Softball Sweeps and More - Monday Cardinal Couple

Softball at Virginia Tech

The Softball squad got it started early Saturday in the series finale vs Virginia Tech, putting 7 on the scoreboard in the 1st inning and would hold on for the 10-8 win.

The Cards got it going early with Jordan "The Governor" McNary getting on base with a 1-out walk.  Big sticks Maryssa "Beck" Becker and Nicole "Poof" Pufahl loaded the bases up with base hits for each.  Megan Hensley, who somehow doesn't really have a Cardinal Couple nickname yet, got McNary and Poof home with a double, setting up Jamie "The New Pride of New Egypt, New Jersey" Soles own RBI double.  Alison "Mike, Mike, Mike" Szydlowski, brought Soles home with a single.  Morgan "Mo" Meyer reached to put two on for Caitlin "She's just a freshman and she needs a nickname too" Ferguson to bring home.

The Hokies clawed back 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st, both teams went scoreless in the 2nd, and the Cards would finish their scoring in the 3rd.  Soles and Mike both got singles to get on base.  Mo Meyer, who started out her career with the Cards as a slapper, but hits for power these days, got a solid shot up the middle to bring Soles home.  McNary, who started out her career as a speedster slapper and remains so to this day, got an infield hit that brought Mike home.  McNary, demonstrating that speed, stole 2nd, and an error on the throw gave the also quite quick Meyer time to cross the plate for a 3 on the scoreboard in the 3rd.

A scoreless 4th, then VT put up 4 in the bottom of the 5th, and a single one in the bottom of the 6th to reach the final score after a scoreless 7th of 10-8.

Becker gets the win for pitching 5 innings, with Megan Hensley coming in for the save in relief.

Pearsall and the squad will be back at Ulmer tomorrow evening, the 18th, with a 5pm first pitch at Ulmer.  This one will be on The ACC Network Extra if you can't get off work soon enough to make it down there.  You may find it a bit easier to make it down there the next day, Wednesday, at 6pm when in-state WKU comes in to play.

Swimming

Cardinal Forever Kelsi Worrell continues to show the world that she's a force to be reckoned with in
the butterfly stroke, winning the Mesa, AZ even in the Arena Pro Swim Series Saturday night.

Winning the 200-meter stroke, Kelsi is extending the events for which she is known as she heretofore has achieved her success in the 100-meter and shorter races as a pure sprinter.  The winning time of 2:09.04 was 3.59 seconds better than her prelim, so she clearly is putting some effort in some of the longer races.

Other Cardinals Forever at the event included Andrea Cottrell which finished 4th in the 100-meter breast stroke, Silvia Guerra who touched 16th.  Alina Kendzior picked up 11th in the 100-meter backstroke, with Casey Fanz in 15th and Lainey Visscher in 16th.  Cottrell and Kendzior placed 15th ant 16th in the 200-meter IM, and Sophie Cattermole was close behind.  A couple of Cardinal guys were there as well, with Zach "Batman" Hartung picked up a 4th place finish in the 200-meter butterfly, and Carlos Claverie got a top 3 finish in the 100-meter breaststroke, and just missed the podium in the 200-meter IM.

JMcA

Louisville women's Swimming in third going into final day of ACC Championships -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

COMERFORD TOPS IN 200 FREE

Going into the final day of the ACC Swimming/Diving Championships...Arthur Albiero's Swim and Dive squad sits in third place...registering 674.5 points. NC State leads the way with 776.5, Virginia has 750 and the Cards are ahead of UNC...who has 665. 

I'll be quite honest, I don't fully understand the scoring system of swimming...but you have to be encouraged by Coach Albiero's statements last night: 

"I am proud of how we performed today. We had  18 swims this morning and all 18 qualified to swim in tonight's finals," said Arthur Albiero, UofL head coach. "That being said, we positioned ourselves to challenge for our best ACC finish in school history. Our seniors have continued to set the tone and our freshman are learning quickly. Looking at tomorrow, we train exactly for the day 4 prelim session. I am looking forward to watching our team tomorrow." 


Mallory Comerford took first in the 200 Free with a 1:41.70. It was a second better than the nearest competitor and set a meet, pool, ACC and school record for the distance. 

In the 100 Breaststroke, Andrea Cottrell touched second with a 58.81. She was narrowly edged out of first by Virginia's Laura Simon's 58.46. Cottrell is the defending ACC champ at the distance and meet record holder. 

The 400-Medley Relay team of Alina Kendzior (52.65), Andrea Cottrell (58.65), Grace Oglesby (52.44) and Mallory Comerford (46.71) won silver with a time of 3:30.45. Kendzior led off the backstroke leg and was fourth, next in the water Andrea Cottrell handed over a second place to flyer Grace Oglesby, who was third before Mallory Comerford anchored and made up a place for the runnerup slot. NC State took gold, clocking in at 3:28.26.
The 2017 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships resume Thursday morning at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries in the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, and the men's and women's platform diving. The finals for those events, in addition to the final heat of the 1650 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay, begin at 6 p.m.


