Golf NCAA Regional Day One -- Softball to NCAA Tournament? -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Golf in Seventh After Day One

Louisville women's golf sits in seventh place in their NCAA Regional after the opening day of action. The Cards finished the first day at 7-over-par 295, which is 11 strokes behind the first-place leader Oregon.

The current standings are:

-4  #2 Oregon

-1  #13 Texas

E  #11 Florida

+4  #33 TCU

+4  #28 Georgia

+5  #23 Arizona

+7  #38 Louisville

+8  #47 North Texas

+11  #50 Oklahoma

+14  New Mexico Sate

+14  Sam Houston

+21  Northern Arizona

The top four teams will advance to the NCAA Championships.

Lauren Thibodeau was the top performing Cardinal, shooting an even-par 72 to sit at 13th overall. Kendall Griffin and Carmen Griffiths are tied for 21st after shooting 2-over-par 72 on the day. Mairead Martin shot a 3-over-par 75 and Gabbi Bentancourt shot a 7-over-par 79.

Louisville tees off in the second day of action this morning at 10:00 MT (noon ET). The third and final round will be Wednesday. 

Softball to NCAA Tournament?

Following an unfortunate weekend sweep at #20 Notre Dame, Louisville Softball fell a spot to #40 in the rpi. Going into the ACC Tournament, finding a way to win is as important as can be. An opening round win against 9-seed Syracuse is a must. However, going up against 1-seed Virginia Tech in the second round is no easy task, but the Cards lost by one in the series opener against the Hokies a few weeks ago.

64 teams make the NCAA Tournament- 32 conference automatic qualifiers and 32 at-large bids. All the top teams in each conference winning their respective conference tournaments would help as well. 

A bracketology posting by College Sports Madness has Louisville in the Lexington Regional facing Robert Morris while Kentucky faces Wisconsin. Remember the last time a Kentucky team faced Robert Morris? (hint: Men's basketball NIT). 247 Sports has the Cards in the Lexington Regional as well but with Murray State replacing Robert Morris. Fast Pitch News puts Louisville in the Ann Arbor Regional with Michigan, South Carolina, and Miami (OH)

For now, it's time to take things one game at a time. 8-seed Louisville faces 9-seed Syracuse tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. and will be aired on ACC Network.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Softball Cards Fall to Notre Dame To End Regular Season -- ACC Softball Tournament Bracket -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 IRISH TAKE CARDS 9-1

Louisville Softball couldn't find the bats Sunday against Notre Dame, falling 9-1 to end the regular season and conference schedule. 

Louisville started the contest encouragingly, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Korbe Otis drew a walk, was advanced by a Taylor Roby single and reached home on a Dylann Cravens single.

Notre Dame countered, though, touching the Cards for six runs on five hits and chasing Roby from the circle in the bottom of the second. The Cards were unable to get any more runs on the board the rest of the way, while the Irish added a score in the third and the game-ending  final two runs of the contest in the bottom of the sixth. Taja Felder finished the game in the circle for the Cards and allowed four hits in her four innings of work.

Louisville managed just three hits against N.D. hurler Shannon Becker, Carmyn Greenwood adding the other hit besides Roby and Cravens.

 

So, the Cards end the season with a 27-24 record overall and 10-14 in the ACC. They now go into the ACC Tournament as the #8 seed and will open their Tournament run on Wednesday, when they face #9 seed Syracuse at 1 p.m. The Cards did sweep the Orange when they faced in mid-April at Ulmer Stadium...8-0, 4-1 and 3-2. 

ACC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

And, now, it's time for the "second" season. 

As mentioned above, Louisville opens play in the ACC Tournament Wednesday against the Orange in Pittsburgh. A 1 p.m. first pitch. The second game of the day features #7 seed Georgia Tech vs. #10 seed N.C. State....at approximately 3:30 p.m.

If the Cards get by Syracuse, they'd face #1 seed Virginia Tech on Thursday at 11 a.m. 

All of the 2022 ACC Tournament games will be shown on the ACC Tournament except for Sunday's finals...which will be shown on ESPN2. 

Other games on Thursday: 

#4 Notre Dame vs. #5 Clemson -- 1:30 p.m.

#2 Duke vs winner of Georgia Tech/N.C. State -- 5 p.m.

#3 Florida St. vs. #6 Virginia -- 7:30 p.m.

