Softball Rallies Late Twice for Two Wins -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Wins Twice in Cardinal Classic Double Header

Louisville fell behind in the first inning of action at Ulmer Stadium this season before ultimately scoring 7 unanswered runs to take care of Indiana State 7-1. Sounds pretty simple, right? Not quite. The Cardinals and Sycamores were locked at 1 from the second inning on, and Indiana State threatened to regain the lead multiple times throughout the game. It wasn't until the 6th inning that Louisville scored its next 6 runs and then finished ISU 1-2-3 in the 7th to win the game.

Louisville took advantage of three Indiana State errors, all in the sixth inning, to win the game. Five of Louisville's six runs in the sixth were unearned, the go ahead run being the only earned run of the inning. Despite the significant number of unearned runs, the Cards were still credited with 5 RBIs, with Celene Funke, Megan Hensley, and Cassady Greenwood earning one apiece and Kara Snyder picking up two. Celene Funke led the Cards on offense with 3 hits on 4 at bats. She scored a run, had the aforementioned RBI, left no runners on base and struck out 0 times. 

Because I apparently do not know how softball pitching scoring works, Megan Hensley was credited with the win, despite exiting a tie game in the top of the fifth inning. Louisville would not take the lead with Hensley in the circle, but she moves to 2-1 and Taylor Roby, who pitched the final three innings (including getting the Cards out of an early jam in the fifth) earned the win. Hensley finished with six hits vs six strikeouts. She walked one batter, hit one batter, and allowed one run. Roby had three strikeouts, only one hit, and one wild pitch. Louisville's pitching in this game was a lot better than it has been in terms of control, and that is important as giving opponents free baserunners can lead to losing games. 

There was no rest for the weary after a late win, as the Cards prepared to take on the Missouri Tigers (26th in the latest RPI) just a half hour after their previous game ended. Louisville is currently ranked 45th in the RPI so a win here would show that the Cards have the ability to finish games against stronger competition, something they kind of need to prove after a less than stellar start against quality teams so far this season.

It was a come from behind game again for Louisville as they allowed Mizzou to take a 3-0 lead in the second inning following two hits, two walks, and an error. Fortunately, the Cards were able to clean up the defense and pitching after the second inning, scattering just three more hits, two more walks, and one more error throughout the game. The Cards' bats were quiet for the first half of the game, as their only baserunner came on an error in the first. Louisville's first hit came on a single by Hensley in the fourth inning. She was replaced by Jordyn Wolfe on the basepaths, who scored on a Caitlin Ferguson triple in the next at-bat. After a Rebecca Chung walk, Ferguson was replaced at third by Maddy Newman (who was pinch running for Chung) after a baserunning breakdown. Ferguson out, Newman at third. Taylor Roby singled up the middle and the Cards trailed only 3-2.

Again, in the sixth inning, the Cards made their move. Ferguson and Chung were determined to score on their own, and after Ferguson doubled, Chung sent a home run over the right center wall to give the Cards a 4-3 lead. Louisville dinked and dunked a couple of more hits to bring Kara Snyder in on a Riley Schindler single and the Cardinal lead moved to 5-3, the final score.

The Cards were led on offense by Ferguson and Roby, both going 2-3 with an RBI, and Chung, who was 1-2 with a walk and the go ahead two-run homer. Danielle Watson went the distance in the circle in this one, moving her record to 4-4. She allowed 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), and 4 walks. However, she did strikeout five, and as I mentioned before, most of the damage to her line was done in the second inning. She allowed more than one baserunner in only one other inning, and that was an error and a walk. Watson and Hensley are both fighting to be called the "ace" of this team, and the competition is a good thing to have. The two make each other better and it is exciting to see improvement from them. 

Also important for the Cards is that the pitchers and offense are supporting each other. Last season, we saw games where the pitchers would be great, only for the offense to be inept and the Cards lose a low scoring game. In other games, the offense would score ample runs, only for the pitchers to give up even more and the Cards lose a high scoring game. Louisville has been very balanced so far this season and that is the path to success. Hopefully Holly Aprile can keep finding improvement in her team this season and beyond. The Cards are back in action this morning at 10:30 in a rematch game against ISU before a 4:30 (scheduled) game against IUPUI. Both games are available on ACC Network Extra if you cannot make it out to Ulmer.

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POSTGAME WITH HOLLY APRILE

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

I'm out of the studio this week as deadlines call me into the office once more, but fear not; the four seats shall be filled. Paulie, Jeff, and Jared are joined this week by Daryl Foust, who is more than thrilled that softball has returned to the Ville. The four will discuss yesterday's softball games, likely while keeping up with the action in the game ongoing during the show, while also giving Louisville women's basketball the attention it deserves. It should be a fantastic hour of sports talk radio, the only one bringing you all of the news and analysis regarding Louisville women's sports. Tune in to WCHQ at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, the WCHQ website, or fanfare back on Facebook Live at 11AM.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Photos for this article provided by Jared Anderson.

