Lacrosse Falls to Irish -- Softball Visits North Carolina -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

The famous Daryl Foust at lacrosse

Happy Friday, Cards fans! Daryl took over yesterday so Jared here stepping in today.

Kokoro Nakazawa Scores 100th Career Goal in Loss to Notre Dame

Kokoro Nakazawa scored her 100th career goal and Nicole Perroni extended her scoring streak to 53 straight games, but Louisville lacrosse fell to #3 Notre Dame 23-10.

Eight Cardinals scored in the game with Nakazawa and Maggie McMahon leading the way with two apiece. Reese Whiteman scored her first career goal in the closing seconds of the match.

Notre Dame raced out to a 2-0 lead but the Cards answered with three straight. A 5-1 run give the Irish a 7-4 lead and the teams would trade goals up to halftime with Notre Dame holding a 9-6 edge.

Louisville scored the first two goals of the second half but Notre Dame then went on a 9-0 run. The Cards would scored to bring their deficit back down to single digits at 18-9 but Notre Dame scored five of the final six goals of the match. A majority of the fourth quarter was placed with a running clock.

A B-52 bomber flies over campus in preparation for Thunder Over Louisville

Louisville finishes the regular season 7-10 and has earned the 9-seed in the ACC Tournament. They will visit 8-seed Virginia Tech on Sunday.

There is some question on if players such as Kokoro Nakazawa, Kylea Dobson, and Olivia Toll will utiizie their COVID-19 eligibility and come back or not.

Softball Travels to North Carolina

In desperate need for as many wins as they can get, Louisville softball hits the road for a three-game series against North Carolina. The Cards enter the weekend 24-19 and 5-10 in the ACC. North Carolina is 28-14 and 8-10 in the ACC.

The Tar Heels have run-ruled 10 opponents this year. They do not have any ranked wins due to being swept by both Clemson and Duke. 

UNC hits .357 as a team. They have recorded 393 hits with 38 home runs. North Carolina has outscored opponents 257-134, nearly doubling up opponents.

Alex Coleman is one of four North Carolina players, batting .457. She also has a team-high 65 hits. Isabella Emerling has been provided the power for the Tar Heels, with 13 home runs and 51 rbis.

All three games are slated for ACCNX with tonight's game beginning at 5:00pm.

Women's Basketball Carousel

In the span of about one hour yesterday during rhe middle of lacrosse, women's basketball news around the country was going wild. Here's all that happened in that period:

-Mackenly Randolph officially signed with Louisville. Randolph is the fifth freshman player to physically sign. She was on campus yesterday.

-Eylia Love entered her name in the transfer portal and will be leaving Louisville.

-Rumors were circulating that Maddie Scherr, who formerly played at Oregon and Kentucky, announced she is transferring to TCU.

-Reports broke that former Louisville and LSU player Hailey Van Lith will be transferring to TCU.

-Former Fresno State and Miami player Haley Cavinder announced she will not play at TCU this coming season, as originally planned, and will now play her final year of eligibility at Miami.

-Hanna Cavinder was talked out of retirement by her sister mentioned above and will player her final season at Miami.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Experience Tough Road Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Shut Out in Series Opener 

Louisville softball headed to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech this weekend and got off to a rocky start. While the Yellow Jackets are decently ahead of the Cards in the ACC standings, their overall records are very similar. On paper, it should be a relatively even series. GT didn't care much about paper yesterday, as they stung early and often against the Cards en route to an 8-0 five-inning run rule. All eight runs for GT came in the first three innings, with seven coming in the second and third. 

Alyssa Zabala started in the circle for Louisville, and it was not her day. Zabala walked the first two batters, induced a pop-up, then plunked the clean-up hitter to load the bases. A pair of ground outs ended the inning but a run came home to score. Another walk started the second and a sac bunt moved the runner into scoring position. Back-to-back singles scored a run and then a home run scored three more. A fourth (sixth, in a way) straight hit earned Zabala the hook and Brooke Gray came on to pitch. Gray hit the first batter she faced, but picked up another two outs to get out of the side. 

Louisville got their first runner on base in the third with a Maddi Grant double to open the inning, but two runners were left on base after Daisy Hess took a 2-out walk and Riley Frizell struck out. Gray returned to the circle and got GT's first batter of the inning out for the first time in the game. Unfortunately, a pair of singles were followed by the Yellow Jackets' second three-run homer of the game to set the score at 8-0. Two more quick outs ended the inning but the rout was on. 

Louisville's fourth saw them put two in scoring position via walk, HBP, and fielder's choice, but a flyout had split the runners and the Cards couldn't initiate a two-out rally. After Gray got out of the fourth with just one single, Louisville was down to their final three outs, needing at least one run to extend the game. Katie Thatcher came on to pinch hit for Chelsea Mack and was walked on four pitches. A sac bunt (down 8-0, really?) moved Mack (who took the base back from Thatcher) to second, but Louisville couldn't bring her around to score. 

There isn't much else to say about this one. Cards need to rip off the rearview and face today's game with a clean slate. They'll be back in action today at 2PM before wrapping up the series tomorrow at noon. Both games will be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Lacrosse Falls in Tight Road Finale

Scott Teeter's squad was in Durham yesterday for their final regular season road match of the year. The Cards took on Duke and held a slim 7-6 lead heading into halftime. Louisville was unable to hold onto that lead, unfortunately, as a three goal deficit in the third quarter gave Duke the gap they needed. The Cards tied the Blue Devils 10-all in quarters 1, 2, and 4, but lost the third 4-1, setting the final margin at 14-11. 