This time of year, it's win or go home. Let's hope our Softball Cards can put a five-game win streak together to get them the ACC Tournament title.  

Someone once said: "It's hard to talk about a two or three game win streak until you win that first one."  Time to get a win, Louisville. 

paulie

Softball Struggles at Notre Dame -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball

Sam Booe pitching in relief

A number of Louisvillians make it a point to get out of Louisville for Derby Day, and Softball is no exception.  The squad went north to 20th ranked Notre Dame, and dropped a pair of games, 5-0, and 5-1.

After inclement weather prevented play on Friday, the Cards and Irish made yesterday a double-header and will finish the three game series today.

In the first game, Taylor Roby started in the circle and pitched four innings and started the fifth inning before getting relief from Sam Booe.

Korbe Otis drawing the walk

Notre Dame played some small ball and took advantage of some fielding errors to get a pair across the plate in the 3rd inning.  A similar story in the 4th with the run getting around the field almost completely on mistakes by the UofL squad in the field.

Roby would be finished for the game, though not quite for the day, after a inning opening solo shot by Notre Dame.  As mentioned, Booe came in as relief at this point, and despite giving up a pair of walks in the inning prevented anything further.

Carmyn Greenwood at bat (that's a "7"
not a "1")

The Irish would finish their five runs in the game in the 6th inning, again with mostly small ball.

In the later game, the Cards would get a run across in the first inning, but that would be it.  It started out with Korbe Otis drawing a walk, getting to third on Taylor Roby's single, and scoring on Kendall Smith's ground out to first base.

Notre Dame would tie it up in the bottom of the second and then the scoring would go quiet until the bottom of the 5th.  More small ball and mistakes in the field would get another across the plate for the Irish.

Taja Felder in mid-hover-pitch

Taja Felder would get a couple of outs early in the 6th inning, but with a runner on 2nd and two outs the Irish would score a trio on a couple of singles and a fielding error.  It would be enough enough to sit Felder and let Roby enter to finish the final out of the game.

The Cards and Notre Dame will finish out their regular season schedule with the 2pm game on ACC Network.

Ally Alexander at shortstop

Special thanks to Ryan Greenwood for again supplying us with some away game photos, a special treat for us here at Cardinal Couple.  He's not just out there cheering his daughters, Carmyn and Cassady on, he also slings a pretty impressive DSLR.

WNBA

The WNBA has gotten their season underway with two days of games.  I'll be heading up to Indianapolis today with the family to watch the Fever's home opener against the Sparks.  We were, of course, originally expecting...hoping?...to see a trio of former Cards in this matchup, but WNBA roster sizes being what they are, we won't have the opportunity to watch Kianna Smith or Jaz Jones.  It's a shame, but it will be good to get a chance to see Emily Engstler play in a professional game.

Engstler played 16 minutes in the season opener against the Mystics, grabbed nine rebounds, stole a couple, and scored four.  On the Mystics side of the ball, another former Card, Myisha Hines-Allen scored nine, pulled down six rebounds, and had a trio of assists.

As we look around the rest of the WNBA at other Cardinal Alumnae, Angel McCoughtry is still recovering from another knee injury with the Lynx, but AD (Asia Durr) is back on the court, at least for limited minutes.  She played six minutes with the Liberty yesterday, but had no stat entries.

Dana Evans up in Chicago, is the big success of the weekend so far.  The Sky would go down to defeat in overtime, but Evans was only barely edged out by Emma Meesseman for the most time on the court for the Sky, but she would lead the team in scoring with 24 during her 35 minutes.  A pair of threes, 4-5 from the charity stripe, five assists, and four steals made for a very nice stat line indeed for Evans as she shows why she has earned that starting shooting guard position.

On tap for today, the Fever game that I'll be at with family at 3pm, you can find this one on Amazon Prime, on the Fever's page on Facebook, and Spectrum SportsNet apparently.  And then at 8pm, the Mystics and the Lynx will be on ESPN2.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP was silent yesterday as the crew took the day off to celebrate Derby.  I must admit my level of "horse race junky", as Case put it yesterday, is, "Why do we have to interrupt this nice party to watch a horserace?"  I did have a good friend there that had Rich Strike across the board as one of her bets, so that's a nice bit of payout for her.

We'll be back next week with more joy and excitement about UofL women's sports!

Happy Derby Day!

