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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Cards sweep Georgetown series with Sunday win to go 25-0 at home. 


-Another McCoughtry

(Photo by Sandy Walker) UofL Softball team watches
highlights video on scoreboard.

The University of Louisville softball team said farewell to three seniors Sunday in the final regular season home game of the year and defeated Georgetown 3-0 to go to 47-2 on the season and 17-2 in BIG EAST play.

Collins delivers a two
hitter in five innings.

Senior Tori Collins pitched five innings of two-hit softball and Louisville put up a run in the third, fifth and sixth innings to defeat the Hoyas...who drop to 19-32 and 3-15 in the BIG EAST. 


A pitcher's duel through two and a half innings before Louisville broke the ice when Katie Keller singled with two outs in the bottom of the third and scored on Alicja Wolny's triple to give the Cards a 1-0 advantage.

Coach P 25-0 in Ulmer
in the regular season.

Louisville added their second run when freshman Whitney Arion led off the inning with a single and eventually scored on Jennifer Esteban's infield single.


The Cards increased the lead to 3-0 in the sixth. Maggie Ruckenbrod singled and Kirsten Straley came in to pinch-run and advanced on a ground-out and steal... touching home when Taner Fowler singled.

Louisville turned three
hits into three runs Sunday

Collins gave Louisville five strong innings after a shaky start when Georgetown had runners on second and third in the top of the first and just one out. She got Taylor Koenig on a play at the plate when Macensey Carter tapped a grounder to third baseman Kayla Soles. The throw to home and Ruckenbrod got the second out of the inning and Collins struck out the next Hoya batter to get out of the jam. 


Collins had five strikeouts on the day and sophomore Chelsea Leonard picked up her ninth save of the season with two innings of one-hit relief. 

Ruckenbrod's tag out at home kept
the Collins shut-out intact. 

Besides Collins, utility player Tesha Paysen and outfielder Kristin Austin graduate for the 2012 Cardinals. They discuss their career at UofL with Cardinal roving reporter Jared Stillman at the link below. Austin leads the BIG EAST with a .420 batting average going into today's game.




LINK:
UofL Softball seniors discuss their careers at UofL

Cardinal softball seniors Kristin Austin, Tori Collins
and Tesha Paysen

The #9 Cards travel to Knoxville for a game against #6 Tennessee Wednesday ( Hey, Fox Sports South...how about picking this one up for broadcast?) and finish up the regular season Derby weekend with three games at St. John's on May 5-6. Then, it's BIG EAST Tournament time in South Bend starting Thursday, May 10th...where the Cards hope to be the #1 seed. 


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We wonder if Rick would let
this McCoughtry ride his
McCoughtry?

We all remember the exploits of Angel McCoughtry on the court for the University of Louisville women's basketball. The Atlanta Dream WNBA star prepares for the start of the season in just a few days and will help pursue USA Women's Basketball's goals of bringing home the gold later this summer in the Olympics. 

We doubt the McCoughtry horse
can do much at the charity stripe...
even though the old Herb Crook
tongue move is in place.

There is another McCoughtry out there as well. This one is a 3 year old filly owned by Rick Pitino and trained by James Jerkins, Jr. called A.McCoughtry who ran today at Belmont in her second race ever. Despite starting dead last in the six furlong race, jockey Sam Camacho, Jr. got her motivated in the stretch and she finished a closing 4th in maiden special weight company out of nine runners. Back on March 25th, the filly from Overbrook Farms was a closing third at Aqueduct Race Course in her first race ever.


A.McCoughtry has won $9500 in two races and won't be running in the Kentucky Oaks obviously this Friday at Churchill...but is being kept in maiden special weight company -- which means no one can claim her out of a race and purchase her. (You know John Calipari...he'd probably try to pull off the dastardly deed.) 

Rick could start a stable of horses named
after Cardinal basketball players.  Would Kyle
Kuric or Asia Taylor make the cut? 

Pitino, the primary owner of RAP Stables, has also mentioned he was naming a couple of his young charges Gorgui and Peyton...after a couple of his current Cardinals. 


Hey, maybe the Cardinal coach will make a habit of it. Anyone up to seeing future Pitino fillies named M.Reid, T.Gibbs or S.Schimmel take the oval at Churchill Downs down the road? 
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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Softball hosts Georgetown for final regular season home series starting Saturday. 


-Shine, Fellerhoff get tennis awards


-Jeff Walz Lady Cards Camps and Clinics info


-Louisville WBB tidbits.


