Softball shuts out UMass...Diving leads BIG EAST Tournament...

.
MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Collins fans 13 in 2-0 Softball win over UMass

-Women's diving with lead at BIG EAST Tournament

-Esther Monny Niamke having a good season at Lindsey Wilson. 

-Watson checks in...

-Irish, Rutgers fall on upset Sunday in BIG EAST WBB

Collins allowed just 3 hits and
struck out 13 in the UofL win.

The University of Louisville women's softball team got a strong pitching effort out of senior Tori Collins and timely hitting late in the game to win 2-0 over UMass on the final day of the FIU Combat Classic in Miami, FL. With the win, the Cards improve to 5-0...sweeping all five contests played over the last three days.

This one was a defensive and pitching duel early.

Neither team could put up a run until the sixth inning. Jennifer Esteban led off the Cards portion of the inning with a blooper double with one out. Jordy Trimble singled her home and then Taner Fowler drilled a double to score Trimble for the final run of the contest.

Softball Cards head to East
Carolina next...

The contest ended disappointingly for UMass. With runners on first and second and just one out in the seventh inning, the contest was officially ended because of a two-hour time limit pre-established for the game because of travel considerations.

Softball, unlike football, soccer or hoops....does not normally have a time-restricted period of play in college. I'd be sore if I was the UMass squad. Two out, one out and they stop the game...but rules are rules. Both teams agreed to it.

The softball Cards return back to campus for a few days before heading off to Greenville, NC for the East Carolina Pirate Clash Feb. 17-19. Let's hope they get accommodating weather. Carolina in mid-Feb. can get a bit chilly...

*******************************************************

The Cardinal women's diving squad holds a slender lead in the BIG EAST Diving Championships. They have totaled 74 points in two days...followed closely by Notre Dame (71) and Rutgers (52). 

Gadd took 3rd. in
3-meter diving.

Hannah Gadd with a third place standing in 3-meter competition. She's followed by teammates Lindsey Stephens in fourth and Emily Stalmack in the fifth. Gadd was the BIG EAST Diver of the Year last year. 

The swimming portion of the championships begins Thursday. The Louisville women (and men) took the championship titles last year.

********************************************************

It's official. Esther Monny Niamke has been playing well at Lindsey Wilson this season as a freshman and should provide some much needed depth for Louisville at the point guard position next year.

It gives Walz the luxury of shifting Shoni Schimmel around a bit more next year to the "2". It'll probably mean less playing time for Jude and Shelby. It gives the Lady Cards incredible depth at the guard slots next year. Megan Deines, a 6'0" guard/wing and Cortnee Walton, a 6'4" post/forward will join her as freshmen for the 2012-13 season.

With the return of Tia Gibbs from injury, the Lady Cards will have incredible depth at the 1,2 and 3 slots...since Becky Burke is the only senior currently playing and leaving. 

"Young Monny's" stats for the last three games...

-In a 73-65 loss to the Cumberlands, 13 points in 29 minutes

-In a 93-85 win over WV Tech, 19 points in 28 minutes.

-In a 94-75 win over Rio Grande (OH), six points in 18 minutes.

Lindsey Wilson is 18-8 on the year and ranked #24 in NAIA. Former Lady Card Ashley Rainey is a senior on the squad.

Welcome to the 'Ville....EMN !

********************************************************

(David Watson checks in on...well....whatever crosses his mind usually. Today he rambles about Irish and demons.)

The Big East WBB race just got a whole lot more interesting with WEST VIRGINIA's win over NOTRE DAME yesterday in the Joyce Center.

Darn it.

I was hoping for a Notre Dame domination until the final game of the season. I wanted to see the Irish head to the XL Center on Monday, Feb. 27th. and beat UConn to win the conference by two games. That probably won't happen now, unless UConn stumbles against St. John's, Pitt or Marquette.

Not very likely.

The Irish have Providence, Louisville and USF left before the matchup in Hartford against Geno. Can't see any of these three pulling another upset over the Irish. I think Louisville will give them a close game in the KFC YUM! Center but close only counts in -- well, you know the old adage.

The Mountaineers are outta here after this season. With a little help from their new friends in the BIG 12. I wish my friends would loan me $1 million each to hang out with them.

I'd have $3 million dollars to entertain with.

I've never cared too much for any of the WVU sports teams. I've never cared too much about the state of West Virginia. Neither will fans from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas once they've been there for a football game.

Morgantown isn't exactly Pleasant Valley.


DePaul worries me. Not because of the scary Blue Demon mascot or their residence in Chicago -- a truly scary town in certain places. They worry me because they're playing awfully good right now. They've won 4 out of their last 5 and toyed with Marquette yesterday before burying them on national TV.

