final two games or ACC Tournament' 

3) COULD GO EITHER WAY 

California (8-8, 17-12), and Miami (7-9, 15-12) could squeak in if they can get the conference mark to .500 or better and make a good showing in the ACC WBB Tournament. Georgia Tech is the host school but probably would not receive an invite to the NCAA Tournament unless they win the ACC Tournament. . 

And, it possibly depends on how the league finishes up the regular season and the ACC Tournament

Tonight...key matchups abound. #10 Louisville visits the flats to take on Buzz the Yellowjacket and GT. #21 UNC visits Virginia. Syracuse heads to Notre Dame, Pitt limps in to Miami, Wake Forest takes I-40 to NC ST, FSU travels to Duke in key ACC match ups.  .

The Cards are perfect on the road in ACC play this year at 8-0 . 

GT knows they need a top 10 upset wi to revive any NCAA chatter. It's a 6 p.m. tip and will be on the ACC Network. 

paulie

Can WBB Cards Climb Back Up After Falling Off The Ledge? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ONLY TWO GAMES REMAIN BEFORE ACC TOURNEY

(Not within arm's reach currently) 

In what has been one of the craziest WBB seasons for me personally to cover, I shook my head twice to make sure I was reading what was before me in print. Louisville WBB only has two games left in the regular season before conference tournament time. Going to Georgia Tech Thursday and entertaining Notre Dame Sunday in the YUM . 

The WBB squad has the unenviable job of coming back after a loss to Virginia at the KFC YUM! Center.   

And, you know it's bad when a former UofL assistant coach sends me birthday wishes but none of the current staff does.  

The WBB Cards got very lucky that they didn't lose any ground to Duke after the loss to Wahoo..getting lucky since Duke also took a loss at Clemson on Sunday. The ACC. Translation? Anything Can Collude. 

Let's play good news/bad news..shall we? 

The bad news Sunday was that Louisville's leading scorer Taj Roberts went down four minutes into the contest and never returned. No matter what anyone assumes or says, Louisville did not have an answer for losing her and couldn't win without her. The good news? It was a Grade 2 ankle sprain and not a fracture. The bad news? It takes a couple of weeks to come back from one. I know. I've been there and done that. ...here comes RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) and a walking boot and physical therapy in all probablity. That means, in all probablity...Taj is most likely done for the regular season and questionable at best for the ACC Tournament. When your leading scorer goes down, the squad isn't exactly dancing to the Teddy Bears Parade on campus. 

The Teddy Bears Parade

 The good news? This UofL WBB fan base won't give up on them. Expect a racous crowd for Nptre Dame...if tyou are an Irish fan. Anyone remeber when they had to move this one to Sacred Heard one season because of a city-wide power outage?  It was the first time I ever got handed a bottle of water for attending a game. Seriously...

Who will step up while she is absent to replace her? Contrary to popular beiief, this is not a team that can win just by showing up and walking out on the court. And, you can bet that a lot of teams would love to gain the recognition as "Cardinals killers" the remainer of this season. Walz will tell you he has seven or eight players that can take over a game. I would venture a guess that it's time for that statement come to fruition.  

Interesting times remain. Oh yeah...whatcha got Cards? Time to sprout those wings and fly high, not gather on the nest and lay a egg. As the phrase goes, from so many years ago...it's time to gird your loins and get ready for the battle and the second season. As the Grateful Dead said, so many years agao. "Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart....ya just gotta poke around." 

Dead Live

 (We are looking for fan photos from games. Got something? We'll share it and give you credit on here. Big brother has put the icks-neigh on our past photographer shooting or writing for us) Imagine, a program dependant on media coverage, starts punishing people for it. Enuf said.

paulie 

The

New Era for Women's Soccer -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Karen Ferguson-Dayes Retires

The University of Louisville has a new longest-tenured coach on campus, and his name is Jeff Walz. Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes announced her retirement last week after 26 years in charge of Louisville women's soccer. KFD earned 224 wins in her career and was coming off of the Cards' best season in quite a while. In her last season, Louisville went 13-5-3 overall, advanced to the ACC tournament, and defeated UK at home in the NCAA tournament before falling to Kansas in the second round. 

