Softball splits in South Bend...Lacrosse wins...Women's golf in third

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

Anna-Karin Lljungstrom shot a
76 in the first round of the
BIG EAST Championships.

-Cards split with Irish in Softball

-Lacrosse dominates Villanova

-Golf 3rd in BIG EAST Tournament

UofL softball split with Notre Dame yesterday in a doubleheader in South Bend. The Cards narrowly dropped the first contest 4-3 and won the second 9-6.

Notre Dame 4 - Louisville 3

The Cards jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first when Chelsea Bemis doubled home Katie Keller. Notre Dame rallied in the second inning to go up 2-1 but the Cards regained the lead in the top of the third when Keller blasted a two run base clearer with Hannah Kiyohara on base...freshman power again...Louisville held the 3-2 advantage. After the Irish tied it in the bottom of the third...a solo home run off of Caralisa Connell...they tacked on the winning run in the fourth. Louisville had two base runners in the fifth and seventh innings...but could not push across the tying run.

Connell took the loss, going to 18-6. She allowed all four runs on six hits and fanned two in 5.1 innings. Tori Collins came in to finish...striking out one and allowing a hit in 1.2 innings of relief.

Louisville 9 - Notre Dame 6

Louisville fell behind early in the nightcap...a solo homer in the first gave the Irish a 1-0 advantage over starter Tori Collins. Katie Petrino relieved her in the circle and allowed two more Notre Dame runs in the third. She lasted until the sixth inning, when the Irish sent three more base runners across the plate and built a 6-0 advantage,

Chelsea Bemis hit a three run
homer against Notre Dame on
Sunday. Bye, bye Mr. Spalding!

The Cards had not conceded defeat, though.

In the top of the sixth, A Chelsea Bemis three run homer scored Kiyohara and Keller. Colby Wherry followed with a single run blast. Alicja Wolny and Maggie Ruckenbrod reached on base hits and Kristin Austin drove home Wolny to make it 6-5. Kiyohara batted for the second time in the inning and drove in Ruckenbrod and Austin to make it 7-6 Cards. Keller smashed a two run fence clearer to increase it to 9-6.

Collins re-entered the game as pitcher in the bottom of the sixth and shut out the Irish in two innings of relief. For Petrino, it was her first win as a Cardinal. She allowed five runs on seven hits...with one strike out. Collins got the save, her third of the season, allowing one run on two hits.

Louisville travels to Lexington next for a Wednesday night game vs. Kentucky.

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Bergan Foley scored four goals
against Villanova

Louisville lacrosse took a win yesterday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium over Villanova 16-4 Sunday. The Cards outscored the Wildcats 9-1 in the first half...putting eight straight goals in the net to break an early 1-1 tie. They also scored the first two goals in the second half. During the 10-0 run, Bergan Foley and Liz Lovejoy each had three scores. Katie Oliverio found the net twice and Nikki Boltja and Lianne Bobal added a goal each. 

The Cards outscored the Wildcats 7-3 in the second stanza. Louisville shot an impressive 16 for 26 on goals attempted and forced the Wildcats into 26 turnovers. 

Foley and Lovejoy each finished with four goals in the game. The Cards (10-4, 2-2) improved to a tie for fourth place in BIG EAST conference standings and take to the road for their next two...a Thursday contest at Syracuse and a Saturday face-off in Connecticut against the Huskies. 

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Sara-Maude Juneau shot an opening round 75 and the Louisville women's golf team finds themselves in third place in the BIG EAST Championships...13 strokes behind Notre Dame. The Cards are are one stroke behind Georgetown. Anna-Karin Lljungstrom carded a 76 for 18 holes and Laura Anderson finished the first round with a 77... good for 12th place. Tara Lyons' 80 and Maria Castellanos' 82 were the other Cardinal efforts on the first day. 

The Cards tee it up again today, beginning at 9:40 a.m. Becca Huffer, of Notre Dame, leads all participants with her 72...even par. Straight and long down the fairways, ladies and chip and putt!

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Softball falls at Notre Dame...Kentucky Girls All-State team named

SUNDAY at CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Softball Cards lose in South Bend 8-5

-Kentucky Girls High School All-State

teams named

-Women's Track & Field at the Sea-Ray 





The University of Louisville softball team suffered a gut wrenching loss to Notre Dame yesterday when Lauren Stuhr slammed a two-out, three run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the Irish to the 8-5 win. The game marked the return of Louisville pitcher Tori Collins to the mound after being sidelined for several weeks with a foot injury...but it certainly wasn't the way she wanted to return...her two innings of otherwise solid relief marred by the walk-off homer.