Kokoro Nakazawa was the leader for the Cards, tallying five of their 11 goals. She scored the first two goals of the game before Nicole Perroni gave Louisville a 3-0 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first quarter. Coincidentally, Louisville's goal scoring in the game was nearly palindromic. Maggie McMahon scored the fourth goal for the Cards, and their final four goals went McMahon, Perroni, and Kokoro x2. The three central goals were scored by Izzy Seikel, Kokoro, and Negai Nakazawa. 

Maddie McCorkle matched Kokoro with five goals for Duke. The Cards were on the back food the whole game, and Sara Addeche did well to keep the game as close as it was. Duke outshot Louisville 39-26 and won the shots on goal battle 25-17. I'll save you the math: Addeche finished with 11 saves. Part of the Cards' woes was the fact that they were dominated on draw controls. Duke led that category 21-8 and took all eight DCs in the second quarter. Louisville won 5/7 in the first quarter before winning just three for the remainder of the game. If you are on defense immediately, you're going to be under pressure a lot. 

Duke was ranked #25 in the country coming into the game, so a road matchup was always going to be tough. The win moves them to 10-6 (4-4) while Louisville is now 7-9 (2-6). All 10 teams make the ACC tournament, and Louisville is currently the nine seed. The Cards hold the tiebreaker over Clemson, but lost to VT, so would need the Hokies to lose their last two games to jump them. The best the Cards can do is get to 7th with a victory over Notre Dame in the season finale. That last game will be Thursday at 12pm in Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on board for this week's show, with Daryl occupied by her obligations with the Louisville Bats. We'll still have an exciting show lined up, with joy and excitement to cover despite the losses. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Lacrosse and Softball Both Fall at Home -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

While there was plenty of excitement and drama around the country with women's basketball, the campus of the University of Louisville was busy. On the women's side, lacrosse, softball, and women's tennis had ACC match-ups while on the men's side, baseball played host on the day. All teams on campus suffered losses in a one-in-a-million day. In fact, the weekend was pretty bad overall. Softball got swept, women's basketball suffered a loss, men's tennis got upset, and men's basketball lost again. It was certainly a weekend to forget.

Lacrosse Can't Overcome Early Deficit to Boston College

One of the earliest events on campus yesterday was lacrosse. The Cards welcomed #3 Boston College the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. The Eagles have played in the last six national championships, COVID-19 season excluded, so this one was going to be a battle. Ultimately, Boston College was able to able to hold off the Cards, 17-14.

Louisville won the opening draw and wasted no time going down the pitch to score in just 33 seconds. Boston College had a quick answer by scoring twice over the next 59 seconds. This was the start of a 5-0 run for the Eagles before the Cards score a few seconds before the end of the first quarter.

The final three quarters were played even between the two foes (7-7 second quarter, 2-2 third quarter, and 3-3 fourth quarter). The Cards cut their deficit to three several times throughout the match but could not get over the hump to get any closer. Boston College found themselves up five twice in the second half, but each time the Cards used 2-0 spurts to cut into that lead.

Boston College has allowed more than 11 goals twice this season- a 14-11 loss to reigning champions Northwestern and yesterday's match. The Eagles have also averaged over 20 goals per game and were held well under that mark.

Kokoro Nakazawa powered the Louisville offense with four goals while Nicole Perroni and Kylea Dobson each recorded a hat trick. On the defensive end, Sara Addeche picked up 10 saves.

Perroni set a program record scoring streak of 44-straight games where a player records either a goal or save or both. She also holds the program record of goal-scoring streak of 44-straight games, recording a goal in each of those matches.

An interesting stat that worked in favor for Louisville was winning the draw control battle 20-15. Turnovers and ground balls worked in favor of the Eagles though.

Despite Louisville (3-5) losing, this was one of their more impressive games over the last few seasons. They went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the country for a full 60 minutes.

I got a chance to speak with Coach Scott Teeter and Kokoro Nakazawa after match. You can watch the full video here.

Softball Seventh-Inning Rally Falls Short

Louisville softball concluded their series against #15 Virginia Tech yesterday evening. The Cards tried to piece together a late rally with the game-tying run on third base, but fell to the Hokies, 4-3.

A solo home run put Virginia Tech ahead in the first inning and they never looked back. The Hokies' bats were kept in check over the next few innings before the broke through with a pair of runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth inning. The Cards broke the shutout on their end with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning and added two more in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Brooke Gray got the start in the circle for Louisville. The freshman posted decent numbers with five hits allowed over 4.1 innings. She did not record any strikeouts though. Gabby Holloway came in in relief and allowed three hits over the final 2.2 innings.

Daisy Hess opened the sixth frame with a double and advanced to third on a groundout by Vanessa Miller. Riley Frizell's hit got past the left side of the infield to plate Hess. In the seventh, a single and a hit-by-pitch put multiple runners on base. Hess came in with a blooper to right field near the foul line that turned into a triple. With the tying run on the third, the Cards tried to continue the rally but fell short.

Hess and Ally Alexander each had two hits with Louisville tallying seven hits. They struggled at the plate, though, with eight strikeouts and six runners left on base.

The Cards have lost three straight and are now 16-8. They remain at home to host the Cardinal Classic and play one game each from Thursday-Sunday.

Basketball Results Around the Country

Conference Championship Day provided plenty of thrilling finishes. Iowa outlasted Nebraska in overtime to win the Big Ten Championship. Notre Dame rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat NC State in the ACC Championship. South Carolina and LSU got involved in a major fight down the stretch that led to over a dozen ejections and the arrest of a fan before the Gamecocks won the SEC Championship. USC upset Stanford to win the final Pac-12 Championship. Georgetown upset Creighton while UConn allowed 0 points in the fourth quarter against Marquette in the Big East semifinals. The Blue Jays and Huskies play for the title tonight.

