Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse, Softball advance in Tournaments

RADIO TODAY @ 11 AM
http://www.crescenthillradio.com

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Boltja gets game winner in double O.T. for Lax

- LeCoq, Keller lead Softball past Bulls 8-0

- Women's golf slips to 17th. after Day 2

It was a thriller in Evanston last night and Nikki Boltja came through in the clutch.

The senior scored on a free position shot with 4:37 left in the sudden-death second overtime to give the LAX Cards a 11-10 win over Ohio State in NCAA first round action. After Kaylin Morissette won the draw control to start the sudden death period, the Cards moved into OSU territory and Boltja was fouled...setting up the game winner.

It looked like Louisville had it won in the first (not sudden-death) extra session. With 1:13 remaining, Cortnee Daley was fouled and made her free position shot to give Louisville a 10-9 lead. Louisville controlled the draw, but a turnover with 36 seconds left got the ball back in OSU's possession and the Buckeyes came down field to score with 8 seconds remaining to force the second overtime.

Boltja had four goals for the Cards in the win. Faye Brust and Cortnee Daley added two each for UofL.

The Cards scored early in the contest...winning the opening draw and Boltja dashing to the goal to put one past OSU's goalie Tori DeScenza less than a minute into the contest. 

The Cards will face Northwestern Sunday at 2 p.m. in round 2 action.

#	Prd	Time	Team	Type	Assists	H-V
1.	1st	29:13	LOU	Boltja, Nikki (68)	Unassisted	0-1
2.		27:35	OSU	Dabrowski, Cian	Unassisted	1-1
3.		24:32	LOU	Patterson, Laura (7)	Boltja, Nikki (25)	1-2
4.		18:53	OSU	Chase, Katie	Free position shot	2-2
5.		17:17	OSU	Dabrowski, Cian	Unassisted	3-2
6.		11:40	LOU	O'Malley, Colleen (12)	Boltja, Nikki (26)	3-3
7.		11:11	LOU	Brust, Faye (68)	Unassisted	3-4
8.		10:50	OSU	Fee, Morgan (2)	Unassisted	4-4
9.		9:54	OSU	Ayers, Kelsea	Dabrowski, Cian	5-4
10.		9:09	OSU	Facchina, Mary Kate	Free position shot	6-4
11.		8:27	LOU	Corbett, Carissa (7)	Boltja, Nikki (27)	6-5
12.	2nd	21:01	OSU	Ayers, Kelsea	Unassisted	7-5
13.		17:59	LOU	Daley, Cortnee (38)	Free position shot	7-6
14.		17:23	LOU	Brust, Faye (69)	Unassisted	7-7
15.		15:10	OSU	Porretto, Jennifer	Free position shot	8-7
16.		14:51	LOU	Boltja, Nikki (69)	Unassisted	8-8
17.		13:10	OSU	Porretto, Jennifer	Unassisted	9-8
18.		5:54	LOU	Boltja, Nikki (70)	Free position shot	9-9
19.	OT	1:13	LOU	Daley, Cortnee (39)	Free position shot	9-10
20.		0:08	OSU	Chase, Katie	Unassisted	10-10
21.	OT2	4:37	LOU	Boltja, Nikki (71)	Free position shot	10-11

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Cardinal Softball slammed their way past USF in the semifinals of the AAC Tournament in six innings 8-0.

A grand slam home run by Katie Keller was the big blow that sent USF starter Sara Nevins to the bench and gave Louisville a 5-0 lead in the second inning.

The Cards added a run in the fourth when Brittany Duncan singled in Kelsi Jones. Duncan accounted for the final two RBI's in the sixth when she sent a towering shot over both centerfield fences with Katie Keller on to push the margin to eight.

Rachel LeCoq, despite a rocky start, pitched her way out of a first-inning, two on and one out jam and ended up going the distance....allowing just five hits in six innings.

They got the game in just in time. Rains hit Houston and forced the postponement of the UCF-Rutgers game until 4 p.m. today. The title match goes Sunday at noon.

