ACC Softball..Louisville's "second season" begins today -- Women's Golf in Lexington region -- WEDNESDAY CARDINA COUPLE

CAN CARDS PITCHING GET THEM THROUGH THE ACC TOURNAMENT?

And, so, it has come down to this for Louisville women's softball. The ACC Tournament, The single elimination test of 12 teams. Louisville is the 10th seed in the affair and that means they have to play first day, against seven-seed Virginia. Win, and advance, Lose and ,in the Cards case, the season is over. 

The chance of Louisville advancing thru the tournament and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament is basically down to how the Cards pitching staff can perform. It's four games in four days and the opponents get tougher the further you go. #2 seed Clemson awaits the winner of Louisville vs. Virginia.

When we look at the nucleus of Alyssa Zabala, Brooke Gray, Sam Booe and the rest of the seven on the Cardinals pitching staff, is the skill and ability there to quell the bats of ACC competition for four days? The Cards bats have been pretty much in a deep slumber at times...and lately it's been an on-again, off-again, performance for the UofL hitters.

So, what gets UofL into the NCAA dance? I'm going to hypothesize that UofL needs to reach the Friday semifinals to even get a sideways look by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. 26-24 and 9-15 in conference doesn't exactly speak volumes...but a good performance in the conference tournament just might get them in. Winning the ACC Tournament definitely would...but, four wins in four days might be too big a task for these Cards. 

 

Anyway, 5 p.m. in Newton, Mass...on Boston College's home field... (or thereabouts -- starting times depend on the previous two games...) is when "second season" begins for Cards softball. 

Let's hope the arms are firing out of the circle and the bats are productive. 

WOMEN'S GOLF COMPLETES SECOND DAY OF NCAA TOURNAMENT QUALIFYING. 

After two days in the Lexington Regional, the Cards have gone from sixth place to ninth place. They currently are 10-over par 298 on Nicholasville's Keene Trace golf course and nine strokes behind the qualifying pace to move on. 

None of the Cards golfers has an under-par day in the second round...Carmen Griffiths and Bailey Burkett both fired two-over par 74's to lead the Louisville golfers. 

FSU was far and away the leader after the regional with seven under par after round one.  Tied for second are Kansas St. and Georgia Southern.  They increased that two -14 under par at the end of day two.  Georgia southern improved to five under and in third is Kansas St.at even.

paulie

ACC Tournament Starts Tomorrow -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Set to Play at 5:00pm Tomorrow

Louisville softball is set to begin postseason tomorrow. The Cards are the 10-seed in the ACC Tournament and will play 7-seed Virginia tomorrow at 5:00pm.

The path to the ACC Tournament was not easy, especially since only 12 teams out of 15 made the tournament this season following the expansion of the ACC. Three ACC schools currently do not sponsor softball- Miami, Wake Forest, and SMU. UofL faced 1-seed Florida State, 3-seed Virginia Tech, and 4-seed Duke this season. The Cards only played one of the bottom three teams in the conference- Boston College. The other two teams that did not make it our NC State and Syracuse.

The Cards earned the 10-seed with a 9-15 conference record. Florida State (18-3) took the top overall seed with one of their three conference losses coming to Louisville in April. Clemson (19-5) took the second seed, beating out Virginia Tech (18-6) by one game. Duke (16-8) and Stanford (16-8) tied for fourth in the ACC but the Blue Devils won the tiebreaker.

North Carolina (15-9), Virginia (14-10), Georgia Tech (10-11), and California (11-13) took spots 6-9. Behind Louisville in the last two spots are Notre Dame (7-17) and Pitt (7-17).

Georgia Tech and California will kick off the tournament tomorrow morning at 11:00am. Stanford and Pitt will follow suit at approximately 1:30pm. Following a midday break, Louisville and Virginia will begin at 5:00pm, followed by North Carolina and Notre Dame at approximately 7:30pm.

In the event Louisville defeats Virginia, the Cards would advance to face 2-seed Clemson on Thursday.