Louisville softball was off yesterday after rain that moved through much of the region canceled their game in South Bend. They'll play two today to get back on schedule and wrap up the weekend series tomorrow. Today's first game will begin at Noon and the second will commence at 2:30, or approximately half an hour after the conclusion of the first. Both games will be available via streaming.

Today's big event, of course, is the Kentucky Derby. As you likely know, we here at Cardinal Couple are various levels of horse racing junkies, but it gets turned up to 11 for just about everyone in the city on the first Saturday in May. 

As such, we'll take the week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. As everyone prepares for their day, we encourage all to stay safe, drink and gamble responsibly, and most of all, have fun! We'll check in with Paulie tomorrow to see if he had as good of a Derby Day as he did Oaks (10-12 winners) or if he got cleaned out.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cardinals on the road -- KY Derby Weekend; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Happy Derby weekend to all.  I love this time of the year but is also means that we really are wrapping up the seasons and the school year as many are celebrating graduations and Mothers Day, as well.  

Let's just hope for some sunny skies and wins at the track and for the Cards!  For good reason, UofL athletics typically hits the road on Derby weekend.  

SOFTBALL

Louisville at #20 Notre Dame

Melissa Cook Stadium

ACC Network 5 p.m. 

The Cards are scheduled for a 5 p.m. first pitch Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 2 p. m. on Sunday. 

Bringing in a 27-21 overall record, 10-11 in the ACC, the Cardinals wrap up the regular season with a weekend series against #20 ranked Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish bring in a 5 game winning streak and a 36-9 overall record but they haven't played since April 26th.  ND stands 4th in the ACC at 13-5 with their conferences loses being to Virginia (2), Georgia Tech and Clemson (2).

Notre Dame’s offense is led by sophomore first baseman Karina Gaskins. Gaskins leads the ACC with a .442 average, hitting 11 doubles, 11 home runs and driving in a conference-best 55 runs. Freshman Jane Kronenberger worked her way into the starting lineup and is hitting at a .400 average, playing in 32 games, making 22 starts. She’s third on the team with 27 RBI, hitting nine doubles and three home runs. The outfield trio of Abby Sweet, Emma Clark and Leea Hanks are all hitting .371 or above, and combined have 11 home runs, nine triples, 31 doubles, 42 stolen bases and have scored 140 runs.

The trio of Alexis Holloway, Payton Tidd and Shannon Becker have thrown all the innings for the Irish this season. Senior pitcher Tidd and Grad. Senior pitcher Holloway earned ACC honors in back to back weeks 4/12 and 4/19. Tidd has worked as the series opener owning a 2.58 ERA and a team-best 14 wins, eight complete games and 119.1 innings of work. Holloway has thrown two no-hitters on the year, while earning a 2.92 ERA and 13 wins. She’s started a team-high 18 games while throwing 103.0 innings. Combined the trio have held opponents to a .228 average against.

Notre Dame leads the series with the Cards 23-17. The last time the two teams met was in 2019. Notre Dame won two out of three games in South Bend, sweeping a doubleheader by scores of 9-1 in each game. Louisville won 5-3 in the series finale.

Entering her 20th season as leader of the Notre Dame softball program, Deanna Gumpf continues to ascend the ladder as one of the nation’s premier head coaches.

ACC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

As it stands on Thursday evening, the Cards should qualify for the 7th seed in the ACC Tournament which is next week, May 11-14 at Vartabedian Field in Pittsburgh, PA.  A sweep over the Irish and the Cards would tie Virginia in the standings while Notre Dame is chasing Florida State and going for the sweep on Senior Weekend. FSU is visiting NC State looking for cushion from the Irish's hunt. 

A couple squads at the top of the conference have already wrapped up their regular season as they look ahead to the tournaments -- Virginia Tech, Clemson and Virginia.   Georgia Tech has finished 11-13 in the ACC and await to see what the Cards can do this weekend or if they will jump UofL in the conference standings. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast -- With the local holiday, the gang is also taking Saturday off from the podcast to spend time celebrating.   I plan on picking my Oaks and Derby winners 30 minutes before 'They're Off!!' each day. If you want some suggestions on who to bet on, go to Paulie Picks. 

As Always - Go Cards 

~Daryl 

Softball Heats Up at UIC -- Kianna Smith Waived by Sparks -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Offense Gets Hot Against UIC

In their final regular season midweek game of the year, Louisville went to Chicago to take on the UIC Flames. Despite their nickname, it was actually UofL who was red hot as the Cards won 12-3.

