Softball falls to Texas 6-2

CARDINAL COUPLE: FRIDAY EDITION

-Cards lose to Texas in Austin.
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-BIG EAST Swimming and Diving.
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-Track and Field this weekend.
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-WHO WANTS PANERA?
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The University of Louisville women's softball team dropped their opening game in the Texas Invitational Thursday night to #15 Texas 6-2. Freshman catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod (pictured here) had a two run homer for the Cards only scoring.

"We faced a great team tonight," said UofL head coach Sandy Pearsall. "Texas has a powerful offense and an All-American pitcher, it was a tough opener. We made some great defensive plays but we needed to swing the bat better. Needed our pitching to be a little more aggressive.
The teams started off 0-0 after two innings before the Longhorns went to work. Back to back home runs in the bottom of the third off of starting pitcher Tori Collins gave Texas the early lead. They increased the margin in the bottom of the fifth when Chelsea Leonard was tapped for a line skimming double to left field, a single, a wild pitch and another single. After five, Louisville trailed 4-0.

The Cards hit the board in the top of the sixth when Katie Keller reached base on a single and Ruckenbrod smashed a deep shot over the left center fence for a four bagger. Jordan Trimble and Alicja Wolny drew back to back walks to put the go ahead run at the plate with two outs but Texas pitching ace Blair Luna fanned Colby Wherry for her 12th. strike out to end the threat.

Texas added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Texas drew a walk, got two singles and a wild pitch made it 5-2. A bases loaded walk scored another run but freshman Carlisa Connell got the third out.

The Cards had four hits in the game...Keller, Kuckenbrod, Trimble and Wherry with one each. Louisville used three pitchers...Tori Collins starting and going 2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. Chelsea Leonard followed...tossing 3.1 innings and giving up four runs on six hits. Caralisa Connell got the final two outs in the sixth.

Louisville went with an opening day starting lineup (in batting order) of:

Kristin Austin-right field
Katie Keller-second base
Maggie Ruckenbrod-catcher
Chelsea Bemis-third base
Jordan Trimble-center field
Alicja Wolny-first base
Taner Fowler-designated hitter
Colby Wherry-shortstop
Jennifer Esteban-left field
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Louisville plays again today against Northern Illinois at 5 p.m.
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The BIG EAST holds the swimming and diving championships beginning today in the Ralph Wright Natatorium on campus. Diving starts the activities off and will take place thru Sunday. Tickets remain for the diving events. The swimming events start Wednesday and no tickets remain. Selling out a swimming meet...another example of Cardinal fervor for Cardinal teams.
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Paul ran into a couple of the University of Cincinnati divers yesterday and had a nice chat with them. Lindsay Bakan (Miamisburg, OH) and Maggie Edwards (Florence, KY/Notre Dame Academy) are seniors and have participated in meets several times at the "Ralph". Both agree that Louisville has the best facilities for swimming and diving in the BIG EAST. Both participated in the dual meet against Louisville on Jan. 15th. in the Ralph Wright Natatorium...Bakan finishing third in both the 1 meter and 3 meter events. Bakan also mentioned that she has never
won a diving match in Louisville and would love to get her first win ihere in the BIG EAST Tournament.
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Louisville is the prohibitive favorite in the swimming part of the championship. The Cards have the fastest times this season in 14 of the 21 events that will be contested. Cincinnati's Brittany Ten Eyck has the highest score in both the 1 and 3 meter diving events.
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Louisville's womens track and field squad will participate in two events this weekend. Part of the team is headed to the Akron Invitational in Akron, OH. and others will travel to the highly rated Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, ARK. Listed below are the Louisville participants by location and event.
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AKRON
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Pentathlon - Gabrielle Jackson
High Jump - Maggie Gilbertson
Pole Vault- Andrea Sabbatine, Chelsea Lucas
Long Jump- Kim Cardeiro
Shot Put- Chinwe Okoro
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TYSON
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400 meters - Ahlivia Spencer, Chelsea Brown
Long Jump - Charachesicia Lockhart, Margret Harris
60 meters - Saravia Richardson, (Harris)
Triple Jump - (Lockhart)
High Jump - Michelle Theophille, Megan Schubert
200 meters - (Richardson, Harris, Brown)
4x400 relays - (Lockhart, Spencer, Brown, Harris, Richardson)
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It's hard to believe but we have less than double figures in entries for PANERA Gift Card this week. Since we're doing a random drawing tomorrow, now's a great chance to get in! Just e-mail us your favorite Panera location, food or employee. cardinalcouple@insightbb.com
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Cards making waves in womens' swimmng

Lindsey LaPorte, from the Scottsdale Aquatic Club (AZ), is one of several reasons why BIG EAST Coach of the Year Arthur Albiero is strolling around the UofL campus walking on water these days. The Water Cards have been ranked as high as #12 with their incoming class and LaPorte, a freestyle specialist is one of the main reasons.



LaPorte joins local aquatic aces Krissie Brandenburg and Mary Mittel in the newcomer ranks and Breann McDowell. Brandenburg was the 2009 Kentucky Girls' Swimmer of the Year and Mittel is the third of her siblings to swim for the Cards.

Emily Conway, Nicole Glazer, Gisselle Kohoyda, BreAnn McDowell and Brittany Walsh complete the ten freshmen on Albiero's squad and the Cards also gain transfer Lindsey Rogers from Florida.