Louisville found themselves down  2-0 after four innings to the Irish before they collected the bats and pushed three runs to the plate...a two run homer by Colby Wherry being the highlight of the inning. Notre Dame countered with two in the bottom of the fourth, though, and regained the lead at 4-3.

The Cards fought back and went up 5-4 in the top of the sixth when Kristin Austin blasted a two run homer. The Irish (30-7, 6-0) tied it up at 5-5 in their half of the sixth...setting up the game winning blast by Stuhr in the seventh. The Cards' Collins got the first two Irish batter in the bottom of the seventh out.. before allowing two walks and then Stuhr's game ender.




Caralisa Connell got the start for Louisville (31-12, 9-3)and gave up five runs on eight hits in her five innings. Louisville allowed a season high nine walks in the contest. The teams try to get in two today...with first pitch at noon.

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Sara Hammond gathers another
honor. The Louisville signee will
lead the Kentucky All-Stars against
Indiana.

Sara Hammond leads the lists of players named to the first and second Kentucky Girls All-State teams. She was also named Miss Basketball earlier this spring. She's headed to the "Ville" for college. Hammond averaged 16 points and 13 rebounds in leading Rockcastle County to the state championship title for 2011. Other 1st team selections:

-Rebecca Greenwell, Owensboro Catholic, 6'1" sophomore. High scoring guard averaged 32.9 a game. No declaration on her early college favorites..but both Louisville and Kentucky are greatly interested.

-Sydney Moss, Boone County, 5'11' junior. The talented guard/forward is looking at Florida, Louisville, Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina. She's the daughter of NFL great Randy Moss.

-Averee Fields, Calloway County, 6'0" senior. Fields averaged 23.8 ppg and 12.9 rebounds. She's headed to West Virginia to play her college ball.

-Chasity Gooch, Franklin-Simpson, 6'0" senior. Gooch punished opponents from her forward spot all season and averaged 24.5 ppg and 16.4 boards. Western Kentucky University will get her services.

-Lauren Tibbs, Scott County, 6'4" senior. She's a rebounding and inside post player that will head to Marquette for college hoops. 23.8 points a  game.

-Mecheal Guess, Louisville Manual, 5'10" senior. Guess was the engine that drove the Manual Bulldogs. She's headed to Pittsburgh to play volleyball.

-Makayla Epps, Marion County, 5'11" sophomore. The hardworking Epps can punish opponents inside or from the perimeter. Half the schools in DI basketball are interested, including Louisville and Kentucky.

-Kristin Stainback, Scott County, 5'9" senior.  The shifty guard put in almost 20 points a game and will take her offensive prowess to Austin Peay.

-Kendall Noble, Perry County, 5'11" junior. Noble is a game changer with 19.6 ppg . Louisville, Kentucky and most of the in-state school s are showing interest...she hasn't named any favorites yet.

SECOND TEAM

Carla Booth (Sheldon Clark) 5'7"senior
Danay Fothergill (Pulaski Southwestern) 5'7" senior
Natalie Greenwell (Elizabethtown) 5'9" senior
Adrienne Tarrance (Bowling Green) 5'6" senior
Hillary Moore (Leslie County) 5'7" senior
Whitney Belle Jackson (Clay County) 6'1" senior
Kristen Perry (West Carter) 6'0" senior
April Wilson (Louisville Manual) 5'8" junior
Juliann Miller (Louisville Mercy) 5'7" senior
Angie Lawrence (Rockcastle County) 5'5" senior

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The University of Louisville women's field contingent did quite well at the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, TN. Finishes of note:

Long Jump
1. Rachel Gehret

Shot Put
2. Khadija Abdullah
3. D'Ana McCarty
4. Amashi Kendall
5. Chinwe Okoro

Discus
3. D'Ana McCarty

Javelin
3. Jenna Wargo

The Cards will host the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational on Friday, April 22nd in Cardinal Park.
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Lacrosse wins vs. Rutgers...Tennis loses at Rice...WE discuss "overrecruiting"

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SATURDAY...THUNDER Day in Louisville


Liz Lovejoy had a big day Friday...four goals in the win



at CARDINAL COUPLE

-Lacrosse rallies to beat Rutgers

-Women's Tennis falls to Owls

-Louisville holds football Spring game

-Over-recruiting? Don't think so...

Louisville lacrosse rallied from a 5-3 halftime deficit to defeat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 10-8 at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. Worries over inclement weather were soothed as the rains never came during the action. Louisville, though, seemed to be under a cloud early on in the contest...falling behind to the Piscataway players 4-0 12 minutes into the game. Louisville (9-4, 2-2) fell even further behind at the start of the second half before a rally led by Lix Lovejoy and Bergan Foley produced three consecutive point and tied the contest at 6-6. The Cards took a 7-6 lead when Lianne Bobal found the back of the net.

