Cards Nearly Sweep Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Upsets Denver in Opener

Louisville lacrosse, which we discussed a lot last week after Paulie and Jared's interview with Scott Teeter, opened their season yesterday with a midday game against the 15th-ranked Denver Pioneers. As Teeter  mentioned in that interview, the team was ready to play someone other than themselves. That showed when Louisville opened with a 5-1 first quarter. Louisville weathered storm after storm, ultimately holding on through a 1-4 fourth quarter to win the game 10-8. 

Denver opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game when Olivia Ripple scored from Raegan Wilson. Louisville was undeterred, though. Lauren Figas scored her first, an unassisted goal, just 35 seconds later to tie the match. With both teams back on level footing, they settled into a rhythm or, if you rather, a game of cat and mouse. Neither team could score for about ten minutes before Reese Whiteman, a sophomore set to see more time, scored from Negai Nakazawa with just under four to play in the quarter. That goal was the start of a 4-0 run to close the quarter with Ella Berg and Erin Nicholson scoring unassisted goals and Figas scoring her second on Nakazawa's second assist. 

The second quarter started basically the exact same way, with Olivia Ripple scoring her second goal just 1:22 into the quarter. This one was unassisted, but Raegan Wilson would add another point to her tally by scoring herself with 1:08 remaining in the first half. They were the only two scorers in the quarter, and Louisville held on to a 5-3 lead heading into the locker room. 

I think Teeter may have mentioned Olivia Ripple's trend during the break, because she didn't score the third goal of her hat trick until there was only 5:50 remaining in the third quarter. By that time, Nakazawa had extended Louisville's advantage by two, once unassisted and once from Berg. Figas matched the Ripple hat trick less than a minute later and Rian Adkins got on the board to push Louisville's advantage to five with 2:34 remaining in the third. 

The fourth returned to form for Denver in more ways than one. They scored less than a minute into the quarter, but this time it was Caroline Colimore. Adkins scored a minute and a half later to push Louisville's lead back to five, but it would be the last time they scored in the game. Fortunately, the defense was able to bear down. The Pioneers scored three more goals (including a fourth by Ripple), but their last goal came with 6:27 remaining. The Cards were able to keep them at bay for the remainder of the game and hold on for the huge season-opening upset. 

Louisville's defensive was aided by a player advantage, as Lindsey Wilmot of Denver was shown a red card with 4:18 to go. The penalties were certainly fewer than last season, as Teeter alluded to when discussing the rule changes, but there were still five yellows and a green to go along with the red. Louisville picked up three of the yellows, while Denver had the remaining penalties. 

Louisville's win was impressive, and a lot of the credit goes to the defense. Denver outshot Louisville by 16 overall (37-21), but the Cards were strong and forced a ton of uncomfortable shots. In the end, the teams finished with the same number of attempts on goal: 17. Louisville may not have had as many opportunities, but they were clinically efficient. J Pleck started in goal, as the senior inherited the position from the graduating Sara Addeche, and finished with a career high in saves with nine. Pleck also helped hold the Pioneers to 3-10 on free position shots while Louisville matched the goals with three on seven attempts.

In addition to the overall shots battle, Louisville had to weather being disadvantaged in turnovers (18-13) and ground balls (16-5). Denver just had the ball more often, which is why I give so much credit to the defense. The Cards did win the draw control battle 11-10. 

All in all, it was a great start to the season for Louisville. As expected, Teeter was spot on when he name dropped some of his expected standouts, and we'll surely see more from them and others as the season rolls on. Louisville is next in action when they host Cincinnati on Tuesday at 3PM. 

POST GAME SCOTT TEETER AND PLAYERS

Softball Goes 1-1 on Opening Day

Louisville softball one-upped the lacrosse team by playing two games on their opening day. Unfortunately for Holly Aprile's squad, they could only come up with the same number of wins. The Cards opened the evening with an 11-3 stomping of Middle Tennessee (who have officially changed their logo from MTSU to MT) but closed with a 9-4 loss against Liberty. 

Sam Booe got the start in the first game and pitched six strong innings. She struck out seven, walked two, and gave up five hits. Her three earned runs came on a three-run homer in the third inning. Booe was relieved by Brooke Gray in the seventh to keep Gray warm for game two. Gray snagged two ground outs and a strikeout in a quick inning. 

The real show in game one was Louisville's offense. Louisville was the away team in this one, and Easton Lotus (who has moved into the leadoff spot as we welcome the R-Jr back from injury) opened the game with a triple. After Char Lorenz, the R-Fr utility player, coaxed a walk, Lotus stole home to get the Cards on the board. Bri Despines, Louisville's new transfer catcher from Kent State, drew a catcher's interference call (savvy) to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Unfortunately, Louisville could add no more runs as the next three batters went down on a pair of flyouts and a strikeout. 