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Cardinal women's golf fired a 301 in the second day of the NCAA East Regionals but slipped to 17th place in Tallahassee.

Leading the way yesterday for the Chip and Putt Cards was Laura Restrepo with a 74. Tara Lyons carded a 75, Katie Petrino checked in at 76 along with Emily Haas. Shannon Gramley finished the 18 with a 83.

The Cards have a 596 total for two days...30 strokes back of leader Vanderbilt.

paulie

Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Cards will face Temple in AAC Softball Tourney today

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Louisville swept Owls two weekends ago at Ulmer

- If you are not busy...

The AAC Softball Tournament gets underway in Houston this morning at 11 a.m. when third seeded Louisville (33-20) will face Temple (15-29) in the opener.




The Tournament seedings:

#1  UCF                     #5 Rutgers
#2  USF                     #6 Temple
#3  Louisville             #7 Memphis
#4  Houston               #8 Connecticut

Cincinnati and SMU do not field softball teams.


If the Cards take care of business, they'll get the winner of the USF vs. Memphis game on Friday at 5 p.m. The Tournament final is scheduled to take place Saturday at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.

All of today and tomorrow's games will be shown at the American Digital Network.  It can be found at:

http://www.theamerican.org/DN


The Cards swept the home regular season finale against the Owls 14-6, 5-0 and 11-3 over April 26-27. They looked very impressive in doing so. Taner Fowler went 8-10 over the three games and the Cards got good pitching out of Caralisa Connell, Rachel Le Coq and Maryssa Becker. 

Louisville finished the remainder of the regular season 2-2...losing to UK but taking 2 out of 3 in Memphis on Derby weekend.


Some final regular season stats (Worldwide loves these!)

- Louisville batted .302 as a team. Leading the way was Katie Keller (go vote for her!) at .384. Five Cards batted over .300

- Kelsi Jones was the home run leader with 11. She also led the Cards in RBI's with 36. She also scored the most runs with 44. Rumors that the team is changing their nickname to the "Kelsi's" is unconfirmed.

We owe the University of Missouri a large "thank you" for letting her hone her skills there two years before transferring to "the Ville".

- Freshman pitcher Maryssa Becker went 12-7 on the season. Caralisa Connell finished 10-5. Rachel LeCoq was 11-8. Both are seniors.

The University of Louisville place five players on the American All-Conference Softball teams as announced at the league banquet Wednesday, May 7. Seniors Katie Keller and Taner Fowler earned first team honors while juniors Whitney Arion and Kayla Soles and freshman Maryssa Becker were named to the second team.

This award recognition is great for the five that got selected but it also provides indisputable evidence that the selection committee is dumber than a box of cereal. How do you leave Jones off the list?

One of the many reasons that make me sooooo very happy UofL is dropping an "A" and adding a "C" next season. ACC...we're on the way. AAC? Thanks for the invite...time to go now. Prosper in your mediocrity.

We'll have a full report on the action in the Friday edition of Cardinal Couple...plus a preview of The BIG EAST Lacrosse tournament. 

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Lacrosse is headed to Evanston. This from the UofL SID office:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville women's lacrosse team is inviting the public to a send-off for the program's first NCAA Tournament in school history on Thursday just outside the Yum! Center, adjacent to the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, on Floyd Street at 10:20 a.m. ET.  The Cardinals will face Ohio State in a first-round game on May 9 in Evanston, Ill., with the winner playing No. 5-seed Northwestern on May 11 on the Wildcats' home field. The Buckeyes earned one of the 13 at-large bids.  Louisville (15-3) secured the BIG EAST's automatic berth after beating Georgetown on Saturday for the first conference tournament title in school history. Winners of 11 straight, Louisville rolled its way also to the school's first regular-season crown

paulie
                 

Wednesday Cardinal Couple...Cards v Cats tonight at Ulmer

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-  #10 Kentucky to face softball Cards tonight

***** GAME UPDATE*****

UK scored four runs in the top of the eighth to win in extra innings against Louisville 7-3. We'll have more on this in the Friday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE...