Rutgers tied the contest at seven but Louisville finished strong and scored three of the games final goals for the win. Two goals by Lovejoy and a score by freshman Nikki Boltja gave the Cards the contest. Freshman Ashley Herbst manned the pipes in this one, limiting the Scarlet Knights to eight goals while making eight saves.

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Cardinal women's tennis took a thumping on the road from the Rice Owls yesterday 7-0. Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine fell in doubles 8-5 to the Owls and both players lost their singles matches as well. The Cards end the regular season today at Houston and then will prepare for the BIG EAST Championships next week. Louisville is 11-10 on the year going into the season ending match against the Cougars.

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A disappointingly small crowd showed up for the UofL Spring Football game at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. It may have been that fans were scared off by the threat of inclement weather...or that a lot of play makers from last season weren't going to participate while recovering from injuries. For those who attended, they got to see some nice running from senior tailback Vic Anderson and all three Louisville quarterbacks tossed the ball around with accuracy. The game last night reminded us of the early days of the Schnellenberger reign...when the team would play in front of small crowds at the Fairgrounds. One interesting sidebar was that UofL P.A. announcer Sean Moth called the action from the field instead of the press box. Red team won 31-14...which doesn't mean a thing...since the players were pretty much interchangeable throughout the contest and it was "offense (Red) vs. defense (White)."

There... We've appeased the readers who complain that we never cover men's sports at UofL here at CARDINAL COUPLE.

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Former Lady Card Janae Howard has left WKU also.
Did Walz "run her off" from there , too? People...please...

WE'VE noticed lately that critics and pundits of the University of Louisville women's basketball program have started rattling that old sabre called 'over-recruiting' when they talk about this year's Lady Cardinal signees and transfers. We've even seen a post where the writer tried to make a comparison between former UofL football coach Bobby Petrino and current UofL women's basketball coach Jeff Walz. Hogwash, WE say....Never heard of Walz meeting a plane from Auburn in New Albany to discuss the head coaching job...

We've seen writings where Walz has been blasted for bringing in talented players that "force others out the door" What...is this a survival camp or something?

Mostly, WE believe...it's a case of sour grapes...this bashing of trying to improve a program by recruiting the best players you can. Do you want Louisville to mirror Villanova WBB...where the emphasis is on recruiting around the Philly Catholic high school programs? Maybe Walz should refuse to take a player because it might cause someone who averages five minutes a game to leave? Get a grip, people. These are facts below and they cannot be disputed:

1) Jeff Walz is one of the best young recruiters in women's college basketball
2) The LADY CARDS play in the BIG EAST..the best conference in WBB.
3) Players like to go where they have a chance to play for good teams.
4) Walz expects a lot out of his players and they practice hard and train hard.
5) Some players are better than others and to win...you need better players.

Take the case of Janae Howard, for example. A talented wing with a deadly three point shot, she was highly recruited out of high school and left the Owensboro area to attend Louisville on scholarship. She arrived at Louisville with a talented incoming class of Monique Reid, Becky Burke, Gwen Rucker, Mary Jackson and Tiera Stephen...a freshman class considered the best ever at that time for Louisville women's basketball.

Howard played sparingly her freshmen year but was on a national championship runner up team at Louisville and saw action in each of the Cards NCAA Tournament games that year. She decided to transfer, though...and attend Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY. Much closer to home and promised a chance to get the playing time she sought. She sat out a year. If she had remained at Louisville, chances are she would have seen tons of minutes on a Cardinal squad that was decimated by injuries and down to six or seven players at times.

Finally, this year...she got back on the court. She started for the Hilltoppers...had 30 points in one game, but decided to leave the team for personal reasons before the season ended. We use this example of Howard just to emphasize our point. The reasons why players transfer are as varied as the reasons players decide to attend a school. Players come, players go. Happens in other programs besides Louisville.

Howard wasn't the only member of that heralded 2008 recruit class to leave. Mary Jackson returned to Memphis...where she plays for the UM Tigers in a backup role. Tiera Stephen transferred to Wisconsin where she is a backup guard. Gwen Rucker played two seasons for Louisville women's basketball while also playing volleyball before deciding to concentrate on the wide net sport. She's a three year starter and will be a senior leader for Anne Kordes' 2011-12 volleyball squad. Each made a decision that was in their best interests. None of these three were "forced out"...yet critics and fans from other schools harp on the Cardinal transfers when they discuss Louisville recruiting. Jealously knows no bounds. We would point out, in fairness...that Reid and Burke are still on the team, will be seniors this upcoming season and have been valuable contributors to Louisville women's basketball during their stay here.