Lots of weapons in Martin, Harry, Ortiz, Hrynko and Penny. I'll head down to Louisville to watch that matchup Feb. 25th.

Hoops, hops, Impellizzeri's and a visit with my cranky brother-in law, adorable sister and their kids seems like the perfect Saturday.I should just make a week of it and come in Monday the 20th. for the Notre Dame game. Given the relationship between me and my brother-in-law, though, I might not be able to attend the DePaul game -- unless they play it in the ICU at Jewish Hospital. I wouldn't say we get edgy with each other, but the last time I stayed more than 48 hours with them, he changed the name hanging over the dog house from "Hunter" to "David".

David probably won't
be making trips to
Morgantown to watch
WVU sports.

Pity the poor Cardinals. A "trap" game Tuesday against a 0 for BIG EAST Pitt on the road. Louisville plays on the road as about as well as I play "Stairway to Heaven" on the trumpet. Then, it's inviting Notre Dame and the previously mentioned Blue Demons to the Bucket. A season ending trip to another 0 for BIG EAST opponent in Seton Hall. Anything over a 2-2 finish for Walz's warriors should be celebrated with a parade down 2nd. Street from Main to River Road.

With a pre-parade party at Impellizzeri's first, of course.

( David Watson is a special correspondent for CARDINAL COUPLE. In his fantasy life, he's a taste-tester for Impellizzeri's. I've met his brother-in-law. I didn't know any Neanderthal men still existed...)

******************************************************

Upset Sunday in BIG EAST WBB yesterday...

- Notre Dame was shocked in the Purcell Pavillion by WVU 65-63. Brooke Hampton hit two free throws with four seconds remaining and a jumper by Natalie Novosel bounced off the rim as time expired to give the Mountaineers the win. Skylar Diggins with 32 for Muffet. Asya Bussie led West Virginia with 22.

Kim's Red Storm have
won four in a row now.

- St. John's ( 9-3 ) travelled to the RAC and defeated Rutgers 61-52. The good news for C. Vivian Stringer's bunch is that Khadijah Rushdan is back and had 17 points in her return. The bad news is that Rutgers has lost four in a row now and is 6-5 in BIG EAST play. The Red Storm had four in double figures, led by Nadirah McKenith's 18. They're alone in third place in the BIG EAST.

- DePaul used a strong second half of the second half to down Marquette 71-59. Doug Bruno's bunch trailed 44-39 with less than 13 minutes left. They responded. Four Blue Demons hit double figures...Anna Martin recording a double-double with 19 and 10. Katherine Plouffe finished with 22 for Terri Mitchell's Golden Eagles. 

UConn plays out of conference tonight against Oklahoma. 9 p.m. on this one...ESPN 2. Another good game features Kentucky and Tennessee WBB at 7 p.m. on the "deuce". Louisville's men are playing at 7 p.m. too -- a BIG EAST, Big Monday haymaker against Syracuse. This one on ESPN. IT's "White Out Night" at the KFC YUM! Center if you go. We wish we were. Great hoops, tonight!

BIG EAST WBB STANDINGS:

Notre Dame        11-1                         Villanova          5-7
Connecticut        11-1                         Providence        5-7
St. John's              9-3                          USF                   5-7
West Virginia       8-3                          Marquette         4-7
Georgetown         8-4                          Syracuse           4-8
Louisville             7-5                          Cincinnati         4-8
DePaul                 7-5                          Pittsburgh         0-11
Rutgers                6-5                          Seton Hall         0-12
.           
..
...

Cold end to first half dooms Lady Cards at WVU

.
GAME REPORT

-15-0 WVU run does Cards in

Louisville at least made a game of it for the first 13:37 of the Saturday afternoon contest. An Asia Taylor jumper put the Lady Cards up 22-21 with 6:26 left in the first half.

Then, things got ugly.

WVU went on a 15-0 run after that for about five and one half minutes and led 36-22 until Shelby Harper connected with a jumper with 1:05 left. And...that run pretty much took care of the Cards this afternoon. The Lady Cards committed nine turnovers in the scoreless stretch.

STARTERS: Vails, Taylor, Smith, Burke and Shoni

Hammond saw first half action today.

Louisville's Taylor missed a wide open layup to begin the contest and the game remained scoreless until Taylor connected at the 18:00 mark. WVU responded with the next six points, though and led 6-2 until a Shoni three pulled the Lady Cards within one. Another Shoni three gave UofL a 12-10 lead with 12:02 left.