As if Derby Week in Louisville didn't already have enough excitement and events...the Louisville Belknap campus will be flooded with over 1000 fans and watchers dressed in both Red and Blue for tonight's Louisville vs. Kentucky softball contest. Game time is 6 p.m. 

UK comes in at 40-11 overall and 13-8 in the SEC. They dropped two out of three over the weekend in Knoxville to Tennessee in their most recent outing...the Vols ranked #8 in the NFCA polls. 

It'll be the second matchup between the two this season.

Louisville travelled to Lexington on April 2nd and took a 5-0 loss to the Cats. Kelsey Nunley got the win for Big Blue...holding UofL two just three hits (two by Kelsi Jones) in the complete game shutout. 

Louisville is riding a 31-18 record and enters the contest after sweeping Temple at Ulmer Stadium over the weekend. The Cards scored 30 runs in the three wins and the squad is batting .303 as a team on the season. 

Louisville leads the series 18-15.

Admission is $5 for attending the game inside Ulmer and seating on the outfield berm is free. Koetter Construction will be honored before the game with several other companies that assisted with the Ulmer Stadium expansion. 

A key win over a top 10 opponent would look awfully good on the Cards NCAA Tournament-worthy resume. Louisville ends the regular season in Memphis on Derby weekend. 

paulie

Monday Cardinal Couple --- Softball completes the sweep...Cards 11 - Owls 3

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards improve to 12-6 in AAC with Temple win

- Vote for Katie!

The Louisville Softball team has found their bats and used them to bombard the Owls again Sunday. Spotting the Owls an early 3-0 advanage...Louisville proceeded to score the final 11 runs of the contest and sweeps the series on Senior Day at Ulmer Stadium.

The fans said an official goodbye to Taner Fowler, Hannah Kiyohara, Caralisa Connell, Katie Keller, Maggie Ruckenbrod and Rachel LeCoq yesterday (they actually will have one more home game Wednesday when they host UK) and then proceeded to say goodbye to several softballs and Owl pitchers.

After a three run homer in the top of the first put the Cards and Caralisa Connell behind, UofL wasted no time in putting some numbers on the left field scoreboard. The Cards got one back in the bottom of the first when Kelsi Jones doubled and scored on a Brittany Duncan sac fly.

The fourth inning proved to be fruitful for the Cards offense...five runs on five hits...and Louisville led 6-3.

Maryssa Becker went fence with Brittany Duncan onboard in the fifth to increase the lead to five at 8-3. By then, Caralisa had given away to Becker in the circle.

The Cards ended it in the sixth when Jones led off the inning with her team-best ninth home run of the season. Four singles from Jordan McNary, Kristina Dillard, Autumn McDuffie and Taner Fowler produced the final two runs to stop the game at 11-3.

Cats Wednesday. This one will cost you $5 to watch inside Ulmer, but free seating will be available on the outfield berm.

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Vote for Katie Keller! The senior and nine other softball players are in competition for college Player of the Year. You can vote once a day and Katie could use your help for the Senior Class Award title.

Link below:

VOTE FOR KATIE EVERY DAY!

( UNFORTUNATELY, YOU'LL NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THE LINK WHEN YOU GET OVER THERE . I VOTED OFF THE LINK ABOVE EARLIER AND IT WOULDN'T LET ME VOTE AGAIN WHEN I WENT BACK A FEW MINUTES LATER TO TEST IT)

Katie Keller

School

Louisville

Position

Second Base

Major

Communications

 

Classroom

Katie Keller currently carries a 3.118 overall GPA and has had solid performances in the classroom throughout her career. The communications major has been named to the Athletic Director’s honor roll (3.0 or higher for the semester)three times and was a member of the Dean’s List. Following her junior season, when she earned All-America honor on the field, she was also selected to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team.

Character

Katie Keller is a leader both on and off the field. As a freshman, she stepped into a starting role at second base and gained the respect of her teammates and coaches with her communication skills. Her work ethic has never been called into question. She is dedicated and determined to improve herself and her teammates. Over the years, she has grown into a leader off the field as well, giving encouragement to teammates. Katie is always able to lighten up a tense moment with her sense of humor, but knows when to be serious. She is an intense competitor and a great teammate. We are fortunate to have Katie as a member of our team.