Players come, players go. Where would Louisville have been this year if Tia Gibbs hadn't decided to transfer to Louisville from Vanderbilt? Cierra Robertson Warren will be an awesome force in the upcoming season for Louisville in the post...she transferred here from North Carolina. Shelby Harper made a commitment to walk on the Louisville squad as a freshman and has become a crowd favorite and streaking blond blur with the basketball.

A small, unimpressive former ball boy for the New York Knicks decided to attend the University of Kentucky a few years back. He knew playing time would be limited. He sat the bench for four years under the coaching of Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith. He learned, he watched....he didn't play much. He became an assistant coach, worked at several places and eventually ended up as a key assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville. He is now the head coach of Manhattan University.

Steve Masiello paid the dues and prospered.

Louisville will welcome recruits Sara Hammond, Jude Schimmel, Monney Esther Niamke and possibly one or two more for the 2011-12 season. Schimmel and Hammond have sent letters of intent. WE feel Monney's is pending soon. Bria Smith is visiting the campus. All are top notch players that will impact the future of Louisville women's hoops in the future. Over-recruiting? We hardly think so. Creating a nucleus of quality position players to build on the success of the University of Louisville's women's basketball program...definitely. Will all this "come back to haunt Walz and the coaching staff" ?

Only if you consider success as haunting...

Over-recruiting and "recruiting over "players at Louisville? No. Seeking players to build the program. Yes. Don't confuse the two, pundits. Players come. players go. Those that succeed are usually those who listen and learn.
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Story, Harrington to leave Lady Cards...Jude Schimmel signs LOI

FRIDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE



Rachel Story is leaving the Lady Cards, along with Polly Harrington



-Story, Harrington to transfer

-Jude Schimmel signs Uofl letter of intent

-Lacrosse game time changed

-Softball headed to South Bend 

WE hinted at this development for several weeks here at CARDINAL COUPLE and now it has been officially announced.

Harrington drives against UC

Sophomore guard Rachel Story and freshman forward Polly Harrington are leaving the UofL women's basketball roster. No word yet on where either player is transferring to.

Story played in 51 games in her two years at Louisville, as a back up guard. She was the leading scorer for Louisville with 16 points against Rutgers on March 1st, 2010 in a 72-52 loss in Piscataway. Her playing time in the 2009-10 season was boosted by the thin compliment of players available to Jeff Walz during that injury ridden season...she averaged 11.2 minutes a game. When the Cards restocked the lineup and more guards were available to Walz...her playing time diminished to 5.6 minutes a game as a sophomore. Story never started a game during her two years at UofL. She showed promise, at times, of being a capable point guard but with the Cards bringing in at least two additional guards this upcoming season...playing time most likely would have diminished even further. She'll be a good get for a mid-major or DII school out there.

Harrington came to Louisville as an undersized but talented front line prospect. Her time on the court was brief...5.1 minutes a game and she averaged 1.8 ppg and 0.7 rebounds. With front line recruit Sara Hammond on the way, Shawnta Dyer returning from injury and Cierra Robertson-Warren coming off a red-shirt season, that playing time most likely would have become even less.

Can't blame either player for looking for an opportunity to be basketball players elsewhere and getting more minutes on the court. It's tough to come in as a highly ranked prospect and spend the majority of your time watching from the bench. Both Harrington and Story had chances to prove they could be a starter or first off the bench...but better players got those slots. Competition can be cruel sometimes...but WE feel here at CARDINAL COUPLE that both will go on and have successful college careers and find a spot where their on court talents will be needed and used.

Jeff Walz had this to say about the departures:

"I have enjoyed coaching both Rachel and Polly here at Louisville. They are both talented young women that have a lot of great opportunities ahead of them. They will always be part of our basketball family and we wish them nothing but success."

The words by Walz are gracious, politically correct and from the heart. Always best to take the high road when discussing changes in a program. No way he would have taken the bitter,selfish comments approach that George O' Leary spewed when DaMarcus Smith requested out of his letter of intent to play football at UCF. From our vantage view this season covering Lady Cards basketball, our hearts went out to the sad, stoic gaze Story exhibited from the seats at times this season. The Cards relied on a 9-10 player rotation last season. When faced with the prospect of as many as 16 candidates vying for one of those spots in 2011-12, hard realities and past performances speak volumes when it comes to selection and probability.

WE'VE always maintained, here at CARDINAL COUPLE...that Coach Walz will never want to go through the stressful, sad situation that he and the team had to endure in 2009-10...when injuries and lack of players had the Cards competing at drastically low levels. WE figured he'd do whatever he could to bring in the maximum capacity of players possible to avoid such a trauma again. WE applaud the recent efforts. There is strength in numbers...and sometimes players who may have looked to be potential stars in the recruiting process get faced with the reality there are others that are better than them.