Louisville played at Virginia in mid-April. The Cards won the first game 6-5 before dropping the final two games 8-2 and 6-0. UofL did not face Clemson this year.

Cardinal Couple will not have any representatives up at host site Boston College, but will provide coverage here on our website.

(Photos by Jared except for ACC bracket)

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Spring flying by!!! -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers,


Daryl here checking in on weekend eve. The Bats are in town so I switched with Jared to accommodate that schedule.

Hope everyone had a great Derby season, I'm already looking forward to next year!   I did put a little money on the winner so I came out even on the day.  

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

I'm also happy to report that I jumped back into some commentating earlier this week for our local Spalding University softball action. The Golden Eagles are hosting some post season SLIAC conference action and I am buddies with the athletic director over there so I was happy to help out and get back to my roots on the diamond!! Its been a few years...

Here's a pic of me out there and here's the recap if you're interested.

https://spaldingathletics.com/news/2024/5/8/softball-the-sliac-quarterfinal.aspx

The ACC Softball Tournament is also going on but not for the Cardinals.   

BC got the 1-0 win over Syracuse to keep their season alive and face #4 seed Duke tomorrow and Notre Dame also advanced to see another day set to face #2 FSU.  

WNBA season opener coming up! 

Back when Dana Evans visited WBB game 2/8/24 - Photo Jared Anderson 

WNBA preseason starts today and the season officially begins next week! 

Also want to give a shoutout and say Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there but especially my own!!  Love ya mom!!!! <3

As Always
Go Cards!

~Daryl 

ACC Championship Season -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Track and Field Hold 8th

After a successful start to the ACC Championship meet on Thursday, Louisville women's track and field didn't make much impact on day two. On the men's side, Louisville got a big win in the Decathlon from Paul Kallenberg. His ACC title came after setting a facility record and placing second in the all-time school record for total points in the event. The points from his victory helped pull Louisville up to 7th on the men's team side. On the women's side, Louisville fell to 8th. 

Scott looks to repeat her
victory from 2022

The Cards got second place finishes from Synclair Savage (long jump) and Aliyah Welter (pole vault) on Thursday to help them accrue 19 points, good for third overall. Carly Pujol scored a seventh-place finish in the pole vault to score the remaining points for the team. Katie Martin also set a new school-record in the 400M hurdles (breaking her own mark) to qualify for today's final. 

On Friday, Louisville saw three Cards set new personal bests. Madeline Castleberry (3000m steeplechase), Alba Cuns Iglesias (triple jump), and Brooklyn Hammons (shot put) all broke their own records, but only Cuns Iglesias scored for the team, taking home eighth to score the Cards' only point on the day. Saturday will see the Cards compete in seven of the twelve events. Those will start at noon, after a change to the schedule. Emily Scott, Jenna Hensley, and Soledad Jean will take on the field in the high jump, with Scott looking to defend her title. Zoe Yeast and Brooklynn Hammons will compete in the discus throw to round out the field events. On the track, the Cards will compete in the 4x100, 4x400, 400m hurdles, 200m, and 5000m races, with two runners in the distance race. 

Rowing Sends One Boat to Grand Final

The ACC Rowing Championship is being held at Lake Wheeler in Raleigh, North Carolina. Yesterday saw prelim action with Louisville having four boats compete. The Cards sent three Varsity Eight boats and one Varsity Four boat. It's the III Varsity Eight squad that qualified for today's Grand Final, after they edged UNC by just 0.4 seconds over a 7-minute race. Odds are that by the time you're seeing this, the races have already concluded, with action scheduled to begin at 8:05 this morning. Louisville's other three boats will all compete in the Petite Finals after finishing below the cutoff for the Grand Finals in their respective heats.

ACC Softball Continues

Despite Louisville's knockout, the ACC Softball Championship continues through the weekend, with the results potentially having an impact on Louisville's tournament hopes. With the long softball season, single elimination tournaments won't likely have much impact on resume building for teams that aren't actually participating, but you never know. That's particularly true in the event that a bid is stolen. 

