SANDY PEARSALL -- THE CARDINAL COUPLE INTERVIEW -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

OVERCOMING ADVERSITIES AND BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

We had the chance to sit down with Louisville Softball head coach Sandy Pearsall Wednesday and catch up on the 2016 season, the future and what's next for the Cards. The entire interview can be heard Saturday on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR on WCHQ 100.9 at 11 a.m. and at www.crescenthillradio.com


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CARDINAL COUPLE: You've had a little over a week now to get your thoughts together about the season just ended...what are some of the things you'll look back on and remember about the season? 

SANDY PEARSALL: It was an up and down year for us. So many injuries and some unusual things popped up...it was hard for us to finally find a team and it took us a month or so to find that team that could get it done. I'm really proud of this group because there was so much adversity that occurred during the course of our season that we overcame to finish second in the ACC. 

CARDINAL COUPLE: You had three very exemplary seniors in Brittany Sims, Hailey Smith and Morgan Hart. Your reflections on them?

SANDY PEARSALL: A great group of seniors that gave a lot to our program in many, many ways.

Morgan Hart came in basically as a bullpen catcher and was able to help us in more ways than that...behind the plate and also offensively. Just a tremendous player to have in the program and had her head in the game. A very enjoyable player to be around.

Brittany Sims..you know my hats off to Brittany Sims...the first two years sitting behind Katie Keller...one of our best second basemen to come through here...worked her tail off to get time on the field and when she did proved herself as a steady player. We asked her to do some things that probably within her realm...being a shortstop...and she did a great job until we were able to find someone to fill the role and then she went over to play her usual second base. Always very energetic and pumped up...a very hard working kid. 

Hailey Smith..she suffered through a rough senior season. She worked hard to get through it after spending so much time on the bench with her shoulder injury. She came on huge for us at the end of the season offensively and defensively and ended her career in great fashion. 

CARDINAL COUPLE: You have a group coming back with a multitude of position experience. There are some gaps to fill in the infield. Talk about the returning players that will lead the way next year. 

SANDY PEARSALL: We're very excited about Megan Hensley and what she was able to do this year. We have to work a little bit on her offense...she struggled in the last month of the season. A tremendously hard worker, though and will have a great career with us.

Lillie Goetz is another player that worked really hard and really came on for us. She needs to continue to work on her swing...but we saw some great moments from her and she accomplished some great things offensively and defensively.

Maryssa Becker returns for her senior year, I'm excited about that, she's always been there offensively for us and in the circle. 

Our outfield is extremely solid with Jordan McNary, Nicole Pufahl and Morgan Meyer. Certainly if they continue to work hard for us they'll accomplish more great things next year. 

-- Who did opponents start to pitch to differently at the end of the season? 

-- What incoming short-shop has caught Coach Pearsall's eye?

-- Who is the "six foot pitcher" headed to Louisville?

-- What is Coach Pearsall doing these days?  

For answers to these questions and more of this excellent interview we were fortunate enough to conduct with "Coach P"...be sure to catch the 11 a.m. Saturday broadcast of THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR on WCHQ 100.9 FM and streaming live on the Internet at www.crescenthillradio.com


paulie
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SOFTBALL SENIORS CINCH SERIES SUNDAY VS SYRACUSE -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SIMS, SMITH WITH 5 RBI'S IN 6-2 WIN

It is only fitting that on Louisville Softball Senior Day, two of the three seniors provide the offensive punch for the Cards in a 6-2 win over Syracuse Sunday at Ulmer Stadium.

Brittany Sims, Hailey Smith and Mo Hart got the starts as Cardinal seniors and provided much of the offensive spark for Louisville in the win. 

This contest started out as a pitcher's duel...with neither squad finding a way to push a run across the plate until the bottom of the fourth...when Louisville erupted for three home plate trips. Nicole Pufahl got the party started with a double and Sims sent her home with a single. Jordan McNary worked a walk off Syracuse starting pitcher AnnaMarie Gatti to set the stage for a two-RBI double from Smith.

The Cards added to the lead in the fifth when Sims belted her second double of the game...bringing pinch-runner Jessica Adell and Megan Hensley home. Louisville was leading 5-0 and all five scores had been driven in by seniors Smith and Sims. 

Syracuse would counter with two runs in the top of the sixth but the Cards would load the bases in the bottom half of the inning....and getting a Maryssa Becker RBI single to set the final score 6-2. 

Becker notched her 19th. win of the season, going the distance and allowing two runs on seven hits. 

UofL (32-10, 13-5 ACC) steps out of conference next with a Wednesday evening hosting of arch-rival Kentucky. The first planned game between the two was rained out back on April 6th. in Lexington and the three day weather forecast for the Louisville area might have these two dodging raindrops again. 

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THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

If you missed Saturday's live broadcast of THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR...fear not. The SoundCloud re-broadcast can be heard at the following link: 

LINK: https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20160423


A fun broadcast where Jared Anderson and I discussed Louisville softball, lacrosse, hoops and track and field in the first half of the broadcast. You won't want to miss our Derby Preview in the second half of the broadcast with the excellent handicapping views of Tom, Scott, Dave and Charlie for the first Saturday in May race.

The boys are giving out sage advice and predictions on what might happen Derby Day and whether you're a novice bettor or seasoned race-goer, you'll glean quite a bit from their analysis.

paulie
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