Louisville got back on the board in the second when a bases loaded error on a Lorenz grounder to short scored Chelsea Mack and Taylor Monroe. Despines scored Lotus on a sac fly to give Louisville a 4-0 lead. In the third, Mack drew a bases loaded walk to score Riley Janda and Lotus hit a productive groundout to score Thatcher. Middle Tennessee would break the shutout in the bottom of the third with the aforementioned homer to make the score 6-3. 

Louisville was held scoreless for the first time in the fourth inning, but they scored one run each in the fifth and sixth. Jordan Williams singled for Thatcher to score her second run of the day and Madison Pickens scored in the sixth on a bases loaded wild pitch. In the seventh, the top of the order got back to work, with Lorenz doubling in Lotus and then scoring herself on an error that saw Despines go from the batter's box to third base. Despines came home for the 11th and final run on a Pickens sac fly.

It was an exciting game for new Cards, as Despines was joined by freshmen Lorenz, Pickens, Janda, Monroe, and Williams in having a hit and/or RBI. It was also a great return to the field for Easton Lotus, who scored all three times she reached base (two hits and a walk) and earned an RBI. 

The second game was much tighter, but ultimately saw the away team take the victory again. Unfortunately, Louisville was the home team in this one. Alyssa Zabala took to the circle for the start of this one and held Liberty scoreless for the first two innings. A freshman connection scored the Cards first run when Taylor Monroe singled in Riley Janda in the second. The Cards lead was short-lived, though, as a two-run homer gave Liberty the lead in the third. Though the homer came with two outs, Zabala wasn't missing many bats in the inning. A double preceded a pair of line drives before the home run and a triple followed. Fortunately a ground out ended the threat. 

Louisville couldn't answer in the bottom half, unfortunately seeing Mack, Lotus, and Lorenz go down in order. Lorenz watched strike three on a full count, so it's hard to blame her but it stings a bit. After a fly out opened the fourth, Liberty put runners on first and second with a walk and a single. Another single scored a runner and advancement saw runners at second and third with one out. Zabala played with fire by giving up three straight foul balls to the next batter, but she ultimately picked up the swinging strikeout. Aprile still decided that it was time to give her a break and Gray came in to take over. A flyout ended the inning. 

The two teams exchanged 1-2-3 innings after that and headed to the bottom of the fifth with the score still 3-1. Katie Thatcher took a plunking to open the inning and we saw Aprile employ some of her traditional small-ball. A pinch runner moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and Ally Alexander followed with a single. Unfortunately, the single was to left center, meaning Williams couldn't advance and making the prior sacrifice functionally a free out. Aprile put a lot of faith in her contact hitters after that, trusting Chelsea Mack to lay down another sacrifice to bring the top of the order up with runners on second and third and two outs. Lotus delivered with a single to score Williams, and the catcher missed the catch on the throw in, allowing Alexander to come in and tie the game. A pop up ended the inning but Louisville had reset things going into the sixth. 

Liberty responded with small ball of their own. A single and a sac bunt put a runner in scoring position and another single scored the go-ahead run. Unfortunately, Louisville had an error of their own on the throw in, keeping a runner in scoring position. Liberty took advantage, singling for the third time in four batters to make it 5-3. A caught stealing by Despines and a pop up ended the inning. Louisville was unable to answer in the bottom half and the game moved to the final frame with the Cards down two. 

After some shuffling in the bottom of the sixth, Louisville was forced into an interesting substitution pattern in the seventh. Gray gave up a double to open the inning and Katie Thatcher moved into the circle in a change that put Despines back behind the plate and Pickens in right field. Thatcher wasn't listed as a pitcher on last year's roster and I really question the move to test her out in the circle given the situation. Liberty's leadoff runner stole third, and Thatcher threw four straight balls to follow. That runner stole second while Thatcher walked the bases loaded. I'm not sure if either walk was intended to get force outs on base, but a leadoff double while you're down only two is recoverable, so I don't understand what appeared to be giving up defensively. A sac fly scored a runner and a pinch runner stole second to keep runners on second and third with one out. A swinging bunt caught Despines off guard and her errant throw kept runners on second and third and allowed another run. Another walk to load the bases saw freshman Ryann Sanders called into the circle. A single up the middle scored two more before a double play ended the inning. From 5-3 to 9-3 just like that. Gross.