Ferguson-Dayes took the women's soccer program to new heights after joining in 2000. Prior to her joining, Louisville had just one winning season in the previous 15 years. In her tenure, Louisville had 15 winning seasons and made the NCAA tournament seven times. It will be quite strange not seeing KFD on the sidelines this fall, but she will remain an advisor with the staff through June. That arrangement is almost certainly due to Kentucky fiscal year contract details, but it will be valuable to the continuity of the program. 

Speaking of continuity, women's soccer took their lead from another fall sport that recently underwent a coaching change: they promoted the obvious internal candidate. Along with the Ferguson-Dayes retirement, Louisville simultaneously announced the promotion of Hunter Norton to head coach. Norton has been on the women's soccer staff since 2014, and has been the associate head coach for the past four seasons. Norton came onto the staff directly after finishing his playing career at Georgia Southern, where he was a three-year captain and started all 72 games of his career. 

Hunter Norton has signed a four-year contract, and I would assume he'll look to keep most of the staff together where possible. With another staff position opening up, I wouldn't be surprised to see a player that competed for KFD joining the sideline, but that will come in due time. Keeping Norton, who has been part of the program for 12 years already, is a fantastic choice for Louisville, as he should be able to maintain the recruiting that has been developed and build on momentum of the last couple of seasons. We'll see in just about six months. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Virginia WBB throws Cards WBB a Sunday Sucker Punch -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 74-72 CAVS OVER CARDS

Louisville WBB took a major stumble in the ACC regular seasson race when Virginia came to town and..fighting for their chances to get in the NCAA Tournament...scoring a huge upset win over Louisville in the KFC YUM! Center Sunday in front of a packed arena, clad in pink for the annual breast cancer awareness game

Virginia hit a game winning three with 13 seconds left, after leading the majority of the game and seeing that lead vanquish in a last ditch fourth quarter Cardinals rally. 

Defense didin't get it done for the Cards on Sunday, as the Cavs shot 56% for the contest. 

At least the Cards started well. The jumped out to a 10-3 lead, with "E" getting half of those points. But, then, the gears ground to a halt. UVA responded with a 11-0 run,  and, more importantly...UofL leading scorer Taj Roberts ccrumpled to the floor and had to be carried off the court. It appeared to be a left leg injury and there was no update on it at the time of this article writing. 

The loss of Taj appeared to shake and disrupt the Cards. They trailed 18-14 at the end of the first quarter and UVA increased that to 41-30 at the halftime break. 

The Cards fought back and were trailing 56-49 after three quarters.  Louisville needed 34 bench points ...almost half their game total but managed to come bck and actually regai the lead in the fourth quarter. The Wahoos had the last laugh, though...when a Romi Levy three found the mark to put UVA up by two and the Cards could not come up with a tying basket 

POST GAME E AND LAURA

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

paulie

Softball Cards coninue to pound the Gulf Coast classic -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS PUT UP 10 RUNS TWICE IN TWO SATURDAY WINS. 

Maybe one of the most secure jobs these days is taking the circle in a UofL women's softball pitcher role. You know you are going to be supported by a battery of runs and never have to worry about giving up the stray couple of runs here or there. 

Maybe there was a sign hanging up in the FGCU stadium...who is hosting the event...reading..."Warning..Cards carrying bats may double digit bash your pitchers." 

I'm sure the Cards head coach Holly Aprile would have no problems in seeing this group of Cardinals batter continue their "get 'em on and scre 'em" philosophy the rest of this season.

Madison "Base cleaner" Pickens

In the Cards first game Saturday, against Wisconsin...she drove in four runs in the Cards Cards 10-5 win .A game where she had two doubles and a home run. The Badgers actually struck first, with three runs in the first inning. The Cards came back, though..with three runs in the third, a run in the fourth and put up four more runs in the fifth to assume a commanding 9-3 lead. Pickens had her second home run of the contest for Louiville's tenth run of Game One. 