Louisville wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard. Carmyn Greenwood led off with a bunt. She was later called out at second on a fielder's choice that saw Korbe Otis safe at first. Otis reached second on a fielder's choice and raced home on a blooper single by Kendall Smith later in the inning.

The Cards added a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Dylann Cravens found a way to get on base, reached second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a single by Vanessa Miller, and scored on a wild pitch. Miller was able to take second on that same wild pitch and would touch home moments later when Jenna Servi sent a single to center field.

UIC was able to piece together a couple hits in the bottom half of the fourth inning to silence any talks of a shutout, but it seemed to have angered the Louisville offense.

The Cards blew this game open in the fifth inning with a four spot. Timely walks and hits loaded the bases in time for Miller to rope a hit down the right field line. It was officially scored as a three-run triple with Miller scoring on an error on the relay from the outfield to the catcher. It appeared she would've been safe at home either way, so it's an inside-the-park grand slam in my book.

UIC loaded the bases with two outs in the back end of the sixth inning but Louisville was able to limit the damage to just two runs and maintain a comfortable a 7-3 lead.

The Cards continued to pound on runs in the sixth inning. Smith was a few feet shy of a grand slam, but plated Greenwood and Otis.

Roby launched a three-run home run to dead center in the seventh inning. It was her 15th homer of the season, a team-high and a career-high. The three rbis gives her 45 on the season, also a team-high and career-high.

Sam Booe would close out the game in the circle in the final two innings without allowing a run. It was not a save situation.

Taylor Roby got the start in the circle and earned her 15th win of the season, a career-high for the senior. Her 46 career wins is eighth-best in program history. With three strikeouts in the circle, Roby now has 299 career strikeouts, eighth-best in program history.

Roby is also flirting with some season and career stats at the plate. The program record for home runs in a single season is 17. Roby needs to two to tie. The program record for career home runs is 42. She needs two to tie. She is eighth all-time in walks with 81. She was sixth in career program slugging percentage at .586 going into last night's game.

Greenwood is also on base for some high-ranking stats for UofL single season and career records. She has 17 doubles on the year, three shy off the single-season record. Going into last night's game Greenwood had a .415 batting average on the season and .415 average in her career at Louisville. If those hold true, she would finish fourth for batting average in a single season and first in career batting average. She also had an .868 slugging percentage on the year and a .668 slugging percentage in her career. Those would put her second in single season slugging percentage and first in career slugging percentage. She is also high up on the on base percentage record books.

To make sure I'm reading the correct records and to make sure my numbers are adding up on everything, I have a request in with the sports information director for softball, Lori Korte Harmon. The season also isn't over so things are subject to change. If and when some players set some records, we will gladly report on it here.

Next on the schedule for Holly Aprile's squad is a three-game series at #20 Notre Dame to close out the regular season. The Cards have clinched a spot in the 10-team ACC Tournament and currently sit seventh in the conference, but are considered a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament.

( A special THANKS! to Ryan Greenwood, father of Louisville Softball student-athletes Carmyn and Cassidy Greenwood, for the Softball photos from the UIC game !) 

Kianna Smith Waived by LA Sparks

In a rather surprising move, the LA Sparks waived Kianna Smith yesterday. The Louisville alum was one of three players that saw their time with LA come to a quick end.

Smith joins Jazmine Jones as former Cards who were waived in the days leading up to the start of the WNBA.

With a limited budget and rather poor salary caps (compared to the NBA), teams are forced to make tough decisions that often leads to strong players and newly drafted players let go prematurely.

The WNBA season begins tomorrow.

Horserace Season in Louisville

Thurby and Cinco de Mayo falling on the same day is dangerous. Or a big money maker if you're Churchill Downs. The racetrack will certainly benefit from the alcohol sales as well as happy betters. Still not as big as the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks, Thurby has gone from a day for locals into another day into the stretched Derby season.

The Kentucky Oaks post time is set for Friday at 5:51. The Kentucky Derby post time is set for Saturday at 6:57.

We don't cover horseracing here at Cardinal Couple, but we do gladly participate in the seasonal celebrations.