That isn't particularly likely to happen this year. After knocking off Louisville in the 4-5 game, Virginia Tech had the great honor of being run-ruled by the top-seeded Seminoles. FSU took care of business with a 9-1 win in six innings. With VT being the only team seeded lower than Louisville playing on Friday, there wasn't much chance of anyone other than them having to "steal" a bid, as the top-three teams in the league should be comfortably in.

Photo via ACC

Taking on the 3rd-ranked FSU squad will be Duke. Outside of the shocking pair of losses to Notre Dame, Duke and FSU are the only two teams to beat Louisville in conference this season. The Cards didn't play Clemson or Virginia Tech in the regular season. Duke had to get through the Tigers to advance, and they did so in fairly spectacular fashion: by getting a no-hitter from a freshman. Cassidy Curd is one of two Blue Devils that kept Sarah Gordon out of the top-ten finalists for the Freshman of the Year Award. Perhaps someone should have told the ACC voters that, since Gordon won the league's honor. Either way, Curd threw 113 pitches to earn her 16th win of the season, ringing up eight strikeouts and hitting two batters. The two HBP were the only marks that kept the game from being perfect. The Duke offense did just enough to support the pitching effort, scoring one run each in the second and third innings to lead to the 2-0 win. 

Today's championship will be played at 1PM on ESPN2.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be back on the airwaves (Kind of? Maybe? I'm a little shaky on the physics of the internet.) this week after taking Derby Day off. There will be just four of us, so you can stop holding your breath if you listened to Daryl yesterday. Jared will be out as he attends commencement for his wife-to-be. We'll have plenty to keep us busy as spring sports seasons wind down and we try to forecast softball's NCAA hopes. 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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Noles SB Downs Cards 2-1 to sweep series -- Cards get #4 ranking in ACC Tournament -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

SANDERCOCK SHUTS DOWN CARDS OFFENSE SUNDAY

The normally active Louisville bats were silenced on Sunday (sorry about the quasi-Derby reference) in the third game of the series at Tallahassee. .And, Cardinals batters would probably be just fine if they didn't see Kathryn Sandercock in the circle anymore this season, as the grad student allowed just one hit in 4.1 innings to go to 21-3 on the season. Sandercock was credited with all three wins over Louisville this weekend... her own "triple crown" on Derby weekend.  

The Cards just might have to face "Kat" one more time, though, being the #4 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament, but we'll get into those ramifications a little later  on in today's column

Louisville got what would normally be considered a good "in the circle" performance from Alyssa Zabala, who allowed the two runs on just four hits in the six innings she pitched. The Cards just couldn't put bat on ball and send it where there were no fielders until the top of the seventh inning. 

Daisy Hess led off the visitors half pf the inning with a triple to right field. Hannah File sent a sacrifice fly to center to score Hess and cut the FSU lead to 2-1, but could not do anymore damage at the plate after that. It was the only hit Sandercock allowed in her time in the circle.

The Cards had their chances early. An Easton Lotus single and Sarah Gordon walk in the first inning gave the Cards two base runners but the Cards were to remain on the bags the rest of the inning. And, in the third, Korbe Otis single and then got to third on a FSU fielding error...but did not get advanced to home. 

As for the Noles, Zabala did allow FSU a home run from Josie Muffley in the third inning and another run in the fifth when Mack Leonard singled and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. 

The Cards end the regular season with a 35-17 record and 16-7 in ACC play. 

LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL BEGINS ACC TOURNAMENT PLAY ON THURSDAY AS A #4 SEED vs. VA TECH. 

Louisville is one of ten teams that will participate in the ACC Tournament at Notre Dame and will open play Thursday against #5 seed Virginia Tech. 