In the Cardinal Couple ACC Pick Em

 

We had a tie among a few brackets at 10-4. Looking at the point total tiebreaker, my records have Nick O taking this year's title. I've got Paulie double checking my math on the second place finishers but it was another exciting ACC Tournament.

editor note...Nick O is your winner by the total points , Jared gets second....Both had 10-4 records Thanks to all for playing    --paulie

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lax and Softball Win -- ACC WBB Tourney Day 1 -- UofL WBB in Action -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Kokoro Nakazawa Goes Off as Lax Defeats Cincinnati

Kokoro Nakazawa recorded her first career hat trick and scored enough for two hat tricks with six goals as Louisville lacrosse defeated Cincinnati 18-13. The Cards are now on a two-match win streak and have improved to 3-4.

Cincinnati raced out to a 4-0 lead. The Cards were quick to answer with a 5-0 spurt to take the lead. The Bearcats answered with a couple quick goals to put the score in their advantage but Louisville would be the team leading at halftime, 8-6. The run right before halftime continued into the second half and Louisville found themselves up 10-6. The Cards would stretch their lead to 15-8, but Cincinnati scored five of the last eight goals in the match to bring the score a bit closer.

Kokoro Nakazawa led the field with six goals. Allegra Catalano (four goals) and Negai Nakazawa (three goals) each recorded a hat trick. Rian Adkins, Kylea Dobson, Tiffany Natoli, Maggie McMahon, and Nicole Perroni each logged a goal. Perroni's goal came with 1:40 remaining to extend her school record scoring streak to 43 games.

Sara Addeche got the start in goal. She was limited to three saves with 13 goals allowed. Despite the off game, the senior goalkeeper is still one of the top in the country in total saves. With a sizable lead late in the match, Scott Teeter chose to let J Pleck get a few minutes in the net.

The Cards outshot the Bearcats 40-20 with 31 of those being on goal. They also dominated the draw controls 21-14.

Louisville returns home on Sunday to host a top 10 Boston College team.

Softball Upsets Arizona in Midweek Game

There's no better way to bounce back from a rough weekend than to get a win on your home turf against a ranked opponent, and that's just what Louisville softball did. The Cards defeated #24 Arizona 5-3.

Alyssa Zabala tossed a complete game for the win to improve her record in the circle to 10-1. She has earned the last six wins for the Cards. Vanessa Miller and Bailee Richardson each hit home runs in the win.

While Louisville threatened to score in the first inning, they would end the frame empty-handed, but would answer with three runs an inning later. Paige Geraghty's rbi single plated the first run. Ally Alexander scored on an error by the Arizona defense and Gabby Holloway's fielder's choice helped score the third run.

Miller sent a shot over the right field wall that landed on the far side of the red track that encircles the stadium to help the Cards go up four.

After retiring the first 11 batters of the game, Zabala's bid for a perfect game ended late in the fourth inning after allowing a couple hits and a single run for the Arizona.

A home run by Richardson to dead center in the fifth inning got the run back for the Cards before Arizona posted a pair of runs on a homer by Louisville native Allie Skaggs. However, the Wildcats' rally came up short.

Louisville made the most out of their five hits, piecing together three walks and a few Arizona errors in the mix. Zabala recorded five strikeouts to just two walks and six hits.

I got a chance to speak with Vanessa Miller and Alyssa Zabala following the game. You can watch it here.

Louisville improves to 16-5 on the season. They remain home at Ulmer Stadium this weekend with a three-game series against ranked Virginia Tech.

ACC WBB Tournament Day One

Opening day of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament brought plenty of excitement and two upsets by seeding.

In the first game of the tournament, 13-seed Boston College used a strong first quarter to hold on for a win against 12-seed Clemson.

In the second game, 10-seed Georgia Tech needed a big fourth quarter to pull away from 15-seed Pitt.

In the night game, 14-seed Wake Forest pulled off the biggest surprise by defeating 11-seed Virginia in the final couple minutes.

So, how are the brackets looking? Well, of the 23 entries we have this year, none are perfect, but none are winless. 13 brackets were ruined after the first game when Boston College took down Clemson. The few remaining perfect brackets suffered mightily when Virginia fell to Wake Forest. That puts all brackets at either 2-1 or 1-2. With 11 games remaining, this is still anyone's game.

Louisville Faces Boston College at 11:00am

Playing in their first game of the 2024 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, 5-seed Louisville gears up to take on 13-seed Boston College. 

The Cards and Eagles met once this season, with the former walking away with a two-point road win. Nina Rickards made a layup with 19 seconds left to secure the win.

Louisville is 16-1 all-time against Boston College with the only loss coming in the first ever meeting between the programs back in 1985. Four of the last five match-ups have been within 10 points.

In their nine ACC Tournaments, Louisville has compiled a 14-8 record. They have appeared in the championship game four times and won the title in 2018 against Notre Dame.

This one will be aired on ACC Network but can also be viewed online or on the ESPN app. For radio, Nick Curran and Cortnee Walton will be on 93.9 FM.

The other three games today feature 8-seed North Carolina vs 9-seed Miami, 7-seed Duke vs 10-seed Georgia Tech, and 6-seed Florida State vs 14-seed Wake Forest.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lax Completes Comeback; Softball Splits Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Big Second Half Leads Cards to 14-9 Win

Louisville lacrosse welcomed Marquette into the LLS for the Cards' first home game of the season. Sitting at 0-2 after their road trip to Colorado, Louisville needed a shot in the arm to get their season on track. Despite trailing 5-4 after a low scoring first half, the Cards turned the offense up to 11 in the second to win the half 10-4 and take the game 14-9. 

