Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Cards gored by Bulls

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Nevins' three hitter shuts down Cardinal bats

-Radio tomorrow


The University of Louisville softball team falls to South Florida 3-0 in semifinal action in Tampa Friday evening.

A case of the Cards not getting the hits needed against the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year and USF striking for three runs in the third against starter Rachel LeCoq.

Louisville got two hits from Maggie Ruckenbrod and one from Katelyn Mann but couldn't piece any runs together against Sara Nevins in seven innings. Louisville allowed only three hits as well...but they came at a crucial time, getting all three in the third inning. Caralisa Connell came in to provide 3.2 shutout innings of relief, allowing no hits and striking out five.

Louisville had runners on second and third in the second inning but couldn't push anything across the plate

It is only the third shutout thrown against Louisville this season...Texas being the last team to blank the Cards, back in March.  

South Florida gets Notre Dame in the final game Saturday...the Irish running roughshod over Depaul 9-1 to advance.

The Cards most certainly will make the NCAA Tournament at 46-11 but may have put their chances of hosting a regional in jeopardy by losing in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals. The NCAA Tourament pairings and site will be announced Sunday.

12 runs Friday, zero runs Saturday. What a difference a day (and a pitcher) can make...


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We take to the airwaves again this morning at 11 a.m. for another exciting hour of Cardinal Couple Radio on Crescent Hill Radio.

We'll discuss plenty of softball, basketball, volleyball and other topics of interest concerning UofL women's sports.

You can get in on the fun by listening at:

http://www.crescenthillradio.com

You can also tweet Jeff during the show at our Twitter account @CardCoupleRadio.

Join us, won't you?


-Paulie

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Cards crush Orange

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Early production, Trimble's blast send Cards to the semifinal


Sandy Pearsall may have said it best. In an interview that we'll play on the Saturday Cardinal Couple Radio Show, I asked Coach P. about the overall power of the Louisville batters..

" I was talking to the assistants about that the other afternoon. I said to them...what if we were the opposition and had to look across the diamond and see what Louisville had coming up to bat against us. Holy cow! We're scary..."

Louisville was scary, indeed on Thursday...pounding Syracuse for 12 hits and 12 runs in a 12-3 win.

Louisville wasted no time in unpacking the hitting sticks. In the bottom of the first, Katie Keller led things off with a single, moved to third on a Jordan Trimble bunt and scored when Maggie Ruckenbrod reached on a grounder to second.
Katelyn Mann cleared the bags with a triple to make it 3-0. Hannah Kiyohara's single brought Mann in and Kayla Soles smashed a triple to score Kiyohara. 5-0 Cards before the chalk dust on the first base line had settled.

Syracuse tried to make a contest of it. They settled down and got the Cards retired in the second with two hits but no runs. They cut the gap to 5-3 in the top of the third with a pair of home runs.

Louisville was nowhere finished with the offensive firepower, though.

Soles started the home half of the third with a two out fielder's choice. Taner Folwer took one deep to left that appeared to be caught at the fence...but the umpires ruled it a trapped ball and Fowler was awarded first base. After Keller was plunked by a pitch to load the bases, Trimble emptied the bags with a blast to left-center. It was her sixth homer of the year and second grand slam. 9-3 Louisville.

The Cards added three more in the fourth. Kiyohara scored when she reached on a fielder's choice and Soles singled. That set the stage for Fowler's two run blast to left that made it 12-3 Cards. The game was ended after five innings because of the eight-run rule.

Rachel LeCoq went three innings, allowing three runs on five hits. Caralisa Connell was "good Carl" in the final two...holding the Orange scoreless and striking out three.

Louisville advances to play #2 seed South Florida today at 6:30 p.m. The Bulls handled Providence 3-0 in the final game of the day.

In earlier action, #4 seed DePaul won a pitcher's duel with Georgetown 1-0. #1 seed Notre Dame shut out Seton Hall 6-0.

On a opening day of BIG EAST Tournament play where five teams managed a total of only four runs combined, Louisville showed why they were the offensive leader in just about every imaginable offense stat in the BIG EAST this season.

May the bats be with you again tomorrow...Cards!