PAULIE PICKS

A rare Thursday where UofL WBB isn't playing. Six games on the ACC slate tonight. Let's have a look: 

NC State goes to Boston to stalk the Eagles. They should have no problem robbing this bird nest and bakes the Beantown team. Wolfpack. 

Notre Dame heads to the land of boiled peanuts and faces Clemson. They grab these Tigers by the tail and do an Irish jig and Riverdance for a win. ND

Georgia Tech drives the 'Ramblin Wreck to Chapel Hill and tries not to get stuck in the TarHeels garage. We'll go with these Engineers solving the NC equation. GT. 

Pittsburgh defends the Pete against a feisty bunch of Gobblers. Maybe the closest game of the night, we see the felines surviving against the Hokies. Pitt.  

Florida State goes on the warpath in Wahoo Country. The Cavs will put up a strong fight...but this one should give Chief Osceloa a victory dance chance. FSU.

Duke takes I-40 West to Winston-Salem and takes a hike in Trees territory. Wake needs a win to stay on the NCAA bubble but the Devils will get the win. Duke. 

Tuesday Cardinal Couple

Mickey D's

As usual the readers here are on the ball, and this got mentioned in the comments yesterday, but it's worthy of a section here on its own.

Dana Evans and Loretta Kakala were selected to play in the McDonald's All-American game.  The game will be on March 29th at the United Center in Chicago.  This is, of course, one of the highest honors for high school ballers, and the two will join a cadre of other McDonald's All-Americans here at UofL.

Jeff Walz always shows support for the fan base in his post-game radio comments, so it's time to give a little back.  Evens and Kakala will be the 10th and 11th McD's All-Americans ever at UofL.  All of them came through the system under Jeff Walz.

Many of you follow basketball recruiting better than I do, but these two look exciting, with Evans a 5'6" guard (just barely fitting into the prerequisites for being an Attack Yorkie), that looks like she's going to be fun to watch.  Over 35 points, upwards of 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game in her senior season, have the makings for a fun offensive set.  Kakala is a 6'3" forward, fulfilling many CC commenters wish for some more height.

With Lindsey Duvall, who was nominated for the All-American team but wasn't selected, the incoming class will be the 4th ranked recruiting class in college basketball.  That makes six times since 2010 that UofL has had a top-10 class.

Track and Field

The indoor track and field folks had some success down in Lexington with a couple of wins and twelve top 5 finishes at the Kentucky Invitational.

Jumpers were the pinnacle for the Cards, with Damar Robinson reaching the height of the high jump competition, while Alexis Gibbons out-distanced the rest of the competition in the long jump.  Gibbons could have great things ahead of her for the Cards as this is her second straight long jump win, and she's just getting started here in her freshman year.

Cardinal Couple favorite Emmonnie Henderson claimed a 2nd place finish in shot put (no discus in indoor competition), and another name we're already heard a lot in track and field, Raven Grant, finished 3rd in the 60-yard dash.

Holly Hankenson finished 3rd in the 800-meter run, and the men's 4x400-meter; Carlos Coleman, Josh Hall, Teague Peck, and Eric Fox also claimed a 3rd place finish.

Swimming and Diving

A couple of pieces of pool news.  Also news about Andrea's.

In a solid win over Missouri, Senior Andrea Cottrell picked up five 1st place finishes which was enough for her to pick up the ACC Swimmer of the Week honor.  This is the 2nd time Cottrell has earned that honor.

In other Andrea news, Andrea Kneppers, Cardinal Alumna and representative of the Dutch National Swimming Team has decided to retire from competitive swimming.  Kneppers had a distinguished career for the Cardinals, perhaps overshadowed somewhat by Kelsi Worrell, but she contributed significantly to the advancement of the UofL swimming team.  We here at Cardinal Couple are certain that she'll do great things in whatever she pursues next.

-- JMcA

More Cardinals...more Gold... SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LOUISVILLE SWIMMERS TAKE 4X100 IN USA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Kelsi Worrell decided the more the merrier when it comes to Cardinals capturing the Gold in San Antonio...so she teamed up with UofL swimmers Andrea Kneppers, Hannah Magnuson and Andrea Cottrell to take the 4x100 free relay.

Worrell knocked her split out in 54.73...Kneppers did the 100 in 55.93, the other Andrea recorded a 56.79 and Magnuson covered the water in 57.36.

Coach Al has another good one headed 'Ville way in Mallory Comerford. She won the Under 18 200 free in an impressive 2:00.49.

RADIO TODAY!

Cardinal Couple: The Radio Version hits the airwaves at 11 a.m. this morning. We'll have Donald Trump, Rosie O'Donnell and Megyn Kelly (the Fox News chick) in the studio for a no-holds barred cage match. 

OK...we're not going to have them in the studio, but me and Jeff will be talking women's sports and more! 

We're on WCHQ 100.9 FM and also streaming live on the Internet at www.crescenthillradio.com 

Tune in, won't you? 

paulie
xxxxx

Better than par...Louisville women's Golf -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

Golf Academic Honors

Academic honors are becoming par for the course for the Women's Golf team, with four being named Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-Academic Scholars.

