SOFTBALL SENIOR DAY -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Softball Seniors

Yesterday was the Senior Day celebration for UofL Softball, celebrating the collegiate career endings of 5 UofL seniors; Blaire Bass, a transfer from Auburn who hasn't played this year due to a back injury but has remained with the team; Darrianne Hale, a pitcher that transferred from Butler Community College; Madison Cousineau, a catcher that transferred in from Mississippi State; Megan Hensley, who has been the ace of the pitching staff, from Paul Blazer High school in Ashland, Kentucky; and lastly Sidney Melton, the anchor of the team at 3rd base, and currently locked in a battle for most stolen bases on the team.

Sidney Melton did red-shirt a year during her career at UofL due to an ACL tear, so she is in her 5th year of eligibility, which makes her the highest seniority member of the team.

The Senior Day celebration was a pleasure, as they always are, with the opportunity to see
embarrassing pictures from the player's childhood and early careers.  Occasionally you get see evidence of a player's early experimentation with other sports, as well, such as a picture of Sidney Melton in a swim cap and goggles.  Over the past several years, UofL has also included a quick honor of the seniors from the opposing team, in this case, UNC, which I think is always a nice touch, and I'm glad to see the practice carry over to the new staff.

Credit where credit is due, much of the organization and planning for events like this, and plenty more, throughout the season for any UofL sports team, is done by the various Directors of Operation, which is Casey Bonk in the case of UofL Softball.

The game, though?  Well, there are a couple of bright spots, including a season high 3 home runs, with Darrianne Hale - playing at designated player, Megan Hensley - split time between right field and pitching, and Kyra Snyder - at first base, all taking one beyond the fence.  Ultimately, however, UNC came away with the win 10-7.  The general consensus, including from Coach Holly Aprile, was that UofL played better yesterday than they did Friday, but still have a few things they need to tweak.  Of course, UNC is a quality opponent, holding in 2nd place in the Coastal division of the ACC (VT, UNC, GT, Duke, UVA, Pitt) and 3rd overall in the ACC.

UofL, despite what feels like a really hit and miss season, though with more hits than many expected from this team, is 3rd in the Atlantic division, and 5th overall in the ACC.

The Cards have one more chance against UNC today at noon, and then will head to NC State next weekend to close out the regular season (NC St. is 5th in the Atlantic division) with a typical Friday, Saturday, Sunday series.  After that, the ACC Championship tournament kicks of May 8th through 11th in Tallahassee, FL.

A great deal of love and gratitude for these five seniors who contributed what they could during their time as student-athletes here at the University of Louisville.

Here''s hoping the Cards complete the regular season strong and do well in the ACC Tournament to propel them to success in the NCAA Tournament



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POST GAME WITH HOLLY APRILE:  http://thecrunchzone.com/video-sb-holly-aprile-unc-post-game-two/


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(THANKS TO DARYL FOUST - THE CRUNCH ZONE  - FOR THE VIDEO FEED)

(PHOTOS FROM JARED ANDERSON)

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Knucklehead Squad was in effect at the WCHQ studios, yesterday, with Case, Jared, Paulie, and myself reunited as a group for the first time in some time, as the "A" team.  Daryl was missed, but we did catch up with her later in the day at Ulmer Stadium.

As always, we had a great time covering the current news in the UofL women's sports world, and I even refrained from derailing the discussion completely with a discussion of soccer field drainage and heating technologies and techniques, though the temptation was very real.

You can check out the stream at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/419285678884953/

-- 

JMcA

Softball's Final Home Weekend and Golf in NCAA -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Golf Prepares for the NCAA Championship

For the sixth straight year Louisville women’s golf will be playing in an NCAA Regional.  The Cards were invited to the East Lansing Regional, with Michigan State being the host site.  They will compete in the three-day event from May 6-8. This is Courtney Trimble's final season as their coach and hope they can send her out with a bunch of birdies and great shots. 

Louisville comes in as the 11-seed of the 18-team pool.  The top six teams will advance to compete in the 24-team NCAA Championship.  The top three individual finishers that are not on one of the six qualifying teams will also earn a bid to the NCAA Championship.

The Cards placed first in one tournament earlier this year, claiming the title at the Alexa Sterling Intercollegiate.  They finished runner-up at the Moon Golf Invitational and placed third twice this year.

The entire East Lansing Regional is:

1-Stanford

2-Arizona

3- Kent State

4- UCLA

5- Michigan State

6- Campbell

7- Illinois

8- Baylor

9- North Carolina

10- Georgia

11- Louisville

12- Augusta

13- LSU

14- Indiana

15- Long Beach State

16- Xavier

17- Harvard

18- IUPUI

Duke, USC, and Texas are the other three 1-seeds.  They will play at Auburn, Cle Elum (Washington), and Norman (Oklahoma), respectively.