 

If you're interested in betting, I highly recommend you check out Paulie's handicapping site this weekend (Paulie PICKS) . If you lose some money you can always send him the bill, but you might get an unkind gesture in return.

LINK TO PAULIE PICKS:  PAULIE PICKS

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Softball Faces The Flames -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL IN MID-WEEK MATCHUP AT UIC

The Louisville Softball team hits Chi-Town today for a softball matchup against University of Illinois-Chicago -- UIC as they're known -- for a 5:30 (CDT) game against the Flames. That's 6:30 here in the Louisville area, just in case this whole daylight saving vs. regular time in which time zone has you confused. 3:30 if you'ew reading in L.A.

UIC is a member of the Horizon League and has built a 11-30 record this season (8-14 in conference play). It'll be the fourth time the two squads have met -- they've battled to a 2-2 series record. Their last meeting was in 2020 in Stillwater, OK, where the Cards took a 10-2 contest. 

UofL will head to South Bend after this one for a regular and conference ending series against Notre Dame, so maybe a mid-week tune up will be beneficial for Holly Aprile's crew. A chance maybe to experiment with some of the other pitchers on the squad beside ace Taylor Roby.

 A chance for the Cards to maybe loosen up the bats a bit against a squad that started the season 3-12...in the Stanford, San Diego and   South Florida Tournaments. 

It is, of course, Derby Week in Louisville, and -- as in past years, Softball takes to the road for competition, instead of going head-to-head with the Kentucky Oaks and Derby. 

They'll no doubt look to the hot bat of Carmyn Greenwood, who was named ACC Player of the Week that ended 5/1/22. Greenwood was a flame herself...hitting .600 last week and .415 for the season. Greenwood has 14 home runs on the season (which ties her with Taylor Roby for team best) and she leads the ACC with 66 hits. She's also scored 52 runs on the season and has 52 RBI's. 

She's also banged out seven triples this season, second best in DI NCAA Softball. 

Holly Aprile's squad is 26-21 on the season and has a 11-12 ACC record. She's built a squad that combines a few Cardinals veterans (Greenwood, Jenna Servi and Taylor Roby), a strong group of freshmen (Dylann Cravens, Korbe Otis, Easton Lotus, Ally Alexander, Maddi Grant and Sam Booe) plus several key transfers in Hannah File and Kendall Smith. 

No free TV or internet is listed for this one, but it's listed to be shown on ESPN+, like a lot of the Flames games have been this season, the pay-by-view or month streaming service, of course. 

Losses this time of year can affect the RPI, so let's hope the Cards can grab the "W".and proceed to South Bend with a little steam. 

paulie 

 

End is Near for Spring Sports -- WNBA Opening Day Soon -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Spring Sports Begin to Wrap Up

For spring sports such as lacrosse and women's tennis, the season has concluded. For many of our other spring sports, the end is in sight with few games or events remaining.

Rowing

May 11- May 14 is the ACC Championships for Louisville rowing. The Cards head to Clemson S.C. for the event. If Louisville can post a strong performance down there, we could see the Cards in the NCAA Championships over Memorial Day weekend.

The trip to #5 Michigan over the weekend did not fare well as Louisville did not claim a single race in the event.

Women's Golf

Starting next week, Louisville women's golf will compete in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament at the Albuquerque Regional. The postseason appearance is the eighth straight for the Cards and the 14th overall in school history.

Louisville will go up against #2 Oregon, #11 Florida, #13 Texas, #23 Arizona, #28 Georgia, TCU, North Texas, Oklahoma, Sam Houston State, Northern Arizona, and New Mexico State.

The top four teams and top two individuals remaining not from those teams from the three-day, 54-hole tournament will advance to the NCAA Championship round.

Women's Track and Field

The Clark Wood Invitational signaled the end of the regular season for Louisville women's track and field. Louisville recorded four school records and eight total wins in the event.

The ACC Outdoor Championships begin this Thursday in Durham, N.C. It will be a three-day event. The women's field teams continue to dominate and have the potential to take home multiple ACC titles.

The NCAA Championships will start in late May and run into June.

Softball

The only team still in the regular season is Louisville softball. The Cards are fresh off a 2-1 series victory against Virginia to close out the home season. The Wahoos took the middle game with the Cards' victories sandwiching it.

Louisville visits UIC tomorrow night before visiting a ranked Notre Dame over the weekend.