The Cards and Hokies will play in the second game of four on Thursday....starting around 1:30 PM. If the Cards win they would advance to the semifinals to face either FSU or #8 seed Virginia or #9 seed Syracuse.  The format is single elimination and all the games, beginning Weds, when #7 seed and #10 seeds and #8 and #9 seeds square off, will be shown on the ACC Network. 

paulie 

ACC Softball Scenarios -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ACC STANDINGS AND SCENARIOS

Louisville softball wraps up the regular season at Florida State this weekend. If you're trying to avoid the Derby crowds and traffic, getting the heck out of town is a smart move.

While Daryl will preview the actual series tomorrow, we'll took at look at the current ACC standings and the possible scenarios for the final standings. Spoiler: Louisville could actually win the ACC.

The current standings are:

    Florida State  19-2  .905

    Louisville  16-4  .800

    Duke  19-5  .792

    Clemson  18-6  .750

    Virginia Tech  14-10  .583

    North Carolina  13-10  .565

    Notre Dame  11-12-1  .479

    Syracuse  7-12-1  .375

    Virginia  8-16  .333

    Georgia Tech  7-17  .292

    NC State  6-15  .286

    Pitt  3-17  .150

    Boston College  3-18  .143

While many of the teams in the ACC have concluded their respective seasons, there's a few games left to be played this weekend. Boston College visits Syracuse, NC State visits Pitt, and Louisville visits Florida State.

Only 10 teams make the ACC Tournament, which means three teams will be on the outside looking in. While the ACC has 15 total schools, Miami and Wake Forest currently do not have softball.

Louisville is already a lock for the ACC Tournament and has earned a top-four seed and a first-round bye.

The scenarios: 

1) If the Cards sweep Florida State then Louisville would win the ACC.

2) If Louisville wins two of the three games then the Cards would finish third with Duke moving up to second.

3) If Louisville wins one and loses two or gets swept then they drop down to fourth with both Duke and Clemson moving up.

(Maryssa Becker{

The last time Louisville  was in the top four in the conference was in 2017. The 2017 roster was loaded with talent such as Maryssa Becker, Megan Hensley, Nicole Pufahl, Jordan McNary, Sidney Melton, and Celene Funke among several others.

If Louisville wins at least one more game, they'll match their 36-win total from 2016. 

****NOTE****  IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR PAULIE'S CHURCHILL DOWNS SELECTIONS, GO TO    http://pauliesykes.blogspot.com/

Paulie's Thurby Selections

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared

Softball Begins ACC Tournament today -- Ahlana Smith to Miss. State -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SOFTBALL CARDS FACE SYRACUSE TO OPEN ACC TOURNAMENT

 

Louisville Softball opens ACC Tournament play today as the #8 seeded team and will face #9 Syracuse in Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. The contest will be shown on the ACC Network.  

For the Cards, it comes down to three simple thinhs -- three of the major tenants in softball or baseball

1) Get runners on base  2) Get those runners across the plate to score runs 3) Do that more often than Syracuse does. 

They weren't able to do much of those three in their season-ending series against Notre Dame, scoring just two runs in three days against the Irish, but, Louisville plated 15 runs against the Orange in a three-game sweep of them at Ulmer Stadium a few weeks ago-- 8-0, 4-1 and 3-2.

The Cards have the power and hitting ability to do it again. Carmyn Greenwood, Taylor Roby, Kendall Smith and Korbe Otis have led the offense most of the season and have accounted for 167 RBI's and 117 Runs scored for the Cards in 51 games and the Louisville squad outscored opponents 276-258 on the season 

One of the keys, tomorrow is going to be limiting the number of runs the Orange are going to be able to push across the plate. And, obviously, good pitching and accurate fielding are the major factors involved in keeping foes from touching home plate. The "ace" of the staff -- Taylor Roby -- has shown in the past she can deliver the effective pitching to limit opponents from tallying up runs scored. Let's hope she's "on" again tomorrow. 

An interesting philosophy was tossed my way earlier today, when someone expressed the hope that Roby WOULDN'T start today and Taja Felder would be given the assignment of containing Syracuse. that way, you could sane Roby for #1 seed Virginia Tech, who would be the Cards next opponent, if they get by Syracuse. An interesting thought, since Felder and Sam Booe split and shared strong performances in a win over Syracuse in the middle of April.. 

