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

Softball adds two...The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

COUSINEAU, HALE JOIN SOFTBALL SQUAD

We haven't had a lot a Softball talk here in the CARDINAL COUPLE articles since the season ended back on May 11th. in the ACC quarterfinals with a 5-2 loss to NC State. One thing we have lamented about is the lack of getting runners on base to home plate. 

Sandy Pearsall is working on that. 

Madison Cousineau and Darrianne Hale are the two newest "Hit and Pitch" Cards to join Pearsall's roster...both coming in via the transfer route. They'll be on campus for the fall 2017 session and both have impressive numbers. 

Cousineau comes to Louisville from Mississippi State. She spent two seasons as a Bulldog and plays catcher. Her knowledge of the game and communication with the pitching staff are strong points for the Otto, N.C. native and she also possess a strong bat.  

Returning from last year behind the plate is senior catcher Jenna Jordan...who started 40 of Louisville's 44 games and batted .286. After that...with Alison Szydlowski now looking to be more of an infielder now than plate guarder and Shelby Graybill...listed as a catcher but used primarily as a pinch hitter...Cousineau's addition adds valuable backup at the position. 

Hale hits the Belknap Campus after a season at Butler Community College. She was a member of the 2017 National Junior College Athletic Association championship team. Playing first base and pitching...she complied a .407 batting average and hit 22 home runs for the Grizzlies. She also went 6-0 on the mound with a .187 ERA in 45 innings of work. She comes in as a junior...spending her freshmen year at Incarnate Word...where her numbers were equally impressive. 

The Cards have needs at all three areas of Hale's expertise. WIth Tiarra Sanabria graduated and Michala Riggle transferred to Liberty...first base is open. Pitching wise, the Cards show only Megan Hensley and Sydney Warriner...who spent most of the season injured... on roster. A back up in the circle...especially one who can hit...is a welcome aspect for this squad. 

We haven't seen a list yet of the freshmen that will be on the 2018 squad yet. We imagine there will be a sizable number...a look at the current roster, adding in Hale and Cousineau, shows 16 players. Of those, six regularly saw starting roles for the Cards in the 2017 campaign...so opportunities exist for immediate playing time for the reserves and newcomers to the program. Another key element will be how starting shortstop Sidney Melton comes back from an early season-ending injury last year. 

We'll miss the speedy McNary...but will cover her
future political aspirations as they develop. 

Graduation hit Louisville fairly hard. Gone are Maryssa Becker, Jordan McNary, Morgan Meyer and Tiarra Sanabria...all key starters from 2017. Transferring out of the program were Lillie Goetz (Murray State)...in addition to Riggle. 

Cardinal fans and the players are anxious to see this squad return to post-season play. Hopefully, the returnees and newcomers can accomplish the task. The Cards will play a fall exhibition schedule and we'll watch it with interest as a pre-cursor to what lies ahead for the squad in the ACC for 2018


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BURKE ON THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

We have had a lot of fun and you, the listeners, have really seemed to enjoy the "Catching Up With" segment we've been featuring on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour the last couple of weeks. Believe me, it's been a blast creating the piece and my sincere thanks to Sara Hammond and Asia Taylor for eagerly agreeing to be our subjects of examination and providing us great interviews in the first two episodes. 

We go to a Burke this Saturday. 

No, not musical performer Justin Burke. It's not ESPN announcer Doris Burke (although both would make for pretty interesting interviews). 

#11. "Double B's"...the Gunslinger. Becky Burke joins us to catch us up on life in west central Arizona as she prepares for her second season as head women's basketball coach at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. 

Some teases to listen for..

- What "aged Becky 20 years"? 

- How does she view this current crop of Cardinals? 

- What were her favorite memories as a Cardinal? 

- What is a common misconception about Embry Riddle Aeronautical University? 

- Can she still drill the "3"? 

Becky's segment will run around 11:30 Saturday. The show starts at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM locally and on the Internet at www.crescenthillradio.com

You can go to the Cardinal Couple archives at the radio station website to re-listen to the Hammond and Taylor interviews if you missed them. I think the previous show list goes back about four months currently. 

Go to the site, hover over Programming, click on Cardinal Couple and scroll down to see the previous broadcasts. It's so simple even Paulie can do it! 

Who said we've nothing to cover in the off-season? Join Worldwide, Case, Jared and I Saturday for sports talk radio that "beats anything on the air in Bradenton" according to David Watson.


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ACC MEDIA FOOTBALL DAYS

Normally, this wouldn't be a big area for us to cover here at Cardinal Couple. Since it seems about half the Louisville sports media has descended on Charlotte, however, and it involves Lamar Jackson....I did sample some of the stuff that happened down there yesterday. 

Three things I liked: 

"New look" Lamar

1) I wonder if Florida State head football coach Jimbo Fisher is an auctioneer in the off-season? Have you ever heard this guy ramble? I think only horse racing callers and ice hockey announcers have a faster delivery style...

Sample a bit of his audio if you don't believe me from yesterday. I surely would not want to have to transcribe him live for visual content. He's the Hannah Koloski of talking! 

2) Head Syracuse football coach Dino Babers has a sense of humor. During the media days yesterday, he walked up to Lamar Jackson and touched him on the shoulder. He then turned to the cameras and said: 

"Did you get that? I just wanted to prove to our defense that you can get to him...he is touchable." 

Reportedly...Lamar got a big kick out of the encounter.  (Last year, L.J. put 610 total yards and five touchdowns on the Orange.)

3) Speaking of Lamar...how about the "new look" for the Louisville quarterback? Sporting a new haircut and a under-toned but stylish suit...it looks like he's undergone a bit of GQ transformation. We approve. We think he'll have a lot of photos snapped of him this upcoming season and you might as well be photogenic, right?  


paulie
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