-Paulie

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Sunday Cardinal Couple - Sunday with Sonja

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


KYVIN GOODIN ROGERS DECOMMITS FROM LOUISVILLE


-Some UofL WBB notes


-Night racing at Churchill kicks into gear


- Cardinal Baseball 


CARDINAL COUPLE has learned that 2013 verbal Kyvin Goodin-Rogers from Marion County has de-committed from Louisville and re-opened her recruiting. A good, reliable source has confirmed the ASGR reports of this move. 


Although we have no firm basis to say why she has de-committed, the logical assumption is that she's paid attention to the recruits that UofL is pursuing, the strong nucleus of current Cards on campus and felt her playing time may not be significant upon arriving at UofL. 


Goodin-Rogers will play her senior season with Cardinal commit Makayla Epps at Marion County.


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Welcome to the start of our two-month Writers Days at Cardinal Couple! Starting today, and running through July...our writers will have a weekly column for you on whatever they want to write about. I get to kick it off, followed by David Watson tomorrow, Sandy Walker Tuesday, Jenny O'Bryan Wednesday, Mark "The Commish" Schneider Thursday, Reader Submitted Articles Friday and Paulie on Saturday. 

Me and Poobah. 

I've seen a couple of these writer's ideas for their inaugural articles and I do believe you'll enjoy their writings. 


We'll break in, of course, with any headline news about UofL Women's Athletics as needed. 


So, get out the tent, grill and bean bag boards....we're on Summer Break here at Cardinal Couple and got the khaki's and tank tops on! Volleyball, anyone? 


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A glance at the current roster listing for Jeff Walz's basketball team shows 13 girls listed. We now know that freshmen Cortnee Walton will wear #13 and Megan Deines will wear #15. 

Walton inherits a jersey that has some great history to it. #13 was "C.B.'s" number and Candyce put up some great numbers in it. Toni Slaughter (Antonita's older sister) wore it as well. Jill Morton shone in it from 1997-2000 and Jenny Pearson had it back in 1992.

Deines dons a number last worn by Tiera Stephen in the 2009-10 season. Before that, Tatjana Boston, Sabrina Minter and Jenny Knight checked in with it. One of my favorite Lady Cards of all-time, Jody Martin had it on her back from 1991-94. Megan wore #33 in high school. Monique Reid probably wasn't ready to turn it over to her.

So...returning star Monique Reid will be back in her #33 for her senior year. Tia Gibbs will put on #25 again. You'll see those two numbers out on Denny Crum Court a lot in 2012-13. 

Shoni indicating that the Cards have two BIG EAST
titles in the future? 

The official roster makes no mention of Monny Niamke yet. We're told that she'll be a Cardinal, though...so we'll have to wait before we can give you her number. 


The roster has three seniors (Harper, Taylor and Reid), four juniors (Vails, Slaughter, Shoni and Gibbs), four sophomores (Hammond, Smith, Jude and Dyer) and two freshmen (Walton and Deines).


Only 150 or so days until the KFC YUM! Center starts rocking again to the sound of UofL WBB cheers. 


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Downs after Dark! 

Churchill Downs kicked off June Night Racing on Saturdays with a better than average card for the historic oval. Three stakes races were featured and favorites won two of them. Rothko had no trouble in the Aristides Stakes and Bizzy Caroline enjoyed her return to the turf by winning the Early Times Mint Julep Handicap. The upset special was Island Bound in the Winning Colors Stakes...a flying outside, from far back finish with Leandro Goncalves on board to best the field at 9-1 odds.  


If you are a fan of jockeys Corey Lanerie or Manny Cruz, you were probably pretty happy during the final four races of the evening. They split the wins equally and each had three winners for the night.


Night racing is a whole different scene than days at Churchill. The crowd is larger, younger, more active and the atmosphere of the track is more "party" than racing. I enjoy it. 


One "twenty-something" patron last night expressed it pretty well as we were getting ready to leave and turn the rest of the night over to the younger ones:


" When I was younger, my dad and uncle would bring me out here for day racing sometimes and it was boring as h--l for me. This is completely opposite. The crowd is big, everybody is having a great time and the music is fantastic. I haven't bet a race yet. My dad and uncle tried night racing once last year, didn't enjoy it. I'd come every Saturday night, though, if they offered it. Babes, beer, buddies and tunes. Pretty sweet. Imagine if they'd add like slots and poker."  