The University of Louisville softball team (44-2, 14-2) will host Georgetown (19-29, 3-12) in the final regular season home-stand of the season for the Cards. Two games...beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday...and one game Sunday. 

Louisville sits atop the BIG EAST leaderboard by one game with six BIG EAST games remaining. USF is 13-3 in BIG EAST play, Notre Dame 10-3 and Syracuse 12-4.


Georgetown comes to Louisville after hosting and dropping a double-header to Villanova on Wednesday 4-1 and 4-3. 


After the Georgetown series, the Cards will play a non-conference game in Knoxville against Tennessee next week on Wednesday and then conclude the regular season with three games at St. John's over Derby weekend. 

The BIG EAST Tournament is a single elimination affair that will begin on Thursday, May 10th at Notre Dame. The top eight teams in the regular season standings participate. If it were starting tomorrow, here's how the seeds and games would match up: 


#1 Louisville vs. #8 St. John's
#2 USF vs. #7 Connecticut
#3 Notre Dame vs. #6 Rutgers
#4 Syracuse vs. #5 DePaul


DePaul is the only team to beat Louisville this year...taking two out of three in Chicago back on March 31st. and April 1st. Syracuse is last year's tournament champion and returns All-Big East pitcher Jenna Caira.


We'll have full coverage of Cardinal softball action this weekend and throughout the BIG EAST tournament and NCAA Tournament here at CARDINAL COUPLE.


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Congratulations to women's tennis team sophomores Becca Shine and Julia Fellerhoff on being named to the All-BIG EAST Team. 


Coach Mark Beckham has this to say about the honors bestowed on the duo:

"It's good to see that the other coaches in the conference have a lot of respect for Julia and Becca's games. This is a great reward for Julia, since she missed the beginning of the year with a broken foot. She worked really hard to get back and had a successful season. This will definitely motivate her for next year. Hopefully, she'll stay injury-free and push for player of the year. She definitely has the ability to do it. Becca is unbelievable. She came to us from Augusta, GA. and nobody really knew who she was but I thought she could be really good in time. She is way ahead of schedule, for her to have already been ranked nationally in singles and doubles. To only be a sophomore is a quick progression. Now that she has been named BIG EAST All-Conference, I can't say enough good things about her. She is a special player, for sure." 


UofL finished tied for third in the BIG EAST Tournament...going in as a #6 seed. They upset #3 seed Syracuse but were defeated by #2 seed Notre Dame in the semi-finals. 


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"OK! Hustle that firewood in here
and someone start making S'mores!"

So...who wants to go camping with Jeff Walz? Mind you, this won't be a  tents, campfire, roasting weenies and marshmallows type of camping...it's three women's basketball skills camps for individuals and teams. 


The fun begins June 4th. with a Day Camp for grades 3-8. It goes thru June 7th. 


Two other camps will also be offered...a team camp June 8-10 with JV and Varsity Divisions and a Elite Skills Session for grades 7-12 on June 14th. 


You can contact Mary Beth Whitaker at 852-8355 or mbwhit08@Louisville.edu for pricing and more information. 


Also, here's a link for additional info:


Lady Cards Camps and Clinics

Sonja laughing about the whirlpool
and how much "Ben-Gay"
she'll need tomorrow.

We hope Walz will also have a 'past their prime' refresher camp someday for ex-high school players over 35 who still think they 'got it' and thought they were 'all that'. Sonja would dominate in that one. Unless A.J. or Valerie Owens Combs showed up to play. And, we're not saying either of them are over 35. I learned a long time ago, when it comes to things not to bring up...


Never reveal or ask about a woman's age.


Charlie Strong holds a day long women's football skills and learning camp each year. We're thinking a day- long WBB camp just might draw a few ladies. 


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UofL WBB fans will be glad to know that Monique Reid has received her notice from the NCAA that she can officially play in the upcoming season...we're hearing from a very credible source. 

We knew she would. We think it's great! Watch Mo & Co. lead the Cards past the Elite Eight! 


We also have fielded a few e-mails about Jeff Walz's sudden interest in players from overseas. 


Talent is talent, no matter if it comes from your backyard over overseas. Both Monny and Amanda got serious experience playing for their national teams while in high school. Experience is good, folks. 

We remember a few years ago when Tom Collen had Yuliya Tokova, Valeriya Musina and Tatjana Boston on the roster...all foreign players in high school. They were valuable contributors to the Cards during their stays and just because foreign players are being recruited doesn't mean that state-side talent isn't available. 


Good basketball player are good basketball players...whether they're from Russia or Russellville. 




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