With a final total score of 23, you might expect early scoring, but that wasn't the case yesterday. Louisville scored the first goal of the game with just five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Negai Nakazawa was the one to get things started, scoring her fourth goal of the season off an assist by Ava Peers. The Cards' lead held for about four minutes before Marquette leveled the game on a power play goal. Coincidentally, it was Negai that earned the yellow card to give the Eagles the advantage. 

That penalty was Louisville's only in the first half. They earned five in the second half, but ultimately were the less penalized team in the game by a wide margin. Marquette earned 11 cards, leading to three powerplay goals for Louisville. Louisville's offense was so in tune in the second half that the Cards actually scored a goal while on the penalty kill as well. 

Marquette scored the first two goals of the second quarter to put Louisville in a hole, but goals by Nicole Perroni and Kokoro Nakazawa tied the game with 8:37 remaining in the half. Two more goals in a row by the Eagles gave Louisville another deficit to overcome, but they were able to only claw back one on a power play to set the halftime score of 5-4. Perroni scored her second unassisted goal of the game with sixteen seconds remaining for that one. 

After the half, the game seemed as though it would go the same way as the first half. It took five minutes for either team to find the back of the net, and it was Marquette striking first in the second half to double their advantage. Kokoro scored a minute later to bring the deficit back down to one (unassisted) but Marquette responded once more. At that point, Louisville grew a bit tired of the back and forth game. The Cards scored the final three goals of the third quarter to take the lead for the first time since the opening goal, with Negai, Kokoro, and Perroni continuing their unassisted runs. The third quarter ended with Louisville taking an 8-7 lead.

The Cards weren't done. Their run continued with the first four goals of the final quarter. Perroni and Negai scored a couple more unassisted goals before Kokoro assisted a Kylea Dobson goal with eight minutes to go. Dobson's was the first goal of the game for Louisville that was not scored by Nicole Perroni or a Nakazawa sister. Izzy Seikel scored the last goal of the Cards' seven goal run with 5:44 remaining (assisted by Tiffany Natoli) to put Louisville ahead 12-7. It was mostly academic at that point. Marquette finally broke the Louisville run by scoring with five minutes left, and they scored the last goal of the game with 52 seconds remaining. Even though those two goals wouldn't have threatened Louisville's lead, the Cards decided to add a bit of insurance with a pair of power play goals to push their score to 14. Dobson and Natoli each scored and assisted the other on those two goals.

Louisville finished the game with five players scoring at least three points. Three players had hat tricks (the Nakazawa sisters and Nicole Perroni) and Perroni finished with four goals. She was 3/4 on free position shots and put all seven of her shots on frame. Dobson finished with two goals and an assist, while Natoli inverted those stats. Perroni's free position shots were critical in the game, as Louisville was 5/10 on their opportunities and Marquette was 0/5. The other stats were largely level. Each team finished with 12 draw controls, Louisville led in turnovers (11-15) and clears (11-10), and Marquette led in ground balls (15-12) and shots on goal (27-24).

Now is a good time to mention Sara Addeche. Addeche talked about how important this full year as the established goalie would be, and she's showing that she deserves the spot. She finished with 18 saves and nine goals against. Being positive in that category is quite good. Doubling up that category is incredibly impressive. Her counterpart for Marquette finished with 10 saves and 14 goals against, showing how important the goalkeeping can be even if the other team can put up more shots. Louisville's offense also did a good job of keeping the ball on the Marquette side of the field (the penalty situation helped), as the Cards took 37 total shots compared to just 35 for Marquette. While Louisville's goal percentage on shots on goal was good, it would be nice to see more of their shots be on frame. An accuracy of 65% isn't bad, but it could be better.

The Cards are back on the road today, as they'll take on Lindenwood tomorrow. Louisville defeated the Lions 14-7 almost exactly a year ago in the first ever meeting of the two programs. Lindenwood went on to finish the year 8-10 last season, with their final game being a 17-11 loss to Coastal Carolina in the ASUN tournament. The Lions are off to a hot start this season, with victories over San Diego State (20-6) and Radford (18-5). The Cards will look to display more offense than the Lions' previous opponents, and Addeche will likely be called on quite a bit again. Tomorrow's game is at 1PM and is available on ESPN+.

Postgame with Scott Teeter and Nicole Perroni

Softball Wins Early; Suffers First Loss Late

Louisville softball opened the Joan Joyce Classic on Thursday evening with a win over the hosting FAU Owls. They followed that win up with a mercy rule victory in six innings over Seton Hall yesterday morning to remain undefeated on the season at 8-0. Unfortunately, the loss column picked up a tick mark in their rematch against FAU last night, as the Cards took a 3-6 loss into the last day of the invitational today.

Cards Beat Seton Hall 12-4

Bailey Richardson reached on a two-out single for Louisville in the first inning and advanced to third when Riley Frizell singled to follow her. Gabby Holloway, batting fifth in the lineup and trying to do her best Taylor Roby impression, unfortunately struck out to end the inning. Sam Booe took the circle in this one and began her efficient (but short) outing. Two groundouts and a strikeout moved things along quickly. 