In the second game, the Cards bats remained hot...this timea against Connecticut Husky pitching with four runs in the first. The Cards closed the hitting barrage out with six runs in the fourth inning to seal their second "W" of the day. 

WBB FACES VIRGINIA TODAY

Back in better days..before hypocrisy bested independent journalism..

It'll be a CW broadcast today at noon. (CW...doesn't that stand for "Cards Win" ?) The foe is Virginia. The Wahoos come to town at 10-5 in conference and 18-8 overall...so ...not an easy task for Walz & Company. 

For the Cards (14-1, 24-4) the quest to stay a gaaame behind ACC leading Duke. 

Cards Win Two in Ft. Myers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Beats Buffalo and FGCU

Louisville has finally broken their streak of losing games to hosting teams after beating FGCU 3-2 in the later game yesterday. The Cards had three losses entering the weekend, with all three coming against the team playing host to these early season multi-team events. Louisville now comes into the second day of the Gulf Coast Classic with a 9-3 record overall. 

The Cards got to face Buffalo in the opener yesterday, and junior transfer Madi Reeves got the start. Reeves was good early, putting the Bulls down 1-2-3 in the first inning and working out of a jam in the second. An error put a runner on second to open the inning and a single saw runners on the corners with no outs. Reeves got a three-pitch strikeout and then the Louisville defense played a sacrifice bunt attempt extremely well to get the out at home. A ground out ended the inning. After stranding a runner in the first, Louisville managed to scratch a run across in the second and led 1-0. 

The Cards extended their lead to 2-0 in the top of the third by taking advantage of their speed at the top of the order. Back-to-back singles by Easton Lotus and Chelsea Mack put the pressure on to open the inning and, although the Buffalo pitcher worked around the threat for the most part, Lotus was able to get home. Then the wheels fell off for Louisville. Five straight singles opened the bottom of the third for Buffalo, with the fourth scouring two runs and the fifth reloading the bases with nobody out. Anna Wise came in to replace Reeves, and Louisville's defense rewarded her with back-to-back errors scoring three more runs. Another single scored Buffalo's sixth run of the inning, but a greedy attempt to pick up another run was thrown out at home. Wise finally managed to prevent the Bulls from hitting the ball with a strikeout for the second out and a groundout ended the inning. The Cards trailed 6-2. 

Fortunately for Louisville, Buffalo isn't actually very good this season, at least according to their record. The Bulls entered the game with a 3-8 record, and Louisville's offense finally took advantage. The Cards scored three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to retake the lead. They took two more in the sixth to push their advantage to four runs, and the defense and pitching managed to shape up to prevent Buffalo from scoring any more runs. In fact, the Bulls only picked up two more hits on Anna Wise, and Alyssa Zabala replaced her in the sixth and allowed just two walks over two innings while striking out three. 

Offensively, Louisville was led by Taylor Monroe, who went 3-3 and had four RBI. That was good, since Monroe was the offender on both of Louisville's third-inning errors. Bri Despines added two RBI, and Chelsea Mack and Madison Pickens joined Monroe with three hits apiece. Riley Janda scored three runs despite going 1-4 at the plate, and she had one of Louisville's four steals (Mack had the other three). Easton Lotus went 2-4 at the top of the order and also drew a walk, allowing her to score two runs. 

In the second game, offense took a back seat to pitching. Already warm from two innings in the first game, Alyssa Zabala took the circle in the second and nearly pitched a complete game. She didn't have the strikeout ball working as well in the second game, picking up just two, but FGCU wasn't getting much from putting the ball in play. Zabala went 6.2 innings and gave up just three hits and one walk. Unfortunately, one of those hits was a home run, and it came after one of the others in the fifth inning. That two-run homer tied the game, but Coach Holly Aprile left Zabala in and Alyssa rewarded her with strong pitching after. 