Softball Hosts Senior Weekend

We will get to witness in person the thrill and excitement of Louisville softball for one final weekend.  The Cards are set to square off against North Carolina in their usual Friday-Saturday-Sunday slot.

Friday’s 6:00 game is Service Appreciation Night.  I expect Caitlin Ferguson’s father will be in attendance to throw out there first pitch.

Saturday’s 1:00 game will be Senior Day and the five seniors in Sidney Melton, Megan Hensley, Blaire Bass, Madison Cousineau, and Darianne Hale will be recognized.  Sunday’s noon game will be Bark in the Park as fans will crowd the outfield berm with dogs of all shapes and sizes.

Louisville boasts a 32-15 record with an 11-7 conference mark.  They are winners of six straight games and eight of their last nine.  Recent highlights include a victory against Kentucky and a series victory against Florida State.

Celene Funke’s 10 triples on the season is an NCAA-high and tied a Louisville program-best.  Sidney Melton’s 25 successful steals is two shy of tying for second in program history in a single season.  Her 58 career steals is third best in UofL history and three shy of moving into second place.  Funke has 23 successful steals.  Her 43 career steals is sixth best in program history.

At the plate, Megan Hensley's four career grand slams is tied for a program best.  Her 34 home runs stand fourth in UofL history and she needs two more to move into a tie for third.  She is fourth in career RBIs with 165 and needs one more to move up into a tie for third.

The Tar Heels are nearly identical to the Cards, holding a 15-6 record in the ACC and are 31-15 overall.  They are 7-8 against ranked teams and do have wins over Florida State, Virginia Tech, Georgia, and Michigan.  UNC bats .295 on the year and has posted 232 runs.

The pitching staff is stingy.  They combine for a 3.86 ERA and have allowed 274 hits.  Opponents have been limited to 150 runs on the year, an average of 3.125 runs per game.

You can catch most of the Cardinal Couple crew on Floyd Street this week as well as the "A-team" on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour together at 11 a.m. Saturday on WCHQ 100.9 FM or live on Facebook Live.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Louisville Softball -- Interview with Holly Aprile Head Softball Coach -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

THE HOLLY APRILE INTERVIEW

I got a chance to catch up with Louisville Softball head coach Holly Aprile recently to talk about her preparation, thoughts and activities toward the start of the 2019 season. A season that will rival any of the on-campus sports in terms of playing on the road early. 

Louisville will start the season in Fullerton, CA. in the Titan Classic on Feb 8th. and visit Chapel Hill, NC, and Knoxville, TN for classic and challenge action before returning back to Ulmer for the home schedule opener against Indiana State on March 1st. 

She has a team for 2019 that has several returning letter-winners that paced the Cards last year and experience at several positions. Also on campus are six freshmen, who will battle for starting roles on the diamond. 

The Cards roster lists six pitchers, all who were on the squad last year and either saw time in the circle or sat out as red shirts. Megan Hensley leads the "hurling" group and the senior has recorded 26 wins over the last two seasons. Names you're sure to remember from last year that are back include Maddy Newman, Riley and Paige Schindler, Sid Melton, Caitlin Ferguson, Celine Funke, Madison Cousineau, Danielle Watson and Kyra Snyder.  

As you listen to the interview, some key points to listen for: 

-- What tournaments (and why they are in them) are the Cards starting the season off with?

-- Coach's thoughts on starting a season in a warmer climate

-- Who will the Cards face in the ACC /Big 10 Challenge? 

-- Who are some of the returning Cards on the roster? 

-- Who will take the pitching circle for Louisville? 

-- What role could senior Blaire Bass play on the squad? 

-- Coach's thoughts on UofL hitting power this season

-- The freshmen and her observations on them

-- Holly's coaching style

-- Her message to Cardinal fans 


A great time talking softball with Coach Aprile but we didn't get a single overhead plane roar, train horn or emergency vehicle siren make an audio appearance in the 14 minute chat. Plenty of time for that, of course, during the season at Ulmer. The Cards will play 22 home games on the ballpark at the corner of Floyd and Brandeis Streets. 


The roster breakdown by class is:  five freshmen, seven sophomores, two juniors and five seniors. 

The geographical breakdown of where the players are from is:  Indiana (5), Kentucky (4), North Carolina (2), Louisiana (2), California (2) and (1) each from Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Alabama and Illinois. 


A special thanks to softball S.I.D. Lori Korte for making the arrangements and sitting in with us for the interview. 

You can listen to the Interview at the link below: 

LINK: December Interview with UofL Softball's Holly Aprile


paulie
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