After a groundout opened the second for the Cards, the offense began to get to work. Vanessa Miller walked and came around to score on an Ally Alexander double down the line. Chelsea Mack singled to bring Alexander home, and Kylie Goff (leading off in the first game) moved Mack up 60 feet on a ground ball. Daisy Hess hit a ball deep into the shortstop's zone, and was credited with a single. She and Mack both got 60 more feet when the shortstop subsequently botched the late throw to first and Louisville's lead moved to 3-0. Another groundout (neither team got the ball off the grass much early) ended the Cards' second. Booe opened the second with another strikeout before a pair of singles gave the Pirates a runner in scoring position. You guessed it, though: back-to-back groundouts ended the inning.

The third saw Louisville go three-up, three-down in the top half and Jac Hasty replace Kylie Goff behind the plate. Seton Hall managed to keep the ball off the ground in the bottom half, with the exception of their only hit being a single through the middle of the infield. Unfortunately for them, their other batters hit liners to second and first and then flew out to end the inning. The fourth was another exciting inning, with six batters stepping to the plate, and six batters heading back to the dugout. Booe picked up her third and fourth strikeouts in the bottom half of the inning.

With Hasty replacing Goff, she stepped up to the plate in the leadoff spot of the fifth. She then walked back to the dugout with her bat on her shoulder, striking out looking. Hess followed her with a strikeout swinging, but Louisville's offense rallied with two outs. Richardson walked and an error on a Frizell grounder put runners at first and second. Mia Forsythe replaced Frizell on the basepaths and Maddi Grant replaced Holloway at the plate. Only one of those substitutions turned out to be necessary, as Grant smoked a triple to score both runners and move the Louisville lead to 5-0.

Lindsey Mullen replaced Sam Booe in the circle, which turned out to be the wrong call. Seton Hall opened with a double and a single to score their first run. The description is a bit odd, with an error being charged to Hasty and the run scoring on the throw from left field. The hitter also advanced to third on the throw so whatever happened was rather unfortunate. A pop-up gave Mullen her first out, but a single scored a second run, and a double scored a third. Booe and Goff returned as the battery, but the rest threw Booe off, as a wild pitch advanced the runner and a single scored the fourth run for Seton Hall. The fourth run was still charged to Mullen giving her four runs (three earned) in one-third inning pitched. Booe cleaned up the inning to finish her day with 4.2 innings and no runs while giving up four hits and striking out four. She finished with the win, as Louisville still led 5-4.

Louisville's offense responded in a big way to open the sixth. Miller was hit by a pitch to open the inning and stole second. Alexander walked to backfill the base and Madison "Pickle" Winkler had a pinch-hit bunt single to load the bases. Kylie Goff grounded into what should have been an out, but instead reached on a fielder's choice that was too slow by Seton Hall. The Pirates got no outs and Miller came home to score. Daisy Hess singled through the middle, scoring two runs and advancing to second when the centerfielder booted it. Seton Hall made a pitching change, and the Richardson walked on the green pitcher. A sac fly by Frizell gave the Cards a 9-4 lead and Richardson stole second to keep two runners in scoring position. Grant struck out to give Louisville a pair of outs, but Paige Geraghty singled to score a pair. Vanessa Miller, back up after the Cards batted around, singled to score Geraghty and Alexander kept the party going with another single. Winkler tried to score one more for the Cards but her liner was right to the pitcher. Louisville headed to the bottom half with a 12-4 lead, which would be the final. 

Izzy Harrison took over in the circle and closed out the game. A fly out opened the inning, but a walk and single made things interesting. With eight runs in hand, there wasn't much danger. A fielder's choice put the Cards in position to win it with one more out, and Harrison took care of business with a strikeout. 

FAU Gets Revenge 6-3

Following the first game, Louisville was the away team in the evening matchup as well. They got to work early on offense with a Goff single and a Hess double to take a 1-0 lead. Hess was picked off at second, which was unfortunate, since Frizell homered to give Louisville a 2-0 advantage. The third run would have proved to have been useful. A flyout and a single followed, but a batter's interference call ended the inning. Alyssa Zabala started for Louisville and got off to a bumpy start. A bunt single opened the inning and a two-run homer tied the score. Two more fly balls were fortunately caught for outs, and Zabala settled in to close the inning with a strikeout. 

Louisville tried to get back up to speed offensively in the second with two singles split by an error to load the bases with nobody out. Goff reached first, but it came at the expense of an out at home. Hess was able to score one on a single, but a grounder ended the side with Louisville holding a 3-2 lead. Zabala seemed to be back in the swing of things with a groundout and lineout split by a single to open the inning. Unfortunately, a triple tied the game and a walk ended Zabala's day. Brooke Gray took over in the circle, but for the second time yesterday, a cold pitcher gave up a wild pitch. Gray's gave up Zabala's fourth run of the game, and she finished the at bat with a walk. Gray collected herself and got a flyout to end the inning. FAU led 4-3, and Louisville would not recover. 

The next two innings saw a combined three runners reach base. Louisville picked up a single and FAU earned a walk and single. Technically FAU singled twice in that time, but the runner was thrown out after the single to end the third inning. Louisville opened the fifth with a single and had two runners on after a walk, but a flyout and a groundout ended their threat. Gray was relieved by Sam Booe in the bottom of the fifth, but opened with an HBP. She was able to clean it up, weathering a later single to get out of the inning with no runs.

Louisville put a runner on to open the sixth and tried small ball to tie the game. Unfortunately, a sac bunt with one out gives you a runner on second with two outs. A pop out ended the inning. FAU started the sixth with a single and Booe picked up two quick outs, with the runner advancing to second. Holly Aprile tried to ensure the out to maintain the one-run deficit by bringing in Gabby Holloway to pitch, but it didn't quite turn out. A single scored the runner from second and a walk and single scored another. Down 6-3 with one inning to go, Louisville had the top of the order up, but a strikeout and groundout opened the inning. Richardson tried to start a two-out rally with a single but a popup ended the game. 