With UofL over the last four years, the transfer rate out of the program has averaged 2-3 players a year. Although some may feel this is excessively high...it is a syndrome of women's college basketball. Players come in to compete. Players find that their skills aren't quite there to earn starting or playing roles,. Players leave to seek those goals of playing time. It's happening at other schools, also. The "free up" in scholarships because of departures creates opportunities for others to try and climb the ladder. Consider it a spring cleaning. The summer and fall fashions are on the way.

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Another Lady Cards item of note is that Jude Schimmel has signed and sent her letter of intent to Louisville. This was another one we told you was going to happen for weeks and weeks. We felt it was going to happen even before the Portland Franklin point guard began her senior season of high school ball. We felt that the close bond between the sisters, the attractiveness of the UofL campus, facilities and training areas...coupled with the fact that the Lady Cards were absolutely enamored with both these Schimmel
sisters during Shoni's recruiting process made it almost a foregone conclusion. We value the comittment that the Schimmel sisters have made to UofL here at CARDINAL COUPLE and would remind ours readers that "if you liked Shoni...you're going to LOVE Jude."

Jude averaged 28 points a game her senior year at Franklin and was an unaminous selection to All First Team Oregon 5-A. She is an exceptionally quick and talented point guard that passes extremely well, can drill the three if left unguarded and creates turnovers and gets steals on defense.

It's official now...and Cardinal fans are going to love being Schimmel "squared".

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Because of inclement weather expected for Friday evening, Louisville lacrosse game against Rutgers has been moved to to 4 p.m. It was originally slated to face off at 5 p.m. The Scarlet Knights hit town with a 7-4 record and are 1-2 in BIG EAST play. Louisville enters the contest at 8-4 and is also 1-2 in BIG EAST action.

The CARDS will also play Sunday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium with Villanova providing the competition. Game at noon.

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University of Louisville softball heads to South Bend for a three game series against the Notre Dame fighting Irish beginning Saturday. The Cards split a mid-week double header with the Huskies on Wednesday. Louisville has won 12 out of their last 13 games and has only two BIG EAST losses. The bats seemed to dry up Wednesday for the Cards...surprising when you look at how they pounded a better than average Pitt pitching staff last weekend.

In Notre Dame, the Cards face an opponent that is 29-7...5-0 in BIG EAST play and on a 12 game winning streak. The Irish were prognosticated as one of the preseason favorites to capture the BIG EAST regular season title, along with Louisville and De Paul.

Certainly a key and crucial matchup this weekend for the Cards against a top flight opponent. Let's hope the weather in South Bend co-operates and the Cards can bring out the bats to give freshman pitching sensation Caralisa Connell some breathing room.
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4 12 2011 JR G Becky Burke Supporting Louisville Baseball...Softball splits

CD/CC Photo 4 12 2011 JR G Becky Burke

THURSDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

-Cards split against Softball Huskies

-Tennis Travels to Texas

-Packed weekend in Louisville

-Bria Smith update


LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Stellar Lady Cards guard Becky Burke was out in full-force to support Louisville baseball at the UofL - UK Baseball Rivalry Game Tuesday night at Jim Patterson Stadium.

She had her hands full of grub and I asked for a photo. Burke replied, "With my hot dog and all?" jokingly, so I assured Becky that I would just take a face shot.........:-)

Every time I have seen Becky in person out supporting Louisville athletic programs other than women's basketball, she is always smiling and joking with a GREAT disposition.

Give it up for the great Becky Burke!

(Thanks to Shannon Ruffra, the CARDINAL DOMINANCE managing editor/owner and CARDINAL COUPLE contributing writer for the photo and write-up. You can follow this excellent website daily at http://www.cardinaldominance.net/ ) or just click on it over on the left side of our site.)

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The University of Louisville softball team split yesterday's doubleheader at Ulmer Stadium with the Connecticut Huskies 2-1, 1-5. For Louisville, it was a case of strong pitching but not enough batting.
Freshman sensation Caralisa Connell struck out 20 Huskies on the day while pitching all 14 innings for the Cards. Her 14 K's in the first game were a career high for her.

Louisville 2 - Connecticut 1. The Cards moved early in the first game, tacking a run on the scoreboard in the first inning when Chelsea Bemis doubled home Jennifer Esteban to give the Cards a 1-0 advantage. UConn came back to tie it in the second with a solo home run shot by Kim Silva. The contest evolved into a pitcher's duel after that....Louisville pushing the game winning run across the plate in the bottom of the seventh when Taner Fowler advanced to second on a UConn error, was replaced on the base paths by Chelsea Jordan...who moved to third on a Hannah Kiyohara single. Esteban singled to score Jordan for the winning run. Connell allowed but five hits in the win and struck out 14.