Graduating seniors Emily Haas and Katie Petrino picked up two of the spots, with rising senior Laura Restrepo and rising junior Louise Oxner picked up the other two spots.  In just 3 years, head coach Courtney Trimble now can claim 13 players collecting this academic honor.  The four this year tops all of the 11 ACC schools with women's golf teams.

Collectively, the team sported a 3.72 GPA, which may be the highest of any sport at UofL (no details on that, yet, but that's a pretty impressive team score!)

And lest you think these folks are taking underwater basket weaving as a major, Haas graduated with a degree in Biology, Petrino in Business, and Restrepo and Oxner are working towards degrees in Finance.

Swimming The WUGs

Several UofL athletes are competing in the World University Games, and I'm doing my best to piece together ongoing results.

The US went 1-2 in the 200meter breast stroke prelims with UofL's Andrea Cottrell claiming the second spot.  The two US swimmers were in the same heat, so that bodes well for tomorrow's final in the event.

Meanwhile, Tanja Kylliainen finished in 10th in the finals for the 400meter Individual Medley, and 9th in the 200meter IM.  Tanja, always a Cardinal, is the WUGs representing Finland.

DREAM v TULSA

The Atlanta Dream look to keep the winning ways going when they host the Tulsa Shock tonight at 8 p.m. It'll be an ESPN2 game.

Tulsa is 8-4 but has lost Skylar Diggins for the rest of the reason. The Dream looks to get back to .500 (5-6) with a win tonight.

Anyone want to surmise on a over/under for Shoni playing time?
  

JMcA
xxxxx

Sunday Quick Hits, Scores, and Splits - Sunday Cardinal Couple

(Sorry for the late update this morning, Paulie and I had a bit of a miscommunication and both of us have travels going on the next couple of days.  In the meantime, let's all wish Paulie a joyous Happy Birthday in the comments!)

Quick Splits for Swim and Dive

Someone needs to check Tanja Kylliainen for gills, as she won three golds in the ACC Swimming Championship, setting three ACC records in the process, as well as pulling in the MVP award for the meet.  While she hasn't quite hit the mark yet, some of her records are putting her into overall American record setting territory.  Tanja isn't out there alone, however, teammate Kelsi Worrell picked up an individual ACC championship with a record setting pace in the 100 free.  She also picked up the win in the 100 fly, and claimed a silver in the 50 free.

Other finishers of note in the meet include Andrea Cottrell with a bronze in the 200 breaststroke, and the team took a bronze in the 400 free relay.

Lacrosse Chills Canisius

The scoring came fast and furious for the Cardinal Lacrosse team as they tried to stay warm in the sloppy cold weather on Floyd Street.

Cortnee Daley and Faye Brust both found the back of the net four times in the victory over the New Yorkers, who, by reports, insisted on playing the game on the outdoors Lacrosse field rather than taking it indoors to the warmer and drier confines of the Trager practice facility by Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium.  I wonder if they thought the cold, rainy, sleety weather would be an advantage to the northerners, but the tricks on them as Cortnee Daley hails from not much further south in Pennsylvania, and, of course, our draw control expert, Kaylin Morissette, comes to use from Canada and merely laughs at New York's cold weather resume.

Suffice it to say that this game was never in too much doubt.  While its still early in the season and there are plenty of lessons to be learned to improve the Cardinals' play, they jumped on the board in the first half, scoring three times before Canisius was able to get one between the pipes.  The Cards and and The Golden Griffins would trade a couple of goals apiece to go into halftime 5-3.

The second half was all Cards, though.  While shutting out The Griffs...I wonder if they stopped in at Griff's on Cardinal Boulevard for dinner after the game...in the second half by turning up the defensive intensity, the net got a workout as ten shots managed to find their way between the pipes before the final buzzer sounded and the teams were able to go dry off and warm up with a final score of 15-3.

Sophomore Ashley Peacock stopped four shots in goal, while the GK for The Griffs, Rebecca VanLaeken got in front of six to help keep the score from getting even more out of hand.

Lacrosse takes their first road trip, heading out to Colorado to take on Denver in a 3pm Saturday game.

Team USA Volleyball Tryouts

A quick hit, actually, probably a lot of quick hits in Colorado Springs this weekend as the US National Volleyball program holds their annual tryouts for the various US Collegiate teams that will play this summer.

The Cards have seven, a veritable invasion of the Rocky Mountain State, taking part in tryouts.  Libero Roxanne McVey; our pair of starting middles, Tess Clark and Maggie DeJong; both setters, Katie George...because she doesn't already have enough to do this summer...and Lyndsey Palmer; outside hitter and transfer from USF, Erin Fairs; as well as the play-her-everywhere-but-mostly-outside-hitter, Janelle Jenkins; are all taking part.

We here at the Cardinal Couple wish them all the best and look forward to hearing of summer travels to come.

- JMcA