Louisville was back in action early this morning, taking an 8-0 win over Maine in a 9am start. They're taking on Michigan in a second morning matchup immediately after to close the invitational. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on line for this week's show, as Daryl fights off a late-winter bug. We'll talk the up(?) and down week for Louisville women's basketball and the wins for the spring sports.  As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball and Lacrosse Open Seasons -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Sweeps Double Header

Louisville softball got their season started in Ft. Myers, Florida yesterday with games against Long Island University and Georgetown University. The Cards got ahead early in both games and held on to win the pair. The offense wasn't stellar, with Louisville scoring just six runs across the two games, but the defense and pitching gave up just one run in response. Louisville walked away from yesterday morning's game against LIU with a 2-0 victory and they carry a 4-1 win over Georgetown into this evening's rematch against the Hoyas. 

In the top of the first against LIU, Easton Lotus moved into the lead-off spot and walked to open the game. She then stole second. Kylie Goff, in her first game as a Cardinal, batted second, and also drew a walk. A wild pitch moved the two runners to second and third, so Daisy Hess, who took over the third spot in the order, decided to also take a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Another newcomer, Riley Frizell, held the cleanup spot and promptly singled in the first run of the season. LIU finally got their first out when Bailee Richardson grounded out, but it was a fielder's choice to third and Goff came home on the play. Paige Geraghty reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases again when LIU couldn't get an out, but a pair of strikeouts ended the threat. Louisville led 2-0, and that would be that. 

Alyssa Zabala got the start for Louisville in the first game, and she finished with three hits and a walk given up over four full innings. She struck out one batter but gave up no runs. LIU's biggest threat came in the third, when two singles and a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. Zabala was able to induce two pop-outs to preserve the shutout. Sam Booe took over in the circle after the fourth, presumably just to rest Zabala's arm. Zabala was effective in the fourth, allowing one hit but otherwise getting three quick outs, but the Sharks were finding the ball with their bats, which isn't usually good for keeping scoring down. Booe came in and struck out five over three innings, but also gave up a hit, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch. Not the cleanest, but not the end of the world. The runners were scattered, with just a walk and the HBP coming together in the sixth. A strike out and a grounder straight to third took care of it.

Offensively, Frizzell was the only player with multiple hits for the Cards. Hess, Richardson, and Chelsea Mack (the UK transfer who has taken over in CF), were the only other players to reach base more than once, with a walk and a hit each. Mack and Richardson answered the defensive questions that were outstanding. With Zabala in the circle, the defense went Goff (C), Frizzell (1B), Lotus (2B), Richardson (3B), Hess (SS), Geraghty (LF), Mack (CF), and Vanessa Miller (RF). Gabby Holloway got a hit as a pinch hitter and Maddi Grant was the designated hitter.

The second game saw a bit more offense out of the Cards, who took a 1-0 lead in the second and went on to win 4-1. The second game saw a change to the lineup, with Ally Alexander taking over at third and Richardson moving to DH. Gabby Holloway had the start in game two and pitched very well, but it was Brooke Gray who earned her first collegiate win in relief. Izzy Harrison came on to close the game out and, while she gave up two walks in the seventh, she struck out the side for the save. 

Like the first game, Lotus reached first in her first at bat, this time on a single, and stole second. Her steal came after Goff had struck out, but Hess walked to backfill at first. A strikeout and a line out ended the inning. Holloway, who gave up a hit in the first, played with fire a bit in the second, as she gave up back-to-back singles to open the inning. She followed up the hits with a pair of strikeouts split by a ground out to end the threat, and the Cards rewarded her.

The bottom of the second opened with a Paige Geraghty triple, and she came home two batters later on an Alexander single up the middle. That 1-0 lead held through the fourth, despite Georgetown loading the bases with nobody out. An uncharacteristic error by Hess opened the inning and a single put two on. A bunt that was probably intended to be a sacrifice was beat out and the bases were loaded. A pop up got the first out of the inning and a sharp ground ball to Easton Lotus was smartly played. Double plays are difficult to turn in softball because of the larger ball and the shorter base paths. Rather than try to get the 4-6-3 double-play, Lotus fired the ball to Goff for the force out at the plate. The bases remained loaded, but the run didn't score. A ground out to Hess, who calmly rectified her prior error, ended the inning.

Louisville would put two runners in scoring position in the bottom half, but nothing came of it. The fifth brought the end of Holloway's season debut. A walk to open the inning turned into a runner on third with one out after a sacrifice and a steal. Holloway picked up a strikeout to make it one on with two outs, but a single tied the game. With a tie game in the fifth, Coach Holly Aprile turned to the young starter in Brooke Gray. Gray got a fly out against her first college batter (excluding fall ball) and Louisville took over. Hess opened with a walk and advanced despite Frizell's grounder being right at second base. A foul out meant there was just one out to bring the run around, but an error gave the Cards a freebie. Paige Geraghty singled to third, who was thrown off by the advancing Hess. The Hoya 3B airmailed the throw to first and both Louisville players advanced, with Hess coming home for an unearned run. Cards regained their lead 2-1.