You must win today to play tomorrow, though, and Roby probably gives you the best chance of doing that, She had two wins over the Orange earlier in the season and I think you go with your strengths in "the second season".

Good luck to the Cards tomorrow ! Survive..and advance. .

(Thanks to Jared Anderson and Ryan Greenwood for the softball photos used in the article)  

AHLANA SMITH TO MISSISSIPPI STATE

When Ahlana Smith entered the transfer portal, the gang at Cardinal Couple discussed the possibility of her joining up again with Sam Purcell -- at Mississippi State. 

It has come to pass. 

It'll be her fourth school in her time as a collegiate student athlete. Her journey began at aT UCLA,, then Gulf Coast, two years at Louisville and now at MSU. 

Purcell gets a capable guard who scored 4.3 ppg at Louisville last season in 32 games, which was seventh-highest on the team. She was a reserve who usually entered if Kianna Smith, Chelsie Hall or Hailey Van Lith needed a rest or got into foul trouble.  A very capable ball-handler with much better than average speed and a decent three-point shot. 

The thing is, with both Kianna Smith and Chelsie Hall graduating, you just couldn't see Ahlana as a starter. Too much incoming talent, the development of Payton Verhulst and Kasa Robinson returning seemed to indicate that Ahlana would keep the same role, only with a different cast of starters to spell. 

So, she's off to a fresh start with a head coach who she's familiar with (and who recruited her out of Gulf Coast) -- in a situation where an experienced guard just might help Purcell fill one of the gaps in defining capable players for a Bulldogs team that went 15-14 overall, 6-10 in the SEC and lost their last six games. 

She's the sixth guard listed on the latest 2022-23 MSU roster.

Wishing Ahlana a lot of luck under Sam with the Bulldogs. Beating UK twice would be a great start. 

(WBB photos of Ahlana from Jared Anderson) 

Have a wonderful Wednesday

paulie

 

Softball Cards Fall to Notre Dame To End Regular Season -- ACC Softball Tournament Bracket -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 IRISH TAKE CARDS 9-1

Louisville Softball couldn't find the bats Sunday against Notre Dame, falling 9-1 to end the regular season and conference schedule. 

Louisville started the contest encouragingly, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Korbe Otis drew a walk, was advanced by a Taylor Roby single and reached home on a Dylann Cravens single.

Notre Dame countered, though, touching the Cards for six runs on five hits and chasing Roby from the circle in the bottom of the second. The Cards were unable to get any more runs on the board the rest of the way, while the Irish added a score in the third and the game-ending  final two runs of the contest in the bottom of the sixth. Taja Felder finished the game in the circle for the Cards and allowed four hits in her four innings of work.

Louisville managed just three hits against N.D. hurler Shannon Becker, Carmyn Greenwood adding the other hit besides Roby and Cravens.

 

So, the Cards end the season with a 27-24 record overall and 10-14 in the ACC. They now go into the ACC Tournament as the #8 seed and will open their Tournament run on Wednesday, when they face #9 seed Syracuse at 1 p.m. The Cards did sweep the Orange when they faced in mid-April at Ulmer Stadium...8-0, 4-1 and 3-2. 

ACC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

And, now, it's time for the "second" season. 

As mentioned above, Louisville opens play in the ACC Tournament Wednesday against the Orange in Pittsburgh. A 1 p.m. first pitch. The second game of the day features #7 seed Georgia Tech vs. #10 seed N.C. State....at approximately 3:30 p.m.

If the Cards get by Syracuse, they'd face #1 seed Virginia Tech on Thursday at 11 a.m. 

All of the 2022 ACC Tournament games will be shown on the ACC Tournament except for Sunday's finals...which will be shown on ESPN2. 

Other games on Thursday: 

#4 Notre Dame vs. #5 Clemson -- 1:30 p.m.

#2 Duke vs winner of Georgia Tech/N.C. State -- 5 p.m.

#3 Florida St. vs. #6 Virginia -- 7:30 p.m.