Community

Katie Keller has dedicated community service hours to several organizations including: Dreams with Wings, the Down Syndrome Buddy Walk, the Humane Society, and the Hunger Walk. She has donated her time to help carve pumpkins with special needs children and assisted with a dance for people with disabilities who are residents of the Douglas Community Center in Louisville. Keller has also spent hours working with the Fit4Me program, in which UofL female athletes work with middle-school girls to improve their nutrition and fitness and encourage healthy habits,

Competition

Katie Kopeeller was recently named to the Top 50 Watch List for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. She earned NFCA All-America second team honors in 2013 after registering a .402 batting average and 54 RBIs and belting out a team-best 12 home runs. She was also named to the All-Great Lakes Region and All-BIG EAST first teams as a junior. In 2013, Keller was one of the Top 25 Finalists for the 2013 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

The three-year starter and three-time All-BIG EAST selection became the first player in program history to sweep Louisville Slugger/NFCA and USA Softball National Player of the Week honors on March 5, 2013. She is also two-time All-Great Lakes Region selection. She has an innate knowledge of the game and performs well under pressure.

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Our latest broadcast on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is now available on the SoundCloud. Several of you have e-mailed me about not being able to find the archived broadcasts. I hope the link below helps:

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO 04-26-14

Let us know...

WE will be out of the studio Derby Day...and back live again on 5/10/14.

We have (5) different Lacrosse interviews to hear on the 4/26/14 broadcast...two with Coach Kellie Young, two with Faye Brust and one with Kay Morissette. 

paulie

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Softball enters crucial three game series...Radio Today!

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Pearsall's squad takes on Owls this weekend

- Radio Today!

- More "Talk Derby to me"

- Wanna follow Angel & Shoni on TV?


With only six conference games left and a non-conference meeting with UK at Ulmer on Wednesday night...the time is now for the softball Cards (28-18) to go on a regular-season ending win streak to bolster their chances in the AAC Softball tournament in Houston and for an NCAA bid. Prior to last weekend's debacle at UCF...where Louisville went 0-3...Louisville had won eight in a row.

The Cards are currently in third place in the AAC with a 9-6 mark. Ahead of them is UCF at 9-3 and Houston at 11-4. USF sits behind Louisville with a 7-5 mark.

The good news is that Louisville doesn't have to play any of the above three to end the season. After Temple, the Cards conclude the regular season at Memphis next weekend. The Tigers are in seventh place in the AAC with a 4-10 record.

Directly ahead is Temple, sitting in fifth place with Rutgers at 5-7. The Owls are 15-22 on the season.

It will be the second meeting lifetime between the two squads. Louisville shut out the Owls 8-0 last season in the Citrus Classic in Orlando on March 1st.

Temple is led by senior Sarah Prezioso, who is hitting .385 and leads the Owls in hits (45), runs (32), RBI's (22), stolen bases (16), home runs (8) and doubles (8). The team captains .708 slugging percentage leads the AAC.

In the circle, sophomore Kelsey Dominick (9-9) and freshman Amanda Gatt see most of the work. Dominick has three shut-outs on the season.

For UofL, second second baseman Katie Keller has been on fire lately and leads the team with a .393 batting average. She gets plenty of help from junior transfer Kelsi Jones, who leads Louisville with eight home runs, junior transfer Brittany Duncan and senior catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod. Marge leads the AAC in throwing out would-be base stealers.

The Cards will count on Maryssa Becker in the circle. The Oregon freshman is 12-5 and carries a 1.98 ERA. She's also a legit threat at the plate. Senior Rachel Le Coq has come around as of late when called on to pitch and the Cards do have senior Caralisa Connell and freshman Tierra Sanabria available if the Owl bats get busy.

First pitch is noon. The second game scheduled for around 2:30.