Another fly out opened Gray's first full inning of work, and it was followed by a double. She picked up her first strikeout on the ensuing pinch hitter, and the pinch runner was thrown out at third on an attempted steal. Three up, three down... kind of. Maddi Grant came on to pinch hit for Alexander to open the sixth and tripled to right. Chelsea Mack singled her home and stole second. Easton Lotus singled through the middle and Mack's counterpart in center couldn't get the throw home in time. Lotus advanced to second on the throw and then a bunch of weird stuff happened. Georgetown made a quadruple change and the new pitcher plunked Kylie Goff. Hess then popped up, and Lotus somehow advanced on the play. Frizell grounded to second, where Goff was out, and Mia Forsythe was caught stealing after coming on to pinch run. Nevertheless, Louisville led 4-1.

Izzy Harrison came on to close out the game, with Gray in line for the win, and walked the first two batters. You already know how this ends, so I'll spare you the dramatics. The ball was never in play in the seventh, with the two walks being followed by three strikeouts. Ball game, Cards. Easton Lotus and Paige Geraghty were the only two Louisville hitters with multiple hits in this one. Goff reached twice as the result of an HBP, and Hess was the only other Cardinal to reach base more than once. Hess walked three times, a very Joey Votto-esque performance in the 3-hole. 

Louisville is back in action at 5PM this evening with a rematch against Georgetown, which will be immediately followed by a game against FGCU (scheduled for 7:30). The Cards will take on FGCU again tomorrow at 12:30PM to close out the event. Both games against the hosts will be available on ESPN+.

Lacrosse Falls at Denver

The Cards made a game out of it against the Pioneers, but the final score doesn't quite reflect the threat. Louisville cut Denver's lead to 11-8 entering the fourth quarter, but 5-0 quarters bookending the game set the final score at a lopsided 16-8. The Cards were competitive in the mid-game but were unable to match pace with the offensive output of a Final Four team from last season.

As you might expect, after the rules changes this offseason, the penalty summary is nearly as long as the goal summary. Ten cards were issued in this one, with Louisville picking up seven of them. Playing with fewer players on the field is a good way to give up power play goals, as you might expect. No Cardinal was carded more than once, which is good, but we'll have to see if they can clean things up as the season progresses.

On the offensive side, Louisville was led by Kokoro Nakazawa's three goals. Kylea Dobson, Tiffany Natoli, Nicole Perroni, and Negai Nakazawa scored one apiece. The Cards only had two assists, with one coming from Negai, and the other coming from Izzy Seikel. Louisville converted 8 of their 14 shots on goal, and those 14 shots on goal came on just 23 shots. The Cards were competitive on draw controls, as well, losing that battle just 12-14. Louisville recovered more ground balls and had more clears. Denver's offense was just overwhelming. Sara Addeche played the entire match and finished with 14 saves. A herculean effort against 30 shots. 

The Cards have today off before they head to Boulder to take on Colorado tomorrow at 2PM. There is a lot to learn from this game, despite the outsized deficit at the end, as Louisville led the middle portion of the game 8-6. They'll have to score in the first and fourth quarters to win going forward, though.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're without Jeff this week, as a road trip to see former Louisville players in the PVF takes him away. We'll have Jared, Daryl, and myself, as well as another week with Paulie, to fill the show. We'll talk big WBB games and the opening of the spring sports seasons. There won't be any live stream of this week's episode, but you can check out the podcast as always. The show officially starts at 11 AM Eastern, and there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Lacrosse Season Comes to a Close; Softball Sweeps -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Loses in Opening Round of ACC Tourney

After picking up their second conference win against Duke just over a week ago, Louisville found themselves seeded 8th in the conference tournament, ahead of both Duke and Pitt, the two teams they beat this season. Despite the worse overall record (Duke was 6-1 out of conference), Louisville hosted in the first round of the ACC tournament. Unfortunately, Duke was ready to get revenge for the close loss they suffered at the same stadium very recently. 

Duke got the scoring started early, and it looked for a bit like the Cards would be run off their own field. Duke scored the first three goals over seven and a half minutes, with the first coming less than two minutes into the contest. Negai Nakazawa finally put Louisville on the board with just over seven minutes remaining in the first quarter, but Duke answered to make it 4-1 a minute later. With just ten seconds left in the period, Hannah Morris scored her first goal of the game to cut the lead in half. 

Louisville opened the scoring in the second period, again with a goal from Negai Nakazawa. This time, Negai was assisted by her sister Kokoro and the Cards were within one. Duke was insistent on remaining up by a pair of goals, matching Nakazawa's second a minute later. Nicole Perroni got in on the action with 10:09 left in the half to bring Louisville back to one, and they played that way for a bit. Duke was able to extend their lead again before Hannah Morris went on a tear. With Louisville trailing 6-4, Morris rattled off three goals in a shade over three minutes to swing the advantage into Louisville's favor. Duke grabbed one more goal with 93 seconds left in the half, and the two teams entered the locker room tied.

It was the usual suspects for Louisville coming out of the break, as the first three and a half minutes saw Louisville go up by a pair on another Nakazawa double-feature to earn Negai the hat trick and a fifth goal from Morris. Duke remained focused, though, and they buckled down on defense. Louisville went five minutes before Allegra Catalano was able to score their tenth team goal of the game. In that time, Duke managed to score three of their own, with two coming just 14 seconds apart. The rest of the third quarter played tight, but neither team found the back of the net again. Just as they had started the third, they ended it tied.

To open the fourth, another Nakazawa goal found Louisville ahead by one. Kokoro was in charge this time, scoring her 22nd goal of the season. Unfortunately for Nakazawa and for Louisville, it was her (and the team's) last goal of the year. Duke tied it up with 8:43 remaining, and the rest of the game was agonizing for the Cards. After a yellow card put Louisville down a player, a second put the Cards down two with a minute left on the first penalty kill. Sara Addeche saved the free position shot created by the second foul (one of 16 saves in the complete game), but the pressure remained. Despite getting one player back on the field, Louisville played at a disadvantage for too long. Twenty seconds before the second penalty timed out, Duke scored to make it 12-11 with 3:54 remaining.