Softball Wins; Other Sports in Action -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Uses Big Inning to Get Past Virginia

Despite the fact that a double header was announced to replace today's second game of the series between Virginia and Louisville, the Cards and Hoos only faced off once yesterday. Deciding, apparently, to brave the April snow today, the two teams will take to the field at the originally scheduled time in game two of three. Louisville had a monster third inning to run away with yesterday's game. They'll hope to have a similar result, if not the same process, in today and tomorrow's games. As Jared mentioned yesterday, conference play has not been friendly to the Cards so far, and they were coming into this weekend after a midweek beatdown in the big rivalry game.

With Danielle Watson facing back issues, Megan Hensley took to the circle in game one. Let's just say that while Megan didn't take the loss, she also didn't get the win. Hensley's bat was impressive for the Cards yesterday, but her arm was not. She finished the day with only 3.0+ innings pitched while giving up 9 hits and 2 walks for a WHIP of 3.67 (yikes) and 7 earned runs (including a 3 run homer). I was going to do the math on her daily ERA, too, but I couldn't figure out if I should multiply by 9 or just 7 since it's softball so I gave up. Either way, the ERA, like the WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched) was high, and a pitching line such as that will usually lose you games. Hensley did strike out two batters and did not hit anyone, but those were kind of the highlights of her pitching. 

Fortunately, after going down 3-1, Louisville's offense exploded for 11 runs in the third inning. Louisville had opened the scoring in the bottom of the first solely on the legs of Sidney Melton. Melton singled to start the inning, then advanced a base each on back to back productive groundouts. A runner on third with two outs apparently wasn't acceptable to the first baseman, as she sailed a throw (to third?), allowing Melton to waltz home on the error. Louisville started the third inning with back to back walks and a single to load the bases. A Maddy Newman single brought in two runs to tie the game at three, and a double steal put runners on second and third with nobody out. Caitlin Ferguson reached on an error, which scored a run, and Louisville had taken the lead with two runners still on and nobody out. Hensley promptly jacked a three run shot and the Cards were up 7-3. Nicole Pufahl stepped in with the bases empty and laid down a bunt, which the pitcher threw as hard as she could away from the first baseman, allowing Poof to advance to second. After a pitching change, Kara Snyder walked, and Jordyn Wolfe loaded the bases with another reach on an error. Jenna Jordan stepped in and hit a bases clearing triple into center... Okay so she actually hit a single and the center fielder had yet another (!!) error for the Cavaliers, plating all three runs and allowing Jordan to sneak to third. Celene Funke hit a ground ball to second for what appeared to be the first out of the inning, until it was botched and Funke reached while Jordan scored. Funke stole second. Melton grounded out to the catcher, unassisted (what?). Funke stole third, and Newman brought her in with a groundout. Ferguson flied out and the nightmare inning for Virginia was over. Louisville scored 11 runs, 7 of which were unearned.

After Hensley allowed the Wahoos to get back within 5, she was replaced by Paige Schindler, who walked the only two batters she faced. Kara Snyder came in and got her first three batters out to end the threat. Snyder went on to finish the game, pitching 4 innings and giving up just three hits and one walk compared to three strikeouts. She gave up no runs and was awarded the win. Like Watson, Snyder is a freshman and is one of the reasons that the future looks bright for UofL softball.

Hensley hit her second home run of the day in the bottom of the third to get one of the runs back and Snyder picked up the Cards final RBI of the day in the bottom of the sixth inning. Virginia was unable to recover from the third inning and could not crack Kara Snyder. The Cards won 14-7. The Cards were led on offense by Hensley, who went 3-4 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored and Jenna Jordan, who went 3-3 with 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, and drew a walk. The Cards finished the game with a team on base percentage of 0.424 and only left 4 runners on base. Capitalizing on an opponent's mistakes is a sign of a strong team, and Louisville's offense was strong yesterday. The Cards and Cavs will play game two today at 3 PM.

Other Sports Playing Today

In addition to softball, we've got other women's sports on deck today. The track team is at the Alabama Invitational all day, hopefully staying away from the snow. Jeff McAdams is excited, today, as spring volleyball is fully underway while the Cards hit the KIVA College Showcase at OVVC. Jeff will be there all morning, taking in the sights and sounds, and getting a good handle on what the Cards team will look like going into next season. Finally, women's lacrosse is on the road at North Carolina, where they'll hope to get back on track. The Cards have lost 4 straight and six of their last seven. Scott Teeter knew he would have his work cut out for him when he arrived on campus, and he'll look to get his first ACC win today at 3. The game will be carried on ACC Network Extra.

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

With me on the disabled list, Jeff watching volleyball, and Jared counting change, Paulie was all set up to be alone in the studio today. Not wanting to expose the dear listeners to that debacle, comedian John Mauldin, long time friend of the show, stepped in to take one of the empty chairs on Mellwood Avenue. The two should put on a great, if different, show today and, as always, will bring to you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-