(Hopefully someday, young man...someday)


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Tough loss for the guys last night in baseball. 16-4. Ouch. Arizona advances in the winners bracket.


Drops Dan McDonnell's squad to the losers bracket in the Tucson Regional. One more loss and season over. They play Missouri tonight at 7 p.m.

South Florida and Tennessee, two Louisville softball opponents, are headed home. They dropped out of the WCWS yesterday with losses. 


The FINAL FOUR are California, Alabama, Oklahoma and Arizona State. Cal needs to beat 'Bama twice today to get to the finals. ASU needs two wins over Oklahoma on Monday to do the same. Ex-Cardinal nemesis Jolene Henderson in the circle for the Bears who eliminated Oregon. 


Thanks for spending a portion of your Sunday with Sonja! See you next week! 

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Six UofL Womens Track & Field Athletes qualify for NCAA Championships

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Abdullah, Okoro headline list of UofL women headed to NCAA Championships


-Softball: Elite Eight almost set


Six UofL womens track and field athletes have qualified for the NCAA Championships that will be held June 6-9 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, IA. 


Here's the list:


Khadija Abdullah - Shot Put
Chinwe Okoro - Shot Put
Holly Knight - 10,000 meter run
Michelle Theophille - High Jump
Maggie Gilbertson - High Jump
Charachesicia Lockhart - Long Jump, Triple Jump

Lockhart will participate in two
events in the NCAA Championships

The Cards won the BIG EAST Championships earlier this month and almost had another athlete qualify yesterday for the NCAA Championship...Amashi Kendall just falling short of a qualifying throw in the hammer. 


The athletes who participate in track and field events at UofL, as well as other Universities, rarely get the recognition and coverage that players in football and basketball do. Their efforts, though, are just as dedicated and the practice hours they spend equal those of the hardwood and gridiron performers. 


Best of luck to the UofL participants in the NCAA. Six entries! Keep up the great work, Ron Mann! 


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Now that Louisville's softball season has ended, interest in the sport on the college level has dropped off somewhat locally...but 16 teams advanced to the Super Regionals and have made or are making their bid to be one of the eight that get to the Womens College World Series in Oklahoma City, OK. 

Bulls advance to Okla. City

From the BIG EAST, South Florida has punched their ticket to the "elite eight"...eliminating Hofstra in the Super Regionals two games to one. All three games had the same score...2-1. Sara Nevins, who had trouble against the Cards in the regular season and in the BIG EAST Tournament, back to her old form inside the circle.


Other schools who have made reservations for rooms so far in Oklahoma City:


Alabama (knocked off Michigan, who beat Louisville)
Arizona State
Oklahoma
Oregon


Three more could qualify today. Cal needs to beat Washington to advance. Same for LSU, who plays Missouri and Tennessee could secure a slot by beating Georgia today. If LSU, Cal and UT lose, it goes to game three in the best-of-three format. 

Haylie Wagner's pitching stymied Louisville
but couldn't get Michigan past Alabama.

Three PAC 12 schools, a possible three SEC schools, one from the BIG 12 and one from the BIG EAST. Those who clamor for a Cardinal move to the BIG 12 can't help but believe that the overall competition would be stronger, year in and year out...but for this season...each school has a representative in the final dance. 
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Two Cardinal homers produce seven runs in win over USF.

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Softball Cards sweep USF 4-1, 9-0 to take 1st place in BIG EAST.


-Pat Summitt retiring


-Greg Collins headed to WKU WBB


The University of Louisville softball team beat the University of South Florida twice in softball Wednesday at Ulmer Field to go to 40-2 on the season and a league leading 11-2 in BIG EAST play. The Cards rocked USF standout pitcher Sara Nevins for eight runs in the two games and Jordan Trimble and Taner Fowler each had home runs for the Cardinals in the second game.


A crowd of nearly 800 fans enjoyed the picture-perfect, sunny mid 60's weather. 


GAME ONE

Tori Collins is now 19-1.

It was Tori Collins on the mound against Nevins in the first game, two of the best pitchers in the BIG EAST facing off and early on it was a pitchers' duel. 