Louisville showed life with a leadoff double of their own in the bottom half. It was followed by a fielder's choice that failed to secure an out and gave Louisville runners on the corners with nobody out and the turn of the order coming up. Unfortunately, Mack, Lotus, and Lorenz weren't quite up to the task this time. Mack popped out, Lotus picked up a consolation RBI on a ground out, and Lorenz lined out to end the game. 9-4 final. 

After the encouraging start to the day and the comeback bid in the second game, I'm still scratching my head about the choices in the end. However, there's a long season ahead and Liberty isn't a bad team. We'll have plenty more chances to see the Cards succeed, starting with two games today against Rutgers (1PM) and Radford (3:30). Both are available (at a cost) on the FastPitch Network. 

Tennis Opens Season 4-1

I wanted to give a shoutout to tennis, who we haven't covered much yet this season, as they're doing well to open the year. Their latest victory was a sweep over Austin Peay. While that may not sound like much, it included a doubles win by Alice Otis and Elisabeth Iila over the 25th-ranked doubles pair in the country. The latest win the Cards' second sweep of the year is added to their victories over UNC Greensboro, UT Chattanooga, and Dayton. Their loss came on the road at Middle Tennessee. Louisville gets a week off before heading to Indiana next week. Conference play begins the week after with a trip to SMU on 2/23. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on board today as Jared cruises and Daryl tries to fight off illness. There's plenty to cover, to be sure, so be sure to tune in. 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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball Splits; Lacrosse Drops Heartbreaker -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Opens with Win, Falls to UK

Louisville softball got their season off to an interesting start yesterday in Clearwater, Florida. That start included back-to-back games to open their schedule with the second coming against a ranked rival. The Cards opened with South Alabama at 11AM, with the game against Kentucky scheduled to start at 1:30PM or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. At the same time as Louisville faced South Alabama, Kentucky took on St. John's on a different field at the same complex, so the Cards don't have that as an excuse. However, their games couldn't have gone much differently.

Kentucky cruised to a 14-4 run rule over St. John's. The Red Storm took a 3-0 lead into the bottom half of the first, which UK quickly erased with a 2-out grand slam. In the meantime, Louisville struck first against USA in the third inning. On the play, Korbe Otis stood at first, having earned a one-out single before Taylor Roby fouled out. With two outs, Otis was running on contact, which came lightly off the bat of Hannah File. The ball blooped over Otis's head, and fell in front of South Alabama's second baseman, who was playing off. As Otis rounded second, the second baseman fumbled the ball, taking a play for File at first out of the question. Recovering, she prepared to throw the ball home as Otis didn't slow down. The throw was way off target, allowing Otis to score and File to reach second. Vanessa Miller went down swinging to end the inning, but the Cards held a 1-0 lead.

That lead was quickly erased by an unearned run by South Alabama in the bottom half. What goes around comes around, they say. Louisville got a strikeout to start the inning, but back-to-back singles put runners on first and second. A grounder looked like it would end the inning harmlessly, but newcomer Daisy Hess (a transfer from Georgia State) made an uncharacteristic error. The high school Gold Glover and three-year starter at shortstop for GSU stepped on the bag for the first out but airmailed the throw to first to allow the runner rounding third to score. Louisville got another grounder to end the inning, but the score was tied at one. 

Neither team was able to break through for the remaining four innings of regulation ball, with Louisville grabbing two singles and reaching on an error and South Alabama picking up two walks. The Cards took to the plate first in the eighth, with a runner standing on second, per the international tiebreaker rules. To Louisville's great benefit, the previous batter had been Korbe Otis, who advanced to third on a wild pitch quickly. Taylor Roby doubled to score Otis and was pinch run for to continue the attack. After a strikeout, a dropped flyball put runners on the corners for catcher Sarah Gordon. Gordon doubled down the left field line to score them both and give the Cards a 4-1 lead. A flyout and a strikeout ended the inning and Louisville took to the field. USA would score one in the bottom half, as it's pretty difficult not to score a runner from second with no outs. In fact, USA used two outs to score her, getting an advancing ground ball and then a sacrifice fly. With nobody on and two out, Alyssa Zabala picked up her third strikeout to finish the inning and grab her first win as a Cardinal.

As I said, Kentucky was a little more rested than Louisville, but neither team could claim much momentum. Even though Louisville had just picked up an extra inning win, Kentucky scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to complete their game one run-rule. The #20/17 Wildcats wasted no time getting back to business. After sitting Cards down in order in the top of the first and having their leadoff batter ground out, the Cats put three straight players on base with a single, an outless fielder's choice, and a double. A passed ball helped set up the fielder's choice and a fielding error by the catcher on the double allowed the second run to score. After a groundout advanced the runner to third, another double brought her home. Another groundout ended the inning, but Louisville was quickly in a 3-0 hole. 