After picking up RBI singles in the third and fourth innings, it was small ball again for Louisville in the seventh that let them regain the lead. Jordan Williams opened the inning with a single and Lotus followed with one as well. Mack laid down a bunt to move both runners into scoring position, and Camryn Lookadoo sent a fly ball into center to bring Williams home on a sacrifice. Zabala got a ground out and a line out to open the bottom half, but she walked the potential last out of the game on a full-count. That brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of a batter who had already taken Zabala yard in the game. Aprile made the move to replace Zabala with Wise and Anna induced a ground ball back to the circle to end the game. 

Louisville moved to 9-3 with their two wins yesterday, and they'll play two more today. The Cards will face Wisconsin at 12:15 and UConn at the conclusion of that game (scheduled for 2:30). We'll see if Brooke Gray takes the circle today after having yesterday off. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Cards women swimmers in fourth place in ACC Tournament -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE.

 CARDS TRAIL VIRGINIA, STANFORD AND CALIFORNIA WITH TWO DAYS REMAINING IN ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The ACC swim teams have descended on Atlanta are in full stroke and dive in the ACC Championships. Louisville women are in fourth place after five days of competiton. 

Virginia leads the way with 786 points, followed by Stanford (662), Cal (621) and then UofL at 507. There is more than 100 points difference between the fourth place totals and fifth place...so no one is likely to get past Lousivlle for at least a fourth place finish. 

It's really no disgrace at all to be behind powerhouse Virginia and two strong west coast schools and -- although Louisville women's swimming had no wins yesterday in events --- the splashing Cards are making a good showing with two days to go. 

*********************************************************************************************************

DUKE WBB KEEPS ROLLING IN 83-65 WIN OVER NCST

Toby Fournier went for 26 points and 12 rebounds in Duke's win at home over NCST . The Dule win streak extends to 17 straight game..Duke has not lost since falling to LSU back in early December. 

Duke jumped out to a 28-16 first quarter lead and improved that to 41-26 at the half. NC State would mount a third quarter rally to cut the Duke lead to 56-48 after three quarters, but ran out of gas late as the Blue Devils took the fourth quarter 27-17 to go to 20-6, 15-0 on the season. 

How is this relevant here? It means the Cards are still in second place in the ACC race...a game back of the Blue Devils. 

Louisville WBB returns to action on Feb 22nd (my and George Washington's birthday) to host Virginia. 

paulie

WBB front line could be the key to Cards NCAA success. -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ZIEGLER, ELIF, ANAYA, MBUGNA, ISLA, PUTRA AND RANDOLPH MAY BE THE POWERHOUSE FRONT LINE OF THE ACC

An old basketball coach I knew used to tell me..."You can't teach height..but you sure can develop it." and that applies to the 2025-26 University of Louisville WBB squad. One 6'4", three 6'3" two 6'2" and one 6'0" WBB Cards present a formidable challenge to any opponent's front line. They are interchangable, all talented and on the same wave length for this 24-4 Cards Squad..who have the best overall record in the league. Laura, "E", Anaya, Grace, Isla, Yeve and Mac..on an expressway to NCAA Toournament success. 

The Cards have three more games in conference before the ACC Tournament gets underway. Louisville is pretty much assured of finishing either first or second in the ACC regular season, depending on how Duke ends against NC State, Clenson, FSU and UNC.  The seven Cards front liners mentioned have 52 of the Cards 82 points the Cards are averaging so far this season and show no signs of slowing down on the glass. 

The roster is unselfish and effective. Opponents can only guess which Cardinals are going to have big games against them, and that...in itself..is the most dangerous weapon Louisville has. Guard Players A and B heavily and C and D torch you. No one in the conference can match up in a women-to-women defense against Louisville..except maybe Duke..and this squad loves to find the open player, crash the boards and "feed the hot hands". 

The Cards are ranked at #8 in both the AP and coaches poll...higher thatn Duke in both... and you can bet your bottom dollar that UofL is craving a re-match against the Blue Devils...who beat them by a mere point in Louisville on Feb 5th. A game the Cards had a great chance to win..but fell just short. ...having a chance to tie it at the end with two free throws but making just one. . 