The Cards have secured their spot in the 10-team ACC Tournament over May 11- May 14. Following that, the Cards are considered a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, with the NCAA Regional round beginning May 20.

Louisville controls its own destiny. The UIC game is a must-win. The Cards also need to steal at least one game from the Irish next weekend if not two. At 36-9 on the year, Notre Dame looks to be back in their glory days. Following that, an opening round win in the ACC Tournament is a must-win and anything beyond that is an added bonus.

WNBA Opening Day Friday

While we will be celebrating the Kentucky Oaks this Friday, the WNBA will be celebrating the start of their 2022 season. I do not actively follow professional basketball at any level, but always try to keep an eye out to see how our Cardinal greats are doing.

As of right now, these UofL alums appear to make the opening day roster:

Dana Evans- Chicago Sky

Emily Engstler- Indiana Fever

Kianna Smth- Los Angeles Sparks

Angel McCoughtry- Minnesota Lynx

Asia Durr- New York Liberty

Myisha Hines-Allen- Washington Mystics

The absence of Jazmine Jones and Kylee Shook does come as a tad surprising. We found out the other day that Jones did not make the final roster for the Indiana Fever. Kylee Shook's old team, the New York Liberty, do not have her listed on their current roster, as she has decided to sit out the 2022 season. Things can always change and we could see either of them find themselves back in a WNBA jersey soon.

For now, we will try our best to provide updates on the six Cardinals actively on WNBA rosters when the season begins.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Softball sinks Virginia on Sunday -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS SOFTBALL DOWN CAVS 9-4 TO TAKE SERIES

It was Carmyn Greenwood last appearance in Ulmer Stadium and she made the most of it. 

Starting the game with a home run, Greenwood went 3-3 on the the afternoon, adding a double and triple to her one-woman wrecking crew assault on the Wahoos. She scored three runs, drove in two and made a spectacular assortment of catches and throws in left field in the Cards 9-4 win. She probably even drove the UVA squad to the airport after the game and made sure they boarded the flight home safely

Louisville unloaded for ten hits against an assortment of UVA pitchers, including a three RBI, round-tripper from Korbe Otis in the fourth inning that put the Cards ahead to stay at 6-3. Doubles from Kendall Smith, Hannah File and Dylann Cravens also boosted the Cards attack, who go to 26-21 on the season and 10-11 in ACC play. 

It was "T-and-T" in the circle for the Cards -- Taylor Roby getting the start and going 3.2 innings before giving way to Taja Felder, who gets the win while allowing just three hits and one run in 3.1 innings of relief work. 

A fitting way to end the 2022 season ending home-stand for the Cards, who will travel to Notre Dame for three next weekend, after stopping off to play UIC on Wednesday. Louisville is currently in seventh place in the ACC and could, conceivably climb to sixth in the conference standings with a sweep of the Irish on Derby weekend and some losses by the teams above them in the conference race. 

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

POST GAME CARMYN GREENWOOD LINK:  https://youtu.be/uMyj7lphug8

POST GAME HOLLY APRILE LINK:  https://youtu.be/B8PKOdPG97c

JAZ JONES RELEASED BY FEVER

It's always a bit of sad news when any of our former Cardinals student-athletes get waived or released from a professional franchise, and we learned Saturday afternoon that Cardinal Forever Jazmine Jones was released from the Indiana Fever. 

One would think that a player like Jaz won't be on the sidelines long and get added to another WNBA roster.

We wish her the best of luck and feel certain we haven't seen the last of her yet. 

paulie

Softball Series to be Settled - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Virginia Evens Softball Series

Visiting Virginia evened up the softball series at one game apiece yesterday, taking the win by a score of 5-3.  The Cards celebrated senior day, honoring five players: Kendall Smith, Payton Hudson, Rebecca Chung, and both Greenwood sisters - Cassady and Carmyn.  All five players played in the game yesterday, with Kendall Smith in her usual spot at catcher, and Carmyn Greenwood patrolling left field as normal.  Payton Hudson and Cassady Greenwood came in as a pinch runners, while Rebecca Chung took a turn as a pinch hitter.

Senior Day picture - Kendall Smith, Payton
Hudson, Rebecca Chung, Carmyn Greenwood,
and Cassady Greenwood (left to right)

In basketball, games tend to look like chaos when the defense of a team is playing aggressive and performing well.  Softball is the reverse, if a defense is playing well, the game looks routine, and one could argue, even a bit dull.