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CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO today at 11 a.m. We've got plenty to discuss with lacrosse, softball, golf, more Louisville women's sports and some great audio from lax's Faye Brust, Kay Morissette and Coach Young. We'll also try to stump Worldwide and the listening audience with another of Paulie's quizzes and Don Paulie holds court with another aspect of life he is confused about.

It's internet radio that defies description and that's the way we like it. Crescent Hill Radio is local stuff. Good to listen to at any time. Music, talk shows and comedy. Eventually the station will be on FM as well. We'll see if they keep us around after that...

Join us, won't you?

LINK BELOW:

http://www.crescenthillradio.com

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Another snippet of lunacy and babble has been posted over at my personal blog about that most unholiest of things...The Kentucky Derby. With Derby and Oaks just around the corner...I'll be striving to put a little "something, sumthin" over there each day.

You have been advised.

LINK:

http://www.paulsykes.com

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Fox Sports South and SportSouth have released their Atlanta Dream schedule for 2014. 15 games!

paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Thunder Over Ulmer. Cards sweep doubleheader vs. UConn

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards crash four home runs in 6-0, 9-1 wins

Almost 800,000 people gathered by the banks of the Ohio River to watch Thunder Over Louisville yesterday...the yearly fireworks extravaganza that symbolizes the start of the Derby Festival. On the UofL Belknap Campus, the Cardinal Softball team had their own display of thunder...smashing four home runs and putting up 15 runs in the whitewash of the Huskies.

Cards 6 - UConn 0

Louisville struck early in the opener...getting a run in the first when Kelsi Jones drew a walk, advanced to third on a steal and wild pitch and scored on a Katie Keller single.

The Cards lit up the scoreboard in the second with two over the fence efforts. After a Maryssa Becker walk, Taner Fowler unbuckled off the left field scoreboard. Hannah Kiyohara drew a base on balls and Jones returned to the plate to power one over the center field fence. It was 5-0 Cards after two.

UofL added a run in the fourth...Jones scoring her third run of the game when she singled, stole second and third and reached home on a double steal play that had Keller out at third.

Becker was her usual effective self inside the circle...going six innings and allowing just six hits while gathering six strikeouts. Tiarra Sanabria got an inning of relief in off the stripe..allowing two hits.





LOUISVILLE 9  - UCONN1

The Cards kept the fireworks going in the nightcap...closing out the Huskies by eight runs in five innings. A strong start in the second game as well, two runs crossing the plate...thanks to a Brittany Duncan double that nearly was a home run with Whitney Arion and Keller on base.

The Huskies got one across the plate in the visitor half of the third but Louisville answered with two runs in the inning...Kayla Soles bouncing one high off of the scoreboard with Keller on base. It was 4-1 Louisville after three.

UofL kept up the air show in the fourth...Fowler doubled, Kiyohara singled and a deep fly by Jones brought Fowler home. That set the stage for Whitney Arion's bombardment of Brandeis Street...her fifth homer of the year made it 7-1 Cards.

Louisville ended it in the fifth. Duncan drew a walk, Jordan McNary came in to run for her. Kayla Soles singled to set up a Becker single that scored McNary. Soles got the ninth run when she crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

Rachel LeCoq with a strong outing in the finale...going five innings, allowing just two hits and getting 2 k's to go to 8-7 on the year.

They'll play the series-ender today at noon in Ulmer. It is
Softball's Pink Game. The team will be donned in special pink jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game. Fans are encouraged to wear pink as well. The auction will go to support Live Strong in conjunction with the YMCA.


Good to see the softball team we have come to expect surface with two big wins. It was a nice aerial assault by Louisville Saturday...one that might have had the Blue Angels doing a flyover above the campus to see who was going to put one out next.

paulie

Tuesday Cardinal Couple

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Softball Honors

Louisville Softball swept the weekly awards for The American conference with Freshman Maryssa Becker taking home second straight Pitcher of the Week award, and Senior Katie Keller taking home her second Player of the Week honor.

Becker gets tabbed for the Pitcher of the Week based on her two wins for the week, both complete games, along with several innings of relief pitching as well.