Odds are, the two will meet in the finals of the ACC Tournament. You know that Jeff Walz and staff have studied that narrow loss to Duke and has a master plan to get a revenge win against Kara Lawson. This potential rematch will be "must see WBB" and let's hope that "it's in the cards" fpr a Louisville win in the rematch.

paulie

CARDS SOFTBALL RUN RULES BELLARMINE 10-2 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS HIT EARLY AND OFTEN IN THE BATTLE OF EASTERN PARKWAY

On a picture perfect night for softball on the Belknap campus. Louisville Softball touched Bellarmine for six runs in the first two innings and got the 10-2 win in the Battle of Eastern Parkway -- softball style. 

Bri Despines drove in Chelsea Mack and Easton Lotus with a first inning single to get the Cards on the board and a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Bellarmine responded with a Kendall Gaddie home run in the top of the second to cut the Cards lead in half...but Louisville struck back with four second inning runs...Easton Lotus' two RBI triple being the big hit in the inning. It was 6-1 and UofL was definitely in control of the contest. 

The Knights would be held scoreless in the top half of the thrd and fourth innings, and the Cards would add three runs in the the bottom of the fourth, to build a 9-1 lead. 

(Photo courtesy of Bellarmine)

Bellarmine did get their second home run of the contest in the top of the fifth inning to make it 9-2 but Louisville would get the run rule game ender in the bottom of the fifth...with Chelsea Mack singling home Jordan Williams for the 10-2 final score.

And, so..the Cards improve to a 4-2 mark on the season. Jayden Gohs gets the win to go 1-0 on the season in three innings of work. Ryann Sanders pitched two innings of relief. 

Next up, Louisville heads to Fort Myers, FL for another early season tournament...facing Buffalo in their opener on Friday, Feb 20th. 

paulie

The Week Ahead for Louisville Women's Athletics -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Packed Schedule as Spring Ramps Up

Louisville women's athletics has a busy week ahead as the winter sports season hits its climax and the spring sports season gets rolling. Six sports are in action this week with only the track and field team having the week off. 

Women's golf and swimming will both be first in action today, as each of those teams continue multi-day events. The golf team is finishing up the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida today, and the Cards stand tied for 13th of 17 teams after yesterday's rounds. Louisville is just three shots off of 11th place and will get the final round underway at 9am this morning. Swimming and diving are getting into the third day of the ACC Championships, with the event scheduled to run all the way through Saturday. There are plenty of events on deck for that, so you can keep up with Louisville Swim and Dive on social media or check in with live stats here or live streaming via ESPN. Louisville finished third as a team in last season's ACC tournament, and seven ACC teams are in this season's top 25. Today's events get underway at 9:30. 

Softball will begin a loaded week with their home opener this afternoon as they host Bellarmine. It should be an unseasonably warm day, with highs forecast in the 60s today, so it should be more pleasant than people may have expected going into a mid-February matchup. This game was originally slated to be played next week, so the weather is a nice surprise for the rescheduled event. The Cards are 6-3 so far this season, with all three losses coming to the hosting opponents at their two weekend events. Louisville faces a Bellarmine squad that is just 1-8 in their first season under a new head coach. The Cards will look to extend their win streak to three games going into the weekend, where they'll travel once more. Tonight's game will be at 6:30 on ACCNX. After today, Louisville will go on the road again, this time to Fort Myers, FL for an event hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University. Louisville will play Buffalo and FGCU on Friday afternoon, Wisconsin and UConn on Saturday, and close the weekend with a Sunday morning rematch against Buffalo. 

Lacrosse will play a pair of games this week as well, as they look to pick up their first victory of the 2026 campaign. The Cards lost a heartbreaker in the opener, going down in double OT to Ohio State, and fell at the hands of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Saturday. Louisville will look to bounce back with a home match against Kent State tomorrow at noon and they'll play another road ACC match on Saturday. This week, Scott Teeter's squad will face North Carolina. 