Connecticut 5 - Louisville 1. UConn was held by Louisville to three scoreless innings to start the second game. The Cards started the contest with a run in the bottom of the first when Katie Keller singled, stole second and scored on a UConn fielding error In the top of the fourth, the Huskies struck for four runs on four hits to grab a 4-1 lead. The Cards could not solve Kiki Saveriano's pitching the rest of the way and the Huskies added an insurance run in the top of the seventh for the final 5-1 victory. Connell allowed four runs on five hits and fanned six Huskies batters in the loss...breaking her and the Cards 12 game win streak.

Sandy Pearsall was to the point after the double header:

"Connecticut came to play today and did a great job of keeping us off balance. We didn't do a lot of things well today...didn't create much offense and we made mistakes defensively. The only bright side was Caralisa..who shows up every day and pitches a great game."

Louisville (31-11) returns to action this weekend with a three game series in South Bend against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

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Women's Tennis (11-9) spends the weekend in Texas to close the regular season with matches against Houston and Rice. The Cards enter the BIG EAST Tournament beginning April 28th. Both the men's and women's teams will compete for the BIG EAST title in South Bend, IN.

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The weekend ahead is going to be a busy one here in Louisville. The football Cards play their Spring Game in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Friday night at 7 p.m. Louisville lacrosse has a 5 p.m. match at Louisville Lacrosse Stadium that afternoon. The lacrosse stadium is right down Floyd Street from PJCS. The weather is the joker in this deck...with a 60% chance of rain forecast for Friday. Then on Saturday, Louisville kicks off the Derby Festival celebrations with Thunder over Louisville down on the banks of the Ohio River. The river is close to flood stage because of recent rains and there is a 40% chance of more rain on Saturday.
Let's hope "mother nature" gives us a break...we've haven't had good weather for a Spring football game in several years now...and Thunder in the rain is never fun.

It's also a big weekend of racing up at Lexington's Keeneland Race Course. The Grade I Blue Grass stakes is Saturday and we could see a couple of Kentucky Derby contenders stamp their tickets for the First Saturday in May with impressive runs in the mile and one eighth contest of the polytrack. Santiva, Wilkinson and King Congie are three that might earn that trip to Churchill Downs with big performances. CARDINAL COUPLE has tenative plans to take in a day at Keeneland and then head back to the Ville for Thunder on Saturday. Let's hope the weather co-operates...

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Bria Smith, undeclared 5'9" guard from Christ the King, will visit both Louisville and Tennessee next week. There are also rumors out there that she'll be checking out Rutgers also on an official visit. Smith has tweeted that she'll probably make a decision after the USA Basketball tryouts. Don't expect to see any ACC schools beside Virginia loom as potential visits...she'd have to sit out a year, since she received a release from Virginia. Sorry, Duke and UNC.

Smith has been fairly non-committal on who is leading the race for her services. One can surmise that the reason for that is that she may not know yet herself. Smith is interested in majoring in communication and wants to pursue a career in television after graduating from college. Maybe someone could create a reality show about her...
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Softball doubleheader today





Louisville' hard hitting senior third baseman leads the
Cards in home runs and walks. She has 210 career hits.
Bemis up, Chelsea!  

 
WEDNESDAY via CARDINAL COUPLE

-Softball plays two today.

-Baseball falls to Cats 3-2

-WE translate the recruiting scenario

-Other assorted nonsense

The University of Louisville softball team takes on the Connecticut Huskies in a doubleheader scheduled to start at noon today. Louisville (30-10) is on an 11 game winning streak and is positioned third in the BIG EAST with a 8-1 record.

UConn comes into the contest at 15-16 and are 3-2 in the BIG EAST. Last time out, the Huskies defeated Hartford 8-5. The Cards are coming off a 'weekend in Pittsburgh' (what a great title for a movie!) where they got the brooms out ans swept the three game series.

Louisville's hot streak is being handled from the pitching circle by freshman Caralisa Connell. She's 17-4 on the season and has the last eleven wins for the Cards. They're getting a lot of production in the field and at the plate from several other freshmen as well. Catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod has thrown out ten runners this year attempting to pilfer the pillow...which is a season and career record for the Cards. Freshman right fielder Hannah Kiyohara leads the Cards in batting at .397 and the Cards are also getting great play from frosh Katie Keller and Taner Fowler.

The left side of the infield is secured by seniors Chelsea Bemis and Colby Wherry. They're four year starters and have over 400 career hits between the two of them. A lot of the Cards success can be attributed to their steady glove play and team leadership.

We think the Cards are poised for a great rest of the regular season and deep run in the BIG EAST and NCAA Tournaments. We'd like to see injured pitcher Tori Collins back soon, even though Connell has been pitching outstandingly. Always good to have two top notch hurlers to choose from.