South Florida loaded the bases on Collins in the top of the second on two singles and a batter hit by a Collins pitch with just one out, but Collins got out of the jam by striking out the next two Bulls batters. 

Alicia Wolny drew
three walks from
Bulls pitching today.

Louisville broke up the scoreless contest in the bottom of the second when Alicja Wolny drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a Fowler fielders choice grounder. Jordan Trimble walked to give Louisville runners on first and second and after a Kayla Soles ground out...Maggie Ruckenbrod drove home both Wolny and Trimble to give Louisville a 2-0 lead.

That proved to be all Collins would need to get her 19th win of the season but Louisville added a run in the third when Kristin Austin safely bunted with one out and came home on Wolny's sharp shot down the 3rd base line. 


Sam Greiner replaced Nevins to face the Cards in the fourth inning. 


The Bulls scored their only run of the game and the day in the top of the fifth, an unearned run when Janine Richardson reached on a infield bobble and scored on Jessica Mouse's infield single with two outs. 

Maggie Ruckenbrod drove
in the Cards first two runs.

Louisville added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Katie Keller reached on an error and Katelyn Mann came in to pinch run. Mann scored on a Fowler single to center but Bulls relief pitcher Lindsey Richardson retired Trimble, Soles and Ruckenbrod to end the threat. 


Collins shut down the Bulls in order in the top of the seventh, striking out Richardson, getting Kalafas to ground out to her and Mouse to pop up to Kristin Austin to end the game. 


Collins gave up six hits and struck out eight Bulls in the complete game. 


GAME TWO


Nevins returned to the mound to start the second game and Caralisa Connell drew the start for the Cards. Nevins had no trouble with Louisville in the first three innings, retiring the side in order each inning. 

Caralisa Connell started
the second game for UofL

Connell loaded the bases with Bulls in the top of the second after giving up a walk, a single and hitting a batter with two outs. She struck out Ashii Goff, though, to get out of the inning unscathed. 


Chelsea Leonard took the mound to replace Leonard and face to Bulls in the top of the third. She retired the side 3 up, 3 down.


The Cards needed to fire up the bats against Nevins and went into the bottom of the fourth with the top of the order in Jennifer Esteban leading off.


It was quite an inning for Louisville. 

Trimble's grand slam was
the second of the
year for Louisville.

Esteban started the fireworks off with the first Cardinal hit of the game, a single to center. Kristin Austin followed with a walk from Nevins. After Keller went down swinging, Wolny lofted a deep fly to the right center fence that fell for a hit, scoring Esteban. Kirsten Straley came in to run for Wolny and USF decided to intentionally walk Fowler, loading the bags full of Cardinals.


That idea backfired...setting the stage for Trimble's grand slam homer -- the first of her career -- a bomb to right center that just cleared the fence. Suddenly, it was 5-0 Louisville and the Ulmer Stadium crowd was going nuts.


That did it for Nevins and Greiner came in to pitch. She retired two of the next three Cards to end the inning but the damage had been done and the Cards were celebrating in the third base dugout. UofL had sent nine batters to the plate in the inning.


Leonard allowed a bunt single to start the top of the fifth but retired the next two Bulls before allowing another single. She quelled the USF rally, though, by fanning D'Anna Devine for her fourth strike out of the game.

Fowler's three run blast
ended the game

Esteban walked to begin the bottom of the fifth. Austin followed with a infield single and Keller singled to left but Esteban was thrown out at home on the play. USF elected to intentionally walk Wolny but a wild pitch allowed Austin to score to make it 6-0 Louisville.


 After the walk, USF brought Lindsey Richardson in to face Fowler but the strategy failed when Fowler lifted a deep shot to left field that easily cleared the fence to make it 9-0 Louisville and end the game via the eight-run rule. 


Leonard got the win to go 8-0 on the season. Nevins was tagged with her second loss of the day... dropping her record to 23-4. 


Maybe two of the biggest wins in Cardinal softball history on Wednesday. The Cards scored eight runs on Nevins...who had a 0.70 ERA coming into the games.