This time of year, it's win or go home. Let's hope our Softball Cards can put a five-game win streak together to get them the ACC Tournament title.  

Someone once said: "It's hard to talk about a two or three game win streak until you win that first one."  Time to get a win, Louisville. 

paulie

Softball falls to Duke 4-3; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good Friday morning Louisville fans, 

It sucks to be the one to report the season ender for any of our favorite programs at UofL... yesterday was a looooooong day out at Ulmer stadium.  But at least it was a gorgeous sunny day for everyone to enjoy at the ballpark.  A quick recap of the day's games before getting into Louisville's heart breaker. 

CLEMSON 2 - GEORGIA TECH 0 

The day started out with a great pitchers duel between Clemson/Georgia Tech that ended in a 2-0 win for the Tigers.  Made possible only by sending the ball yard twice into right center field, redshirt Junior Cammy Pereira did the damage at the plate for Clemson.  Freshman, Valerie Cagle got the win moving her record to 25-4. The ACC Player of the Year, threw her 10th complete-game shutout and matched her career-high 14 strikeouts as the Tigers advanced to the ACC semifinal.

VIRGINIA TECH 4 - NOTRE DAME 1 

Game two played host to the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish swept the Hokies in the 4 game regular season series and the Hokies got revenge on Thursday afternoon, ending Notre Dame's 14 game win streak.  Winning pitcher, and ACC pitcher of the year, Keely Rochard threw a four-hitter, striking out seven and walking three. She pitched out of bases-loaded jams in the fourth and fifth innings. Tech committed two errors Thursday — both by third baseman Cameron Fagan. The one run Tech allowed was unearned. The Hokies will face 13th-ranked and top-seeded Clemson (41-5) in a semifinal at 1 p.m. Friday. Virginia Tech won two of three games at Clemson in February.  It will be a pitching showdown between the two programs, I'm sure! 

FLORIDA STATE 2  - NC STATE 0 

Game three of the day featured the Florida State Seminoles and NC State, who advanced with a 4-2 win over UNC on Wednesday. Again, it was the homeruns that made the difference in the game. FSU's redshirt freshman, Devyn Flaherty, sent the ball into right center field for the solo HR and the game winner in the bottom of the second, her fifth HR of the season. NC State’s only two hits of the evening came from redshirt senior right fielder Tatyana Forbes during the second inning and redshirt senior center fielder Angie Rizzi during the third. Kathryn Sandercock, started and pitched her sixth complete game of the season.  Sandercock only faced 24 batters and threw a total of 77 pitches, including 5 strikeouts, against the Wolfpack.

And now for the day's finale... game four.

DUKE 4 - LOUISVILLE 3 

It looked like it was going to be a short night for the Cards as they were the away team in this game, Duke got off to a hot start with what looked like to me, an obvious homerun shot to left field by Junior Kristina Foreman in the bottom of the first inning.  The 2nd baseman trotted around the base path before attempting to round third, she was tagged by the Louisville defender and called out by the umpires.  The ball ricocheted off the camera operators scaffold and back into the playing area which prompted a review by the umpires.  It was later determined that it was indeed a homerun and Foreman rightfully took her trot across the plate and the Blue Devils took a 3-0 lead.

The Cards responded in the top of the second to load the bases.  But not without another review and overturned call by the umpires on (what looked like an obvious call to me in live play) a play at 1B where Cassady Greenwood beat the throw by a half a step.  Senior centerfielder Celene Funke found herself with bases loaded and no outs.  The struggling senior poked one over the defense to centerfield to score a run and keep the bases loaded with nobody out.  A fielders choice would give Duke their first out of the inning on the force at home by Vanessa Miller.  Carmyn Greenwood singled on a hit to third base and everyone advanced.  Maddy Newman was able to send one to deep right field which allowed speedy Celene Funke to score and tie it up on the SAC FLY.   Taylor Roby ended the offensive spark with a strikeout.

The two early half innings combined for the most runs in a game all day. 