Louisville had their chances to tie it up once more, but it wasn't meant to be. A free position shot by Kokoro Nakazawa was saved while Negai had one shot go wide and another hit the post. It came down to a free position shot by Hannah Morris with ten seconds left. The attempt hit the post. It was Morris's only missed conversion of the game, and it's an extremely unfair way for her career to end. The graduate senior finishes her time at UofL with 138 goals and 19 assists in 74 games. She scored 43.3% of her shots and put 71.5% of her attempts on target.

Louisville's loss in the first round will put a cap on their season, as 5-12 will be unlikely to draw any attention for the NCAA tournament. Duke advances to the quarterfinals Wednesday to take on Boston College. We'll have plenty more to say about the lacrosse season as time goes on.

Softball Earns 9-2 Win in Finale at Virginia

After a bit of a barn-burner Saturday evening, Louisville left little doubt in their series finale in Charlottesville as they lumped the scoring on early to sweep the Cavaliers. Louisville used a mix of small ball and long shots to rack up the runs, and a couple of early Virginia runs were largely ignorable as the game went on. 

Korbe Otis got the game started off well for the Cards with a lead-off home run. Easton Lotus was first-pitch swinging after that and reached on an error. Taylor Roby singled Lotus all the way to third, and Virginia's starting pitcher found herself relieved of the ball. The new pitcher for the 'Hoos may have benefited from a bit more time warming up as she hit Sarah Gordon with the first pitch. Reaching scoring position with no outs saw Roby removed from the base paths with Mia Forsythe brought on to pinch run. The move paid off, as a Daisy Hess single scored two runs. With runners on second and third with nobody out, Louisville managed to score no more runs. So it goes sometimes. Louisville took a 3-0 lead into the bottom half.

Taylor Roby got the start again in this game and things started a bit less swimmingly for her than they did on Saturday. The first two batters singled, but Louisville halted their progress with a fielder's choice out at third to put runners on first and second with one out. Unfortunately, Roby immediately undermined the defense's efforts with a wild pitch to move both runners up. It came back to haunt her immediately, as a single scored both runners and the batter advanced on the throw to home. A ground out to first put the tying run at third base, and a full-count walk followed. Roby kept the lead alive by forcing a ground out to end the inning.

After Paige Geraghty grounded out to roll over the lineup, Otis picked up right where the top half of the order had left off in the first. She walked, and Lotus followed her with a single. Both advanced on a throwing error, and Roby helped get her runs back with a single to score Otis. Gordon was up next, and she singled as well. She and Roby both advanced an extra base as Virginia unsuccessfully attempted to throw out Easton Lotus at home. Another two-RBI single from Daisy Hess put Louisville up by five, but they would score no more in the inning. After a single and a fielder's choice that got no outs loaded the bases, a double-play ended the threat. A four spot left the Cards ahead 7-2. 

Virginia continued to put the bat on the ball against Roby. A single was followed by a come-backer right to Roby, who turned it into a double-play. Seeming to be out of a jam, she found herself right back in one with a single and a walk. Whether it was tiredness or Virginia having seen too much of her the night before, Coach Holly Aprile decided it was time for a change. Saturday's victor, Gabby Holloway, stepped into the circle and got a flyout to end the inning. 

With Otis batting for the third time in three innings, she couldn't keep the run going and Louisville quickly had two outs. Lotus kicked off a rally, though, and singled with two strikes. Roby walked, and Virginia made another pitching change before Sarah Gordon stepped in. This time, she elected to do the hitting instead of being hit by a new pitcher, and she singled up the middle to score Lotus. Daisy Hess stepped in and hit another single, this one deep enough to score Roby from second and give Hess her fifth RBI of the night. A ground out stranded a pair, but Louisville had extended their lead to 9-2. That would be the final. 

Duke managed to pick up just two hits and a walk off of Holloway over the next five innings, and they were all scattered. She earned four strikeouts and threw just 72 pitches over those five (it took her just two to get the final out of the second, bringing her total to 74). Louisville was similarly frustrated for the remainder of the game, though two of their three hits came in the same inning. The Cards were under a bit less pressure, though, playing with a seven-run lead instead of the inverse. Offensively, Louisville got perfect on-base nights from both Taylor Roby and Daisy Hess, with the pair combining for half of the team's 14 hits and two-thirds of its RBIs. 

Last night's win moved Louisville to 32-14 overall and 13-4 in the ACC. Despite some of the early losses (and some of the headscratchers later), Louisville has played quite well this season. The Cards are now 4-2 in conference series and have moved into third ahead of Duke based on win percentage. Louisville has played a series less than most teams in the league and one game less than Florida State due to the canceled game at Syracuse. Louisville has also scored just one run less than FSU and is just five behind the co-leaders in conference runs scored, Duke and Notre Dame, who have both played five more games than the Cards. The defense has been better than you might expect as well, with Louisville having given up fewer runs than everyone but FSU, Clemson, and UNC. That comes with a grain of salt, though, as the fewer games is definitely playing a part.

The Cards have the bookends of the conference remaining this season. They'll return to Ulmer to round out the home schedule with a series against last-in-the-league Boston College this weekend. On Derby weekend, as they usually do, they'll hit the road. Top-seeded FSU awaits, and Louisville will have a big chance to score some NCAA attention on that first weekend in May. A sweep of Boston College and at least one win against the Seminoles would be ideal, but they'll have to take it one game at a time.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case