Louisville pitchers allowed just one run and ten hits...all singles...in 44 at-bats to a USF squad that was batting .284 as a team going into today's games. 
The combination of Collins, Leonard and Connell struck out 14 Bulls batters in 12 innings.


Louisville had ten hits as well but four were either doubles or home runs. The Cards also drew seven bases on balls against the Bulls pitching -- a couple of them intentional. Fowler's home run was her sixth of the year, Trimble's blast her second of the season. Louisville's nine runs in the second game are the most scored on USF this year and it was the first time the Bulls have lost by the eight-run rule this season. 


No Cardinal had more than one hit in either of the two games but the hits they got were key...Louisville left only four runners on base in both games, South Florida stranded a total of 14.


The Cards take first place in the BIG EAST with the wins today and will face Seton Hall next...in South Orange, NJ...beginning with a noon Saturday start.


Cardinal fans were thrilled with the victories. WE caught up with a few after the game. 


"Those home runs in the second game just made this place go crazy. It's rare you get to see a grand slam and the one tonight was just thrilling." - Ben Donnelly


"It was a great night for softball and the Louisville pitchers were the difference tonight. I'm so proud of this team!" - Connie Smith.


"This was our first time ever catching Louisville softball games but we'll be back. The kids loved it, and so did I. We even went to the playground before the game" - Tiffany Peters.


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Pat Summitt will announce she is retiring as the Lady Vols skipper after 38 years as a head coach in a news conference today at 1:30 p.m. in Knoxville. 

Summitt says she has no sadness about the decision and will remain close to the program in her new role as head coach emeritus.   


Long time Tennessee assistant Holly Warlick will become the new head coach. 


WE can only wish Pat the best as she battles early onset dementia and extend our appreciation and love to the greatest coach to ever patrol the sidelines for women's college basketball.


Her announcement comes on the same day that her son Tyler will be announced as the newest assistant on the Marquette women's basketball team. An interesting revelation, given Tyler's close vigil over his mom over the last few months.


We had the chance to see Pat in person at the beginning of the 2010-11 season when she brought her Lady Vols to the KFC YUM! Center to play Louisville. Summit was gracious, affable and even a bit cantankerous in the post game media interviews...complaining, tongue-in-cheek, about having to climb to the step-less podium to address the media. She raved glowingly about the KFC YUM! facilities and expressed her admiration for then-freshman Shoni Schimmel and her play that evening. 


Sally Jenkins, of the Washington Post, has a great read on Pat. Link below.


Pat still much more able than disabled

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Congratulations to Greg Collins, who has been named as assistant coach for the WKU women's basketball team. Collins leaves Arkansas and Tom Collen to join Michelle Clark-Heard's staff. Collins was an assistant at Louisville from 2002-2007 prior to going with Collen to the Razorbacks. He also coached at Louisville Manual High School before joining UofL in Martin Clapp's final season as head coach.

Greg is one of the good guys. His recruiting skills and teaching techniques are among the best in the women's college game. He was essential in holding the 2002-2003 UofL squad together after Clapp's departure until Tom Collen arrived on campus. 


Getting a little closer back to Louisville, Greg. Good luck to you and do well with Michelle ! 
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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


SPECIAL REPORT


CARDS SWEEP DOUBLEHEADER AGAINST SOUTH FLORIDA.


-Cards run rule South Florida in Game two 9-0


Louisville exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fourth and four runs in the fifth to run-rule South Florida 9-0 in game two. The big shots were Jordan Trimble with a grand slam home run to right center in the fourth and Taner Fowler three run left field fence clearer in the fifth to end the game. Chelsea Leonard gets the win with three innings of relief, allowing just three Bulls hits and striking out three in relief of starter Caralisa Connell. 


With the two wins today, #9 Louisville is alone in first place in the BIG EAST with a conference record of 
11-2. 


-Louisville wins Game one against the Bulls 4-1


Louisville gets a complete game win out of Tori Collins and beats the Bulls 4-1 in the first of two today here at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards got all the runs they needed in the bottom of second inning when Maggie Ruckenbrod hit a 2 RBI single to left with two on and two outs. The Cards added runs in the 3rd and 6th.


Collins struck out eight and allowed six hits against USF. The Bulls got an unearned run in the top of the fifth when Janine Richardson reached on a fielding error and scored on Jessica Mouse's single.