Women's tennis will have two matches at home this week, as ACC play fully ramps up. The Cards are 6-1 so far this season with their lone loss coming last Friday against Notre Dame. Louisville is 0-1 in conference as a result, but they'll bring two Florida teams to Bass-Rudd this weekend to try to fix that. The Cards face Florida State on Friday and Miami on Sunday. 

Louisville women's basketball has a mid-week bye this week, giving their opponents a chance to catch up in league play. The Cards have won three straight since losing to Duke, and that head-to-head matchup is currently the difference between the top two teams in the ACC. Duke is 14-0, while Louisville sits at 14-1. Duke plays NC State on Thursday, but chances are running out for the Blue Devils to take a loss. After the Wolfpack, they'll play at Clemson, host FSU, then finish the season on the road at rival UNC. Louisville gets a mid-week break but they'll take on Virginia at the Yum! Center on Sunday. The Cards finish the season with a significant test of their own, going on the road to Georgia Tech on Thursday the 26th before hosting Notre Dame on March 1st. The Cards and Irish will square off at 4PM on ESPN2, and they'll be the second to last tip-off of the ACC regular season. The Cards can lock up a double-bye in the ACC tournament with one more win. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

CARDS WBB PULLS AWAY FROM FSU 88-65 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 BALANCED SCORING LEADS THE WAY FOR UOFL WBB IN WIN OVER NOLES

Louisville WBB got off to a hot start and never really let up the gas in a convincing win over FSU Sunday evening in the KFC YUM! Center. The Cards jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two and one half minutes..thanks to a Laura Ziegler three and rebound bucket and led by 11 in the first quarter before ending the first ten minutes session with a Skylar Jones layup for a 19-10 lead.

The Cards built the lead halfway through the second quarter to 27-14 after two Reyna Scott free throws and took a 34-20 lead into the halftime ocker room...only three Cards scored in the second 10 minutes...Imani Berry with six points, Reyna Scott with five and Grace Mbugna with four. 

Louisville pushed the lead out to 19 in the third quarter three minutes into the third quarter with a Reyna Scott layup with three minutes gone in the half to make it 46-27. A Laura Ziegler layup at the 4:13 mark gave the Cards a 20 point lead at 52-32. Rhee quarter ended with the Cards still ccomfortbly ahead at 61-39 after  Berry three with 22 seconds left. 

The Cards builtthe lead to 81-50 when Grace Mbugna tipped one in with 4:33 to play. FSU did outscore the Cards 15-7 the rest of the way..but Walz had pretty much replaced the starters in the final part of the fourth quarter. Anaya Hardy did score the Cards final three baskets for the 88-65 win. 

I NEVER SAW THIS MOVIE..WAS IT ANY GOOD? 

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- The Cards shot 10-18 from the charity stripe. That's not quite 60% and nowhere near the mandated 70% we need to award a letter..so..no letter. Wonder who will be shooting a bunch of free throws next practice?  Maybe Elif (0-3) and Skylar (2-4)? 

REBOUNDS -- The Cards held a 46-37 edge on the hrbbing of missed shots and that's good enough for a CAPITAL "R"  Laura Ziegler had eight for UofL and Mac Randolph had seven. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards shot 59.4% from the floor and had only 11 turnovers. That's worthy of a CAPITAL "E"

DEFENSE --  Allowing less that 70 points and forcing 16 turnover over is OK..but FSU just isn't that great this year. I see a small case "d" here

FINAL FRED TALLY _-R-E-d

The log term view? Keep winning and hopes Duke slips up a couple of times, so the cards can win the regular season title. Anything ncan happen. 

paulie

 

paulie

Fun in South Carolina ...Softball takes two on Saturday -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SUCCESSFUL SOUTH CAROLINA SATURDAY

Riley Janda

Holly Aprile has a lot of talent on this 2025-26 Louisville Softball squad and the pitching staff is loaded. The Cards got a 4-0 win over Kennesaw State and a 5-3 win against Boston University in their final day of action in the Carolina Classic in Columbia, South Carolina. 