The Cards finished second in the BIG EAST last year and sent the most ever participants to the NCAA qualifying events. They were ranked #13 nationally.

"We are looking forward to welcoming these young ladies. This was a hand-picked class." commented Albiero. "They are talented student-athletes and they are also great young ladies with lofty goals. We are fully committed to help them continue to develop at athletics, as students and as women with extremely bright futures. They understand we have much work to do in front of us and we look forward to forming a great partnership with each one of them."

Splash on, Lady Pool Cards. Albiero continues to bring the best and brightest to the corner of Floyd and Warnock.

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USA Basketball blitzed the WNBA All-Stars 99-72 yesterday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. Geno Auriemma loaded the USA lineup with six former and current UConn players and had two big additions as well. Angel McCoughtry and Sylvia Fowles.

Big Syl went off on the WNBA team for 23 points and 8 boards. Angel tossed in eleven and Maya Moore added 12 for USA Hoops.

Fowles won the MVP award and was pretty excited about the victory and her teammates.

"They're on this team for a reason. They're great players. They play together well. They have that chemistry. They know what they want and how to win. Me just being a part of this crew...makes me feel good." Fowles relayed.

Real good, it seems. There's just something about Angel playing with Maya Moore and Coach Geno that still just doesn't seem right...what's next...Kobe and Shaq getting together for a few laughs or Bobby Knight and Digger agreeing on...anything?

Softball splits in Charleston

The University of Louisville softball team went 1-1 in Saturday action in Charleston. A big effort by freshman pitcher Chelsea Leonard in the first game, tying a UofL record with 16 strikouts in Louisville's 7-4 win over Youngstown State.

The Cards jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead, keyed by Vanessa James (pictured above) who banged a two run double. The Penguins tallied a run in the bottom of the first but Louisville came back with two runs in the second to put the game out of reach. A leadoff triple by Melissa Roth began the attack and the Cards tacked on an insurance run in the third inning. Youngstown State got their final three runs in the sixth inning from a three run home run blast by Autumn Grove.

Leonard ties the Cardinal strikeout record with her complete game...a record set last year by Kristin Wadwell against Eastern Michigan. She allowed four earned runs on four hits.

In the second game, Louisville once again jumped out to an early lead after a two run single by Roth had the Cards up 3-0 after the top of the fourth inning. Charleston Southern rallied against Cards starting pitcher Wadwell for a run in the bottom of the fourth and then seven runs in the botton of the fifth, including a grand slam homer off Wadwell by CSU's Jessica Peters-Brock. The Cards got one back in the top of the sixth with a Roth double but a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth by CSU closed out the scoring...as the Cards fall 9-4.

On the last day of the tournament, Louisville will play two Sunday, starting with Akron and the final against the University of Charleston.

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Congratulations to the University of Louisville swimming teams in the Big East Tournament which ended Saturday in Pittsburgh. The men's team took the title and the women came in second behind Notre Dame, after leading for two of the four days.

Written by Sonja
2/21/10

Getting there half the battle for Chinwe

Junior shot putter Chinwe Okoro participated in the Rod McCravy track and field invitation in Lexington Saturday, braving the icy and cold conditions to make the trek to Lexington. The trip was well worth her while...as she placed 4th out of 30 participants in the shot put event. Her best throw of 15.45m was good enough to secure an NCAA provisional qualifying distance.

It was her first competition of the season. Recovering from an injury, she just began her training this week for the Meyo Invitational in South Bend next weekend.

The Cards will participate in the Big East Tournament at the end of Feb. in New York. They expect to take a full roster to the event and are one of the favorites to win the womens competition.

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The Louisville swim teams split with nationally ranked Indiana Friday at Ralph Wright Natatorium. The men's team pulled off the win, while the women narrowly lost to the Hoosiers. The Lady Cards swept the 50 freestyle and Big East swimmer of the week Leslie Van Winkle set 3 pool records for the 13th ranked Cards. UofL freshman diver Hannah Gadd also won for the Cards. Louisville and Notre Dame are the favorites to win the Big East Tournament Feb. 17-20 in Pittsburgh. The Cards close out the regular season with the UofL Open on Feb. 6th.

Written by Paul 1/31/10

Cardinal women's swimming making a big splash

Don't look now, but the University of Louisville women's swimming team is ranked #14th in the country. The pool Cards are coming off a win on the road (water?) at Notre Dame, who is traditionally the best in the Big East in this sport. Louisville is the highest ranked of all the Big East women's swimming teams and 14th is the highest ranking to date for them.


They have also defeated Tennessee, WVU, Pitt and Miami in meets this year. They finished second to Florida in the SMU Invitational and swam to a second place finish in the Purdue Invitaational.

Head coach Arthur Albiero, who coaches both the men and women's teams noted the ranking as proof ofthe hard work and dedication put forth by the squad. The men's swimming team is currently ranked 16th in the polls.

The Ralph Wright Natatorium on campus is a state of the art facility constructed in 2003. In addition to all University of Louisville swim meets, the pool is used for many KHSAA swimming events. Another example of Tom Jurich and the University providing the best available to Cardinal athletes.

Guess they probably wouldn't let me in with my inner tube, floating cooler, snorkel and floatation tube...

Best of luck to another Cardinal team proving that they have what it takes to be "the beast of the Big East".


Written by Sonja 1/21/10