We'll have full recaps of both games in Thursday's Cardinal Couple. 


We're also hearing that Pat Summit will announce her retirement Thursday in a press conference. 


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-Cards, Bulls set to do battle in Ulmer Stadium today


-Okoro throwing it all away


The University of Louisville softball team (38-2, 9-2) heads into their most important double-header of the season so far this season...a 4 p.m. match against BIG EAST leading South Florida. A rare treat for out-of-town Cardinal Softball fans...both games will be televised on ESPNU with Adam Amin and Jennie Finch calling the contest.


The Bulls come into Ulmer at 40-6 and 13-1 in BIG EAST action. They suffered their first defeat of the season last weekend at Connecticut 7-3 but won the other two games against the Huskies. 

Nevins is 0-1 lifetime against the Cards

When you scout the USF squad, Sara Nevins is the first player that stands out. The sophomore pitcher is 23-2 and has a chilling 0.74 ERA. That earned run average is good enough to lead the entire nation. She has 237 strikeouts on the year in 180.2 innings pitched. Opponents bat a minuscule .171 against the lefty and the Bulls defense. 


According to her coach and teammates, Nevins is the main practical joker and stand-up comedian on the squad as well. Easy to be when you leave them dead in the aisles every time you take the mound. 


She'll face the top hitting squad in the BIG EAST today in Louisville, though. The Cards are batting .324 as a unit and have seven players hitting over .300 in the starting lineup.

Stephanie Medina

When USF comes to the plate, the main threats would appear to be Stephanie Medina and Janine Richardson. Both are batting an identical .339 on the season and have seven home runs each. 


Bulls head softball coach Ken Erikson sees the games today like this:


" It's a great time to be here. It's also just another couple of games. We're playing against another bunch of girls. We're not doing anything different. We've been on TV before and that's not going to change how we do things."

USF's Janine Richardson

The Cards and Bulls have a long history of playing each other...the series began back in 2000...Louisville's inaugural season for softball. Louisville coach Sandy Pearsall and Erikson have been on hand for each game. 


Last time the two faced was in the BIG EAST Tournament last year in the quarterfinals at Ulmer. Louisville won 2-0, getting a huge home run off then-freshman Nevins from Colby Wherry. Tori Collins pitched the shutout for the Cards.


First pitch is at 4 p.m. Weather looks great for today's action, so head out to Ulmer and cheer the Cards on! 


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BIG EAST STANDINGS (as of 4/16/12)


USF             13-1  40-6                 Pitt             6-8  23-19
Louisville      9-2   38-2                Providence  5-8  14-26
Syracuse       7-2   30-10              St. John       3-8  15-28
DePaul          7-2   25-13              Seton Hall    2-9  20-22
Notre Dame  5-3   21-13              Georgetown  2-9  17-26
Connecticut  7-5   18-17             Villanova      1-10  27-18
Rutgers         8-8   21-22


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For the second straight week, University of Louisville track and field's CHINWE OKORO has been named the BIG EAST Women's Field Athlete of the week. 

Okoro swept the discus and shot put in the Texas Roadhouse Border Battle last Saturday at Cardinal Park against Kentucky, Indiana and Notre Dame. Her discus toss of 56.24m/184-6 was a personal best for her and ranks fourth nationally this season. It is also the fifth-best throw in school history. Her shot put toss of 16.85m/55-3 ranks eighth nationally and another personal best. It's the third best toss in UofL history, too. 


Both throws top the BIG EAST this year. 


The red-shirt senior from Nigeria is also the holder of the 2011 Nigerian Championship title for shot put. 

Chinwe is one of several field specialist that make up what might be considered the best women's "throwers" in NCAA women's competition. Khadija Abdullah, Jenna Wargo, Amashi Kendall, Patrice Gates and Hannah Baker give coach Ron Mann a deep and veteran group of participants in the discus, shot put, hammer and javelin events.  


Okoro and Abdullah are a odds-on bet to finish 1-2 in any field tossing events they take part in. Wargo is a javelin expert and won the event in the Border Battle. 


Louisville, it seems, is quite adept at "throwing it away".  
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