Duke was able to secure the victory in the bottom of the fourth when Foreman, again, scored for the Blue Devils.  She was walked before scoring from first base on a double by senior first baseman Rachel Crabtree.   Duke then had a stellar defensive play in the top of the fifth to kill all momentum by the Cards' bats.  Maddy Newman saw a serious left field shift that featured 2 short stops but was able to find the gap for the single.  However a mistake on base-running ended the threat for Louisville.  Roby got out on a diving catch by the catcher at the away dugout, who then immediately popped up and put Maddy in a pickle where she was tagged out attempting to reach back to first.  

The Cards left runners on in the fifth and the sixth to end their season and hope for an ACC championship.  In a shocking turn of events, Celene Funke led the Cards at the plate going 2-3 on the day.  Roby takes the loss moving her to a 12-14 record this season.  UofL finishes the season with a 21-28-1 record.  The roster featured seven seniors this season. 

Like I said, it was a long day out at Ulmer and the Cards just ran out of gas.  I hate that we had to see tears from a couple of Cards, but that just shows how passionate they are about this program.  Even if they don't see it now, they did push this program a little further in the national softball realm.  Congrats to the seniors on their careers here at Louisville.  We, at Cardinal Couple, will always cheer for your successes!  

(Louisville Softball photos by Jared Anderson) 


WOMENS SOCCER

Former University of Louisville women's soccer midfielder Emina Ekic has been named a United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-American.

In addition, she was also named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Region First Team.

It marks the third straight season that Ekic has been named a USC All-American, as she was named a Second Team All-American following her sophomore and junior campaigns.

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

I will be out for radio this and next week as i am wrapping up the ACC tournament with the championship game Saturday at noon and vacation next weekend. Case will also miss the broadcast due to a wedding.  But i do believe the rest of the gang will be in tow! Be careful out there and don't forget to wear your sunscreen! 

Go Cards 

~Daryl 

Hartlage Advances to National Championship -- Softball Starts ACC Tournament -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Hartlage Advances to the National Championship

The third and final day of the NCAA Regional proved to be harsh for the Louisville women's golf team. The Cards entered the final day sitting fourth and had a four-stroke lead over the seventh place team at the time. The top six teams qualify for the NCAA Championship.

Over the course of the day, Louisville shot a 10-over-par to drop down to 11th overall and miss out on the NCAA Championship. Head coach Whitney Young hinted that the Cards struggled on the green, proving to be their downfall.

However, Lauren Hartlage performed well enough to qualify. The fifth-year senior shot a two-under-par 214 for the tournament for fourth place overall. Hartlage is the team's first individual qualifier since 2016.

Hana Ryskova finished 16th overall at two-over-par 218. Margot Bechadergue and Molly Lyne both shot a 10-over-par 226 to tie for 51st. Carly Haines only played the last two rounds but finished 94th from the two rounds after shooting 159. Cardinals golfer Mairead Martin and Agustina Gomez-Cisterna -- who competed in the ACC Championships for UofL, did not play in the regional. 

Despite the third-day plummet, things still went better in the Louisville Regional vs. the Baton Rouge Regional. Poor weather led to the regional never being played. By NCAA rule, the top six seeds advance to the NCAA Championship. There was no rain on Wednesday and the committee that made the decision said the course was playable, but not for a "championship level", sparking major outrage and controversy.

Softball Begins ACC Tournament vs Duke

It's do or die time for Louisville softball. After a first round bye, 6-seed Louisville gears up to face 3-seed Duke tonight at Ulmer Stadium.

Duke won the regular season series 3-1 after the Cards had stolen the series-opening win 2-0. Duke went on to win the next game 9-1 to even the series. The final two games were much closer with the Cards falling 5-4 in both of them.

Louisville struggled in the final couple weeks of the regular season against teams near the bottom of the conference standings. The Cards went 2-2 against both Boston College and North Carolina.

This game is set to start at 7:30 p.m., but being the fourth and final game of the day I highly doubt this game will start on time. You can catch this game on television on the ACC Network.