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Louisville baseball fell to the Kentucky Wildcats yesterday at Jim Patterson Stadium 3-2. Rough start for the Cards...down 2-0 after one inning. The Cards did rally back to tie it at 2-2 before UK pushed the final run in. Kinda of like my darts team last night, slow out of the gate...a strong middle move and nothing left for the finish....which is also an apt description of the hay burners I usually wager on.

WE noticed that the two blogs we refer people to for men's sports updates http://www.uoflcardgame.com/ and  http://www.cardinaldominance.net/  hadn't posted articles about it as of 8 a.m.Wednesday. For more details on the game, there's always http://www.uoflsports.com/ . WE recommend all three as good daily reads. Another good source for Cardinal athletics is Howie Lindsey's Rivals site http://www.cardinalsports.com/. Seems as if everyone is concentrating on whether Richard Pitino is coming back to be Rick Pitino's assistant coach. Some say it's already a done deal. We couldn't figure out why he left in the first place....


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The women's college basketball recruiting battles are kicking into high gear as Louisville is hopeful of adding up to three additional freshmen to the 2011-12 class. Sara Hammond is signed, sealed and delivered. Jude Schimmel looks to be a certainty to show up on campus and Monney Esther Niamke has verbally stated she's headed to the Cards. The Bria Smith soap opera is drawing great ratings...including a rather haughty declaration from King Geno and the Dogs that they are not pursuing her. (Translation = She told them she wasn't interested in them.)

We've also noticed that Quaneisha McCurty is popping up on Facebook proudly sporting her IU Hoosier clothing apparel and appears to be deeply in love with the 'school she decided on' (Translation = Louisville lost interest and IU was the next suitor in line). We wish her well and hope she gets qualified academically

WE love all the talent that Jeff Walz is squirrelling away at Louisville but name recognition and RIVALS Top 100 rankings don't always equate into automatic success. It's the year round and off season conditioning that makes the player. The continuous striving to get a little better each day. Working hard on the parts of your game that need improvement and dedication to the details. One of our favorite Walz axioms is: "There are girls who like to play basketball and there are girls who are basketball players." We'll see how many of each are on this current Cardinal roster...

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"Gonzaga Mary" (another great potential movie title) checks in quite regularly these days...extolling the success of the Bulldogs women's basketball program and our purported disdain for it. Her last communique reminded us of Courtney Vandersloot's 3rd pick achievement in the recent WNBA Draft. That got us thinking...something we've been accused of doing way too little of by some. Louisville played against five out of the top twelve picks in the 2011 WNBA Draft. Maya Moore, Vandersloot, Amber Harris, Ta'Shia Phillips and Victoria Dunlap. We were thinking that this stat might be the highest out of all the women's college basketball teams.

We like Mary's e-mails and her love for Gonzaga sports. We can't claim that we created the monicker "the Fighting Vandersloot's", however and have never referred to the awesome hoopster as Vanderslut. WE think she'll make a good WNBA player. We would have liked to seen that Louisville vs. Gonzaga matchup played with a healthy Monique Reid, though.
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Hammond to play in All Star Game...The WNBA draft picks.

Hammond selected to play in All-American
prep basketball game 

TUESDAY @ C.C.

-Hammond in All-American Prep All-Star Game.

-The WNBA Draft..a few surprises

-Lady Cards a top five?

-Who's getting what...

Sara Hammond headlines a group of 22 senior girls basketball players chosen for the All-American Prep All-star game this Saturday in Chapel Hill, NC. Hammond, a Louisville signee, led Rockcastle County to the Kentucky Girls High School State Championship title this spring. She is the only participant from Kentucky on the East roster.

The game, which is sponsored by FILA, is a showcase for 22 of the top college bound seniors and is part of the Deep South Classic AAU event.

Sara will get to see several of her future BIG EAST opponents on the hardwood. Loliya Briggs, a Pittsburgh signee from Jacksonville, FL. is on Hammond's EAST squad. Jasmine Jackson(Georgetown), Madison Cable (Notre Dame) and Charise Jenkins (DePaul) are also listed as players. Of particular interest also are California signees Erika Johnson and Reshandra Gray. Speculation has developed that they may be looking to change commitments now that former head coach Joanne Boyle has taken the Virginia head position.