Louisville finally got a runner on base to leadoff the third inning, but she was caught stealing to quickly end that threat. Defensive issues came back to bite the Cards again in the bottom half of the third. After a single and a walk had runners on first and second with two outs, a throwing error by the pitcher on what should have been the third out allowed both runners to score and pushed the Kentucky lead to five. The fourth inning saw six up, six down, and Louisville finally got their second base runner to open the fifth when Roby singled. Again, the runner was quickly erased, this time on a lineout double play. 

The bottom of the fifth unraveled for Cassie Grizzard, who hit a batter to open the frame, gave up a four pitch walk after a steal, and saw a 2-2 pitch skied to center for the walk-off home run to end the run-rule shortened game. Though they had only two strikeouts, the Cards also had just two hits. They committed three errors, leading to four of Kentucky's eight runs. The Cats are good, and Louisville will get another shot at them this season, but this is a game to forget. Fortunately, there are positives to take from game one of the day, and Louisville is allowed to have a short memory early in the year. The Cards are back in action today at 1:30PM against Southern University and later at 4 against another ranked SEC team. This time it's Mizzou. The gocards website includes a video link, but the stream can be a bit hit and miss.

If you would like to follow Softball today, TRY THIS LINK HERE

Lacrosse Drops Four-Goal Lead Against Denver

Louisville lacrosse opened their season against Denver yesterday, and the game is beginning to feel like a given on the schedule. Unlike in years past, Louisville looked very prepared early in this one. While the Cards have played Denver close before, it didn't exactly feel like they threatened to win. That was different yesterday, as Louisville opened the scoring and held a 3-0 first quarter lead. Unfortunately, their offensive firepower ran out much too early, and the Cards fell 5-4.

Nicole Perroni was the first on the board for the season, surprising no one, as she scored in less than five minutes. Negai Nakazawa, Kokoro's younger sister, scored to put the Cards up 2-0 and Perroni struck again to make it 3-0 with just eight seconds remaining in the frame. The second quarter was much less eventful, with neither team able to score again until Louisville increased their lead to four with a Lauren Figas goal with 2:25 remaining. If you had told Scott Teeter or anyone else that it would be their last goal of the day, they'd surely be shocked and dismayed. Those feelings would come to pass. It took Denver fewer than 30 seconds to answer the fourth goal, cutting the lead to 4-1 with just under two minutes until halftime. Louisville held on to the break and went to the locker room feeling good. Remember, no one had told them yet that they wouldn't score again.

The third quarter played out much like the second, with neither team making much offensive headway. Lauren Black scored a second goal for the Pioneers with 3:05 remaining in the third, but Louisville still held a two-goal lead. Unfortunately for the Cards, a two-goal lead entering the late stages of a game is among the most dangerous leads you can have psychologically. Two goals feels comfortable, but just one quick goal cuts your advantage in half and gives the opponent more motivation. Such was the case in the fourth quarter of this one, as Denver scored at the 9:49 mark and equalized just 44 seconds later. All of the sudden, Louisville went from a two-goal lead to a tied game and Denver was rolling. Such is the psychological snowball effect. In just under a minute and a half more, Denver scored the go-ahead goal, the ninth and final goal of the match. Neither team was able to attack successfully for the remaining eight minutes of the match, but only one team needed to. After scoring the first four goals of the match, Louisville gave up five straight to end their chance at a top-ten upset.

There is a lot to be encouraged about with this match. Similarly, there is plenty to be discouraged about. Denver is a top-ten team (ranked 9th), and the Cards should have beaten them. They scored early and often, but they weren't able to keep up the scoring later in the game, despite having seven shots in both halves. One of the discouraging stats is the turnovers, as Louisville had 25 in the game, ten more than Denver. Another issue was draw controls late. After winning the draw control battle 3-1 in the first quarter, the Cards lost it 6-3 over the remaining three quarters. Those draw control losses can lead directly to goals, as was the case on the quick Denver run.

Louisville has today off before they host Colorado tomorrow. The game is at Noon and will be available on ACC Network Extra. The Cards will look to bounce back from the tough loss and regain some momentum. It's a short non-conference season, as Louisville will get Lindenwood next Sunday before starting conference play against Virginia on the 25th. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're without Daryl this morning, but after recovering from travel last week, I'm back to make it four on today's show. With spring sports getting fully underway, we'll have more than enough to talk about to fill the hour. 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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case