The elder Schimmel connected again from trifecta range to put Louisville up 15-13 with 9:52 left, but the Mountaineers responded with six straight points from Laura Stepney and held a 19-15 advantage before Bria Smith scored her only two points of the contest and Taylor capitalized on a +1 to make it 20-19 Louisville. Taylor connected again, giving Louisville a 22-21 lead. 6:23 to go.

Then, the offense went cold.

An Asya Bussie basket and free throw, followed by another Stepney three had it 27-22. Taylor Palmer rattled home a three and then hit two free throws and it was 32-22 WVU. A Hartley steal and layup and Bussie inside again and the Cards saw themselves in the hole 36-22 with two minutes left. The teams traded baskets the rest of the way and Louisville went into the locker room behind 38-24. Six minutes of turnover-filled, missed opportunity play for the Cardinals to end the first twenty. Hard to listen to on the radio. Probably more painful to see in person.

WVU shot 47% in the first half, led 20-16 on the boards and had 12 points from Bussie. Stepney had nine.

Louisville went 33% from the floor in the first twenty (9-27), had 13 turnovers and six missed layups in the first half. Shoni's nine points (on three threes) led the way, Taylor added seven, Slaughter three, Harper two and Sara Hammond had a free throw. 

Louisville needed to come out strong early in the second half and cut into the WVU lead. Instead, the exact opposite happened. 

A Stepney three and two Christal Caldwell scores provided WVU with a 7-0 run to start the final twenty minutes. It was 45-24, which proved to be the biggest WVU lead of the day.

Sherrone Vails finally broke the ice for the Cards with a jumper at the 17:30 mark, but Asia Taylor picked up her fourth foul seconds later and went to the bench. The Lady Cards would climb within 15 after a Shoni 3 to cut it to 50-35 and two Slaughter threes over the next minute and a half had Louisville with a glimmer of hope...down 54-41 with 4:51 left. Louisville managed to get within 12 after a Slaughter free throw with 2:17 left at 56-44 and Taylor finally returned to the court and scored to make it 58-46 with 94 seconds to go...but the Mountaineers outscored the Cards 8-4 the rest of the way...sinking four free throws in the final 1:10. Final 66-50 WVU. 

Louisville was led by Shoni's 16. Slaughter finished with 14. Taylor totalled nine, Harper finished with four, as did Vails. Smith had two and Hammond finished with one. Burke, Jude and Shawnta Dyer played but did not score. Cierra Warren did not play. No reason was provided. 

The Cards finished at 40% (20-50) from the floor and were 7-20 from three point line. They sank 3-4 from the charity stripe and finished with 24 turnovers.

The Eers win their third in a row and got 18 points and 11 boards from Bussie. Three others hit double figures for WVU...Stepney finished with 14, Caldwell 12 and Dunning 11. WVU won the rebounding battle 39-27. They had 12 steals and shot 42% for the game. Stepney a surprise...she came into the game averaging less than five points a game.

No points for BB
against WVU.

For the Lady Cards, Jeff Walz summed it up pretty well when he attributed the loss to turnovers, rebounding and effort. Way too many missed layups for the Cards and way too many second chance scores for WVU. They beat the Cards in the points in the paint battle 34-24.

Louisville faces #3 UConn Tuesday. It's the first time this season the Lady Cards have lost two games in a row. Hate to say it...but three in a row is 72 hours away if the Cards produce this kind of effort against the Huskies...

A young team, still growing and some puzzlement now.

Burke scoreless and 0-2 from the field shows us that the BIG EAST (or at least WVU) has figured out she's a spot-up shooter and not much else. Hammond hustled hard in the first half and got rewarded with zero minutes in the final twenty. Warren never left the bench. Bria Smith was 0 for second half. Question marks remain for the 17-5, 6-4 Lady
Cards and the answers they get Tuesday against #3 UConn may not be the ones they want to receive....
.
..
...

STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN KENTUCKY

(Please note that the article below is strictly a parody and in no way indicates the current status of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Betcha there are a whole lotta unhappy folks around these parts today, though)

Shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday night, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear declared a state wide emergency and called President Barack Obama for National Guard troops, federal emergency aid and mostly to just cry, whine and act like a little drama queen after the University of Kentucky men's basketball team lost in the finals of the NCAA East Regional to those no good, cheating, illiterate West Virginia Hillbillies.