That was not the case with yesterday's game.  Not all of it can be pinned in defensive breakdowns, but there were certainly some breakdowns to be critiqued.

Virginia got on the board with a run in the first inning.  The Cards would answer in the second and third.

The human black hole, Jenna Servi, fields what
appears to a be a foul ball grounder at third base.

After the bottom of the first inning where the Cards went 3-up, 3-down with only four pitches, they started the scoring in the second with a Hannah File homer to left field.  Add on doubles by Dylann Cravens and Ally Alexander that scored Cravens and the UVA pitcher got chased from the circle after just 20 pitches thrown.

The third inning, Korbe Otis singled to center field, Taylor Roby followed with much the same to right center and was replaced on the base paths with a pinch runner.  Roby's single did advance Otis to third who then was able to score on a wild pitch.

Kendall Smith easily tags a runner out at home.

Unfortunately that would be it for the Cards scoring  in the game, though with the 3-1 lead at that point, UVA had some work to do.  They were helped some by some definite choices that were made by the Cards defense.  Very few actual errors were recorded, one for each team, but choices made by UofL on defense allowed UVA some opportunities that they probably shouldn't have had.

UofL will look to win the game and the series today with a noon start from Ulmer.  After being on the linear ACC Network yesterday, back to "just" the streaming on ACC Network Extra today.

Photos by Jared Anderson

Hannah File finishes rounding the bases after her
solo home run shot to left field.

Dylann Cravens does a great Stretch Armstrong
impression to tag second base to get the force out.

Track and Field

The Cards saw quite a bit of success in Track and Field yesterday, wrapping up the Clark Wood Invitation.

Gabriela Leon topped the previous school record in pole vault, that she already owned, and of course set a new personal best in the process with 4.61 meters (15' 1.5") for the win.  The Cards took the whole podium with  Aliyah Welter clearing 4.36m (14' 3.5") - a personal best - for second, and Auriane Viola cleared 4.06m (13' 3.75") to take third.

 Synclair Savage, Taylor Herbert, Je'Nyia Burton and Kiyah Yeast stopped the clock at 44.91 in the 4x100m relay for a school record, and also the win.

Former volleyballer Emily Scott continues to shake up the high jump standings.  She cleared 1.76 meters (5' 9.25") for the win.  This is short of her personal best set a couple of weeks ago of 1.81 meters (5' 11.25").

Morgan Bentley and Rachel Darden went one two in the triple jump.  Bentley leaped 12.37 meters (40' 7"), for a personal best and Darden cleared 12.02 meters (39' 5.25").

And one final win for the Cards in the meet with the 4x400 meter relay team breaking the tape at 3:43.40.  That team is composed of Katie Martin, Je'Nyia Burnton, Taylor Boggess, and Riley Burger.

Basketball News

Ahlana Smith Enters the Transfer Portal

Ahlana Smith has put her name in the transfer portal.  With the inundation of the UofL roster with guards, this may not be a huge surprise to most.  After averaging just over 12 minutes per game for 4.3 points per game average, no one could fault Smith for looking for a school where she can garner a bit more playing time in her 5th "Covid" year.

Of course, there is always the option to come back out of the portal and not actually leave the current school, and we have no reports of any situation that would indicate that she was not welcome to finish out here at UofL.  With her skills and capabilities, however, it is likely that another school will come calling and offer her the opportunity that she is looking for, in which case, we here at Cardinal Couple and all of CardNation will wish her the best.

C. Vivian Stringer Retires

Long time Rutgers coach, icon in the industry, and inspiration for many has decided to call an end to her career in September.  While Stringer has no particular ties to Louisville, she was an honored frequent opponent during UofL's years in the Big East.

Stringer retires after 50 years of being in the head coach seat and 27 years at Rutgers.  She was the first coach, men's or women's to take three different teams to the Final Four, completing the hat trick in 2000 with Rutgers, after having taken Iowa and Cheyney State to appearances earlier in her career.  She is the first African-American coach to have reached 1,000 wins in their career.

Stringer has left a great mark on the game of basketball.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl, Jared, Paulie, and myself were on the call yesterday, where we talked about Basketball news, Softball, Lacrosse and plenty more.  A bit of a longer run on this one, but we had a lot of good discussions.

You can catch this one via the Youtube stream at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muLdqRBmiQM