Katie Keller went 6-12 at the plate this week, with at least two hits in all three games against USF including a three run slam and a couple of doubles spread across the weekend.  Keller is hitting .395 overall and .517 on-base percentage.  The team leader in home-runs last year, Katie seems to be playing a bit more small ball this year, with 13 doubles on the season so far.

Katie is also going to be in the hot seat for this weeks edition of Softball Spotlight.  Each week for
the past couple of weeks, a Softball player has been answering questions tweeted to @UofLSoftball.  Katie Keller will be taking the reigns this Wed. at 1pm.  Past players answering questions have been Hannah Kiyohara and Maggie Ruckenbrod.

Softball plays their next game tonight (weather permitting, though the forecast doesn't look encouraging) against Evansville at 6pm.

 

Tennis Milestone

This Friday at 4pm, Women's Tennis will be hosting a match against Marshall at The Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.  This competition will be a bit special, however, as it will be Senior Day for the celebrated duo of Rebecca Shine and Julia Fellerhoff.  Shine and Fellerhoff grabbed our attention more than usual this fall by ripping through most of the field in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship, falling one match short by losing to a pair from perennial tennis powerhouse Georgia Tech in the Championship.

They have continued to play dominant tennis throughout the season.

Rebecca Shine reached a particularly momentous milestone Sunday afternoon by beating Dobby Leenabanchong (thank goodness for copy-n-paste) at the number two court in singles.  With that victory Shine tallied 102 career singles wins, tying her for the UofL record.  Friday, against Marshall, she has the chance to claim that record outright.  With her doubles victory Sunday with Manuela Velasquez, Shine claimed her 100th career doubles win.

After Senior Day against Marshall, Women's Tennis will be competing in The AAC championship, April 17th through 20th in Tampa, FL.

Lacrosse Rankings

With their 23-2 pasting of Cincinnati on Sunday, Lacrosse has moved up a spot in the IWLCA coaches poll to 19th.  In the Brine media poll, the Cards actually dropped a spot...which doesn't make much sense to me...but also end up in 19th.  Admittedly, Cincinnati doesn't have a strong Lacrosse team...and that might be understatement...but I'm not sure what it would take to maintain a position in the media poll if winning by 21 points isn't enough (for comparison, a 10 point lead triggers a running clock in Women's Lacrosse...effectively Lacrosse's mercy-rule).  With a 44-6 advantage in shots taken...really, what's a team supposed to do in a situation like this?  It seems like this is really encouraging running up the score if the polls are going to punish winning by only 21 points against a weak team with a drop in the polls.

As Paulie mentioned in yesterday's article, Louisville had 16 draw controls in the game, with Kaylin Morissette getting 14 of them.  This puts Louisville in first place in the nation in the draw controls statistical category.


CARDINAL WOMEN'S GOLF IN NINTH PLACE


After two rounds of play at the Web.com Intercollegiate, the University of Louisville women’s golf team sits in ninth place with the third and final round of play set for Tuesday morning at Marsh Landing Country Club. Louisville opened the day with a 300 before carding a 289 in the afternoon round.

Florida State leads the field with a two round score of 568. East Carolina sits at second with a score of 575 and Chattanooga sits at third with a score of 577.

Junior Emily Haas and sophomore Laura Restrepo are currently tied at 28^th. Haas shot a 72 in the first round and finished with a 74 in the second round for a score of 146. Restepo shot a 75 in the first round and knocked four strokes off her second round score, finishing with a 71.

Florida State’s Matilda Castren leads the field after shooting a 69 in the first round and a 66 in the second round for a score of 135. Chattanooga’s Jordan Britt and Maryland’s Juliet Vongphoumy are tied at second with a score of 137.

Senior Tara Lyons finished the day tied at 37^th with a score of 148. Lyons shot a 75 in the first round and improved with a 73 in the second round. Junior Katie Petrino is currently tied at 43^rd after two rounds with a score of 149. Petrino shot a 78 in the first round and bounced back with a 71 in the second round.