The Cards finish 3-1 in the Palmetto State this weekend and Madi Reeves and Anna Wise got their first wins of the season yesterday. 

Easton Lotus, the lovely fifth yr .senior for the Cards

A 4-0 shutout in the opener against Kennesaw State...with three runs in the first and a Riley Janda home run in the fifth . Madi Reeves pitched the shutout and allowed just seven hits over the seven innings. 

The Cards started game two with a first inning run when Easton Lotus scored on a Madison Pickens triple. Louisville got RBI's from Pickens, "Ri" Despines, Camryn Lookadoo and Katie Thatcher in the fourth to complete the scoring. 

The Cards return home to face Bellarmine on Feb 17th. 

Softball Splits Friday Again -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Beat BU, Fall to SCar

In their second weekend of the season, Louisville softball once again saw themselves taking on the hosting team in the second game of the first day. The Cards faced Boston University and took a 3-0 win in the first game but things got squirrelly in the second. Louisville held close to South Carolina early in the game before an explosive fifth inning ended the game early with a 9-1 run rule. 

Alyssa Zabala took the win in game one, as the Cards gave her a cushion in the top of the first inning. Chelsea Mack singled out of the second spot in the lineup and immediately stole second. Making the most of her cleanup spot, Bri Despines batted a single into the outfield to score Mack and give Louisville the 1-0 lead. From there, Zabala took the reins and didn't let go. She pitched a complete game and scattered four hits across them. Zabala struck out six and walked just one batter. Of their five baserunners, the Terriers put two on in two innings, meaning Zabala was more or less nails in the other five. 

Despines earned her second RBI in the sixth inning with a double to score Madison Pickens, who had reached on an error. The Cards opened the seventh inning with an out, but Jordan Williams tripled with one out. That turned over the order, and Easton Lotus laid down a single toward third. It was fielded by the catcher, holding Williams at third, but Lotus beat out the throw for a single. As Mack worked her at-bat, the Terriers tried to pick off Lotus on a steal attempt, which was a bold choice with a runner at third, and it went exactly as you might expect: Lotus got the steal anyway, and Williams took the opportunity to come home. That set the final score of 3-0. 

The Cards opened the second game similarly, with Lotus reaching base to open the game, Mack walking, and Despines doubling Lotus in for a Louisville lead. Brooke Gray took the circle for Louisville and got off to a good start by getting two quick outs, but a four-pitch walk was followed by a double and the score was tied. Gray ended the inning and the teams went on tied. 

Louisville threatened briefly in the third with a Lotus double and a two-out walk from Pickens, but Despines couldn't regain the lead for the Cards. In the bottom half, Gray got a quick pop-out but back-to-back first-pitch singles chased her from the circle. Anna Wise entered for Louisville and managed to end the threat. Gray finished with three hits and one walk in 2.1 innings. She had just one earned run but she didn't pick up any strikeouts. 

Louisville once again got a double and a walk in the fourth but were once again unable to take the lead in the game. Wise returned to the circle and gave up a leadoff single. She got the first out on an infield ground ball, but the runner advanced to second. A walk put runners on first and second, and an unsuccessful fielder's choice loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice bunt scored the go ahead run, and another single made it 3-1. Finally, South Carolina grounded straight to Lotus at second base and the inning ended. 

Louisville responded with three-up, three-down, which set the stage for an unfortunate fifth inning. Things went immediately wrong after a full-count walk and a single that was challenged and failed. The Cards made a pitching change and gave up a double steal. A sacrifice liner to left was followed by a two-run homer. Louisville went on to see an illegal pitch and, though they picked up a second out, South Carolina went on to end the game with the bases still loaded. 

The Cards returned to the field at 10am this morning against Kennesaw State, and they'll face BU again this afternoon before returning home. Tomorrow's game against Kennesaw State has already been canceled. Louisville will face Bellarmine on Tuesday and then hit the road for the Gulf Coast Classic next weekend. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case