Reports of the final score were disputed statewide, since very few people saw the end of the game...preferring to go either kick their dogs, car fenders, outhouse doors or old oak trees in their yard. State, county and local police reported a dramatic increase of people "just walkin' around all pissed off" and local bootleggers reported a 350% increase in business for Saturday night...according to Barron's. Bars in Lexington and Frankfort were ransacked and looted by disgruntled UK fans but local businessmen report that any beer or liquor inventories with red colors or markings on the container were not affected. Items bottled in West Virginia were pretty much left alone, too.

State government switchboard operators, 911 call centers and crisis intervention hotlines were swamped with distraught and suicidal Wildcats fans immediately after the loss and reports of several individuals jumping from their double wide trailer porches, outhouse roofs and abandonded automobile hoods in apparent suicide attempts were confirmed. A Hickman County man also reported his cow "just plumb keeled over from the shock of it all" after the Kentucky loss.

Several UK students were stopped at the Kentucky/Indiana border by federal officials after a tipster called authorities and informed them of a plot involving several UK fraternity members plans to "drive up to Syracuse and kick Calipari's butt." A candlelight procession was held at midnight on the UK campus near Memorial Auditorium where mourners slowly did the John Wall dance and practiced three point shooting on the outdoor courts near the auditorium. No reported shots were successful.

In Owensboro, KY...several angry UK fans threatened to swim across the Ohio River and "beat up everyone in Indiana" but chilly river temperatures, offers of free mutton barbeque sandwiches and Coast Guard boats lining the river were able to quell the action.

Early into Sunday morning, the distraught sobbing of Wildcat fans could be heard thruout the state and residents of Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio and Virginia reported torrential floods of tears rolling across the borders and making driving conditions rough on major interstates and highways.

In West Virginia, they're partying like crazed dogs and no one was answering phones in the entire state...so we couldn't get a update. Text and Facebook reports alerted readers about thick clouds of smoke from burning couches in the Morgantown, Charleston and Huntington areas and inpromptu signs and bed sheets were being displayed in windows, yards and on the backs of hogs suggesting that Bobby Huggins be considered for president, governor or a Deity.

" I just don't believe it. I got nothin' to live for now...it's all gone". lamented Caneyville, KY. resident Hoot Percy, as he tied his belongings and wife to his mule and prepared to ride off into the hills. "I knewed we never shoulda hired that Italian Memphis coach." Sentiment was similar in other Kentucky towns as Sunday services were cancelled at many churches. The Archdiocese of Louisville, however, encouraged parishioners to attend services...noting that Catholic colleges Xavier, Notre Dame and Butler were still alive in the men's and women's NCAA Tournaments.

Noted screen actor and UK fan Ashley Judd demonstrated her disappointment with the loss by ripping off her UK sweatshirt in front of a bemused crowd outside a bar in Syracuse, NY. She also asked if anyone had Rick Pitino's phone number and added she wouldn't mind a few "shots of Maker's" right about now. Famed hillbilly singer Billy Ray Cyrus perhaps summed it up best when he slurred "I think it's safe to say that the whole state is suffering from one big ol' achy, breaky heart right now...except for them dadgum UofSmell Tard fans."

UK women's basketball coach Matthew Mitchell vowed to "go get some payback" when his Lady Kats face Nebraska in the NCAA regional semifinals Sunday night. Rumors that John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins had shaved, donned skirts and wigs and offered to play for Mitchell's team this evening could not be confirmed as we went to press with this story...but a 6'11", very ugly woman was reported being seen this morning in the Kansas City airport asking where the basketball arena was. Rebecca Lobo denied being anywhere near the Kansas City area. Cousins did not answer text or phone attempts to reach him.

Martial law and curfews are expected to remain in effect until Kentucky residents eventually calm down and report back to work and unemployment lines on Monday. A spokesman for WHAS radio in Louisville indicated that the station would "cease and desist from any mention of the UK Men's basketball team on any and all future broadcasts until the situation had cooled down and the late Cawood Ledford, Oscar Combs or Tom Leach can be found and brought in to soothe the Big Blue Nation over the airwaves."

Ledford, who passed away in 2001, had prophetized shortly before his death that a "stranger in expensive suits would once again come to the Bluegrass and wreak havoc upon the land" but most felt the threat had passed when Billy Gillespie left the Kentucky basketball program last year. Plans to dig up Cawood and have him air one last broadcast have run into snags with state and local coroners but it is rumored that the body has been exhumed and Ledford reportedly was recently seen enjoying a cup of coffee and piece of Derby pie with ex-UK coach Joe B. Hall at Wheeler's Drugstore in Lexington. Hall's response to the rumor when questioned was

"Are you crazy, Denny?"

And that comment pretty well sums it up.

Written by Paul (with a little help from my friends)
3/28/10