I plan to be out there to capture this game on camera and hopefully a Louisville win.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Golf Regional Day Two -- Walz Presser -- ACC Softball Tournament Begins Today -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S GOLF STILL IN FOURTH PLACE

The second round of the NCAA Women's Golf Louisville Regional was completed yesterday and Louisville remained in fourth place out of the 18 squads participating. 

The Cards shot a even-par 288 to stay at 6 over par for the Regional and are five stokes back of leader Florida State as the squads prepare for the final day of the Regionals today. 

Hana Ryskova and Lauren Hartlage had nice rounds for UofL at the UofL Golf Club in Simpsonville yesterday -- Ryskova touring the course with an 18-hole score of 70. She is in 10th place overall with a two-day total of 143. Hartlage had an even par 72 yesterday and sits just three strokes back of the leader ( Christin Eisenbeiss -- FSU) with a two-day score of 141. 

Another Cardinal golfer, Molly Lyme has a two-day total of 147 for the Cards. Margot Bechadergue and Carly Haines are also competing for the Cards. 

Louisville tees off at 9 a.m. this morning. The top six teams advance to the NCAA Championships. 

Louisville head women's golf coach Whitney Young recapped the second day:

"Today we got off to a little bit of a rough start. However, we stayed patient and ended up finishing well, which will give us confidence going into Wednesday.  Overall, we have put ourselves in a good position but we must continue to capitalize on our good shots and eliminate mental mistakes."  : 

WALZ PRESSER

Louisville head women's basketball coach Jeff Walz met with media yesterday via Zoom and caught us up on what's been going on with the Cards since the NCAA Tournament. 

You can see and listen to the presser at the link below:

 

LINK:  JEFF WALZ PRESSER

The highlights: 

-- All of the 2020-21 staff are back and eager to get to work 

-- He is excited about the addition of Emily Engstler and Chelsie Hall from the transfer portal. He likes the added strength it gives Louisville on the boards and at guard. 

-- He's also excited about Payton Verhulst and Sydni Schetnan coming in as freshmen. He thinks both could battle for minutes. 

-- Ahlana Smith is practicing with the Puerto Rican National team right now. 

-- He thinks Hailey is poised for a great sophomore year and thinks she'll continue to be more assertive on the court. 

-- He's excited for Dana Evans at Dallas and all the Cards on WNBA rosters. He's also been in touch with injured Angel McCoughtry and says that her mind frame is good despite the injury. 

-- Monique Reid was on the champion Egyptian team and Sam Fuehring was named the MVP of the German league she's in. 

-- Olivia Cochran is with the USA 3x3 squad, travelling as an alternate and practicing with them. 

ACC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT BEGINS TODAY

Seeds #7 thru #10 compete in the first round of the ACC Softball Tournament today out at Louisville's Ulmer Stadium. 

#8 Syracuse and #9 Georgia Tech take the field at 1 pm. for the first game.  The winner advanced to face #1 seed Clemson tomorrow at 11 a.m.  After the #8 vs. #9 seed play-in, it'll be #7 NC State vs. #10 North Carolina today. The winner of that one moves on to face #2 seed Florida State tomorrow. 

Louisville is the #6 seed in the Tournament and will go up against #3 seed Dule at (on around) 7:30 p.m. Thursday night. 

The weather is forecast to be clear, with temps reaching the high 60's today and dropping into the mid 40's at night. 

We'll have full coverage of the event, with our Jared Anderson serving as a photographer at the games. I haven't heard anything about my media credentials yet, so, I'll probably drive down to campus today and see if I got one of not. 

The ACC Network will have today's games.

Ticket Information
Single Game Adult - $5
Single Game Youth - $3

Children 2 and under – Free

ACC students with college ID – Free

Attendance Policy: Due to COVID-19 guidelines, seating inside the stadium is reserved for participating school pass lists, but the berm is open for general seating. Tickets may be purchased in advance online, or at Ulmer Stadium on the day of the game.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

paulie