Freshman Shannon Gramley shot a two round score of 155 to finish the day tied at 75^th. Gramley shot a 79 in the first round and shot a 76 in the second round.

jeffmcadams


EDITOR'S NOTE:

Sleep dep night II this week will occur tonight when UConn tries to grab their second championship title in as many days when they face Notre Dame in Nashville for the NCAA WBB crown. I did make it through the men's title game last night...(I like to watch the 'One Shining Moment' sequence in the end)...and have declared Louisville as the national champions.

After all, Pitino's guys beat UConn three times this season, including a 33-point demolishing on Senior Night in the KFC YUM! Center.  Nevertheless, congratuations to the Huskies. They caught fire when it counted.

They had Russ and Harrell a couple of times in the 'One Shining Moment' montage. It's time for someone to pen a song as equally stirring for the women's game. That piece of country fluff that Connie Briton is doing ad nauseam during this year's games ( The Only Way I Know) may fit Nashville just fine..but I've tired of it.

Buy a T-Shirt. Help Cardinal Couple.

paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Softball sweeps South Florida

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Softball beats Bulls twice

- Final Four: Will you watch, who ya got?


Louisville Softball got back to their winning ways in Tampa Saturday with a sweep of South Florida. The Cards bested the Bulls 5-1 and 3-0.

The big blow in the opener went to Katie Keller...who delivered a three-run homer in the top of the seventh to break it wide open. Louisville had trailed 1-0 through five innings but got a two-run single in the top of the sixth to take the lead.

Maryssa Becker took the win...pitching seven innings and scattering six hits to go to 9-3 on the season. The Cards hung the loss on All-Conference pitcher Sara Nevins (17-5).

In game two, the Cards got a shutout performance from starter Caralisa Connell and reliever Rachel LeCoq.

Louisville (22-15, 4-4)  started the party early with a run...Kelsi Jones doubling in the first and coming home when Kayla Soles was hit by a pitch. The Cards plated two more in the fifth, pinch runner Jordan McNary scoring on a sacrifice fly and Keller doubling to score Jones.

USF (29-10, 3-2) loaded the bases in the third but could not produce and was also victims of a double play on a one-out fly ball to Taner Fowler...who made the catch and threw out a Bull who had tagged and attempted to score from third.

They'll take the field today at noon today to complete the series.

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The Women's Final Four starts today in Nashville. Cardinal Couple will keep an eye on the action but did not apply for media coverage to attend.

We know of several who purchased tickets for the events throughout the year. We have to wonder if they are still going despite the Lady Cards not being participants.

And...who do you cheer for now? If you cheer or watch at all?

Paulie has UConn winning his entry in the CARDINAL COUPLE Bracket Challenge. He's got it won...a game up on Joe Hill with the samd semi-final and champ....and two games up on Curtis Franklin...who had Tennessee and UConn meeting in the final game. He rather see Notre Dame take the title, truth be told. They will have their work cut out for them without Natalie Achonwa against a feisty Maryland squad.

Can Stanford pull the upset over UConn? Will it be a Connecticut year...with wins in the men's and women's brackets? The UConn men's team chomped the Gators, you know...KY squeaked by Wisconsin. 

In our contest, six of the sixteen entries had Connecticut winning the title. Notre Dame was the pick of four contestants. Louisville and Kentucky got the nod from three people each. The UConn v. Notre Dame final was the most popular with seven picks. Louisville v. UConn got three picks. The following matchups were selected once. UConn vs. Tennessee, South Carolina vs. Kentucky, North Carolina vs. Notre Dame, Michigan State vs. Louisville, Stanford vs. Louisville and Texas A&M vs. Kentucky.

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I did search for a good while this morning but didn't see any field hockey scores from the exhibitions yesterday. I'm going to have to assign Worldwide the duties of sending me tweet status updates to my e-mail. He'd probably just laugh at me, though, and invite me to join the 21st. century.

Lacrosse takes on Cincy today. 101 miles away. Or...you could head to the Bass-Rudd for donuts (from Nord's!) and watch tennis at 10 a.m.

paulie
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