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The WNBA Draft Monday Night offered a few surprises in the three rounds. Georgia Tech star Alex Montgomery went in the first round to the New York Liberty and Danielle Adams (Texas A&M) wasn't selected until the second round as the 20th. pick. She's headed to San Antonio. WE didn't get to see Xavier's Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips end up on the same team, like we hoped... but both were first round picks...like we figured. Amber is headed to Minnesota, where she'll join #1 pick Maya Moore and Ta'Shia was selected by Atlanta...who promptly traded her to Washington. Here are the three rounds of selections:

FIRST ROUND
1. MINNESOTA. Maya Moore (UConn)
2 TULSA. Elizabeth Cambridge (Austrailia)
3.CHICAGO. Courtney Vandersloot (Gonzaga)
4. MINNESOTA. Amber Harris (Xavier)
5. LOS ANGELES. Jantel Lavender (Ohio State)
6. SAN ANTONIO. Danielle Robinson (Oklahoma)
7. TULSA. Kayla Pederson (Stanford)
8. ATLANTA (traded to Washington)  Ta'shia Phillips (Xavier)
9. INDIANA. Jeanette Pohlen (Stanford)
10. NEW YORK Alex Montgomery (Georgia Tech)
11. WASHINGTON. Victoria Dunlap (Kentucky)
12. SEATTLE. Jasmine Thomas (Duke)

SECOND ROUND

13. Minnesota (traded to New York) Jessica Breland. (North Carolina) 14. Minnesota. Felicia Chester. (DePaul) 15. Chicago. Carolyn Swords (Boston College). 16. Connecticut (traded to New York) Sydney Colson. (Texas A&M.) 17. Chicago. Angie Bjorklund (Tennessee). 18. Atlanta. Rachel Jerry (Australia). 19. Phoenix. Brittany Spears (Colorado). 20. San Antonio. Danielle Adams (Texas A&M). 21. Tulsa. Italee Lucas (North Carolina.)  22, New York (traded to MInnesota) Angel Robinson (Marquette).23. Washington.  Karmina Christmas (Duke). 24. Seattle. Ify Ibkewe (Arizona).

THIRD ROUND

25. Tulsa. Chastity Reed (Arkansas-Little Rock). 26. Minnesota. Kachine Alexander (Iowa). 27. Chicago. Amy Jaeschke (Northwestern). 28. Connecticut. Adrienne Johnson (Louisiana Tech). 29. Los Angeles. Elena Babkina (Latvia) 30. San Antonio. Porsche Phillips (Georgia) 31. Phoenix (traded to Connecticut) Tahnee Robinson (Nevada). 32. Atlanta. Kelsey Botte (Iowa State). 33. Indiana. Jori Davis. (Indiana) 34. New York. Mekia Valentine (UC-Santa Barbara). 35. Washington. Sarah Krnjic. (Serbia). 36. Seattle. Krystal Thomas. (Duke).

Is it just us, or is the name recognition factor in the third round lacking? No draft for Liz Repella from West Virginia...which surprises us. With the tight restrictions on WNBA rosters and the proliference of good players returning from last year on most of the rosters...the chances that the third rounders will be sticking on rosters is pretty remote.

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Baylor, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Connecticut and Louisville? That's one preseason top 5 picks we've seen out there for the 2011-12 Women's College Basketball season. Three schools from the BIG EAST in there.
We think the honor of the selection is a great tribute and testimony to the hard work of Jeff Walz and the UofL coaching staff that seems to be bringing in top name talent every time we turn around. We're not sure if the Lady Cards are going to be a top five team by the time the BIG EAST Tournament rolls around, though. Too many intense battles in the BIG EAST are going to lay some "L"'s in the Cards win/loss record next season. We do think the Cards have the potential to be a serious contender, though, in the conference and national title picture if Walz can get the young talent on his roster to jell and play together. With one starting position open due to Keisha Hines graduation and an intense battle expected for point guard, the competition around Cardinal Arena ought to be quite challenging and fun to watch. Is any position already locked up?  We'd like to think that Monique Reid and Shoni Schimmel have preferred seats at the starting banquet...but you never really know when it comes to Walz Ball...

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USA Today has listed a breakdown of the top paid coaches in women's college basketball. The figures are for 2011...but it should be noted that Van Chancellor has retired and there were no figures provided for Doug Bruno (DePaul) Tara Vanderveer (Stanford), Joanne P.McCauley (Duke) or Melanie Baucom (Vandy)...The top ten are listed below:

1) Pat Summitt (Tennessee) $2,028,932
2) Geno Auriemman (Connecticut) $ 1,600,000
3) Kim Mulkey (Baylor) $1,112,016
4) C.Vivian Stringer (Rutgers) $1,085,500
5) Gail Goestenkors (Texas) $1,052,500
6) Shari Coale (Oklahoma) $948,000
7) Gary Blair (Texas A&M) $827,737
8) Brenda Frese (Maryland) $806,239
9) Jim Foster (Ohio State) $798,200
10) Van Chancellor (LSU) $666,000

Louisville's Jeff Walz was 13th on the list...weighing in at $550,000.

Information